UNDERSTANDING

THE SELF

Prepared by: ROLDAN BANHAN

The SELF
from
Various
Perspectives
 THE
PHILOSOPHICAL
PERSPECTIVE
What is Philosophy?
• Greek words “philos” which means love and “sophia” which
means wisdom, thus, philosophy is a “love of wisdom”.

• Study of general and fundamental problems concerning

matters like existence, values, knowledge, mind and language.

• Characteristic of the self which determine its identity.

Famous Philosophers who attempted to understand the

meaning of human life and braved to answer the question “Who
am I?” and whose view have influenced the way we look at our
lives today:
1. SOCRATES (470-399 B.C.)
• known for the dictum “KNOW THY SELF”
• acclaimed as the greatest philosopher in Western civilization.
• one of the philosophers who had the greatest influence on
European thought.

VIEWS:
• Proper way to solve problems is to discover our true nature.
• Man is a being who wills and thinks and knowledge is a virtue
while ignorance is a vice.
• Man should discover the truth, truth about good life, for it is in
knowing the good life that man can act correctly.
• The admission of ignorance is the beginning of wisdom.
• Moral virtue leads to life’s ideal, e.g. “happiness” and that
happiness is impossible without moral virtue.
• Humanity commits evil because people do not know any better
ignorance.
FYI:
 Knowing oneself is not about measurable facts but first
imperative then a requirement. It is important to know the limit
of the self so that one knows one is capable of doing and what
one is not. The real meaning of knowing thyself then is a
requirement for self moderation/control, prudence/good
judgement, and excellence of the soul (Ortiz de Landazuri,
2014).

Anything that is excessive is not good. Thus, it is prudent to strike

the balance of things.
• To much power might lead to abuse;
• Too many friends might decrease the quality of relationship;
• Too many problems might bring about depression;
• Too much knowledge might make one think that there is
nothing else to know about.
“I KNOW THAT I KNOW NOTHING” – Socrates

In a nutshell:

1. Knowledge is the personification of good while ignorance is

that of evil.
2. Self-knowledge is the ultimate virtue.
2. PLATO (427-347 B.C.)
“THE IDEAL SELF, THE PERFECT SELF”
• Student of Socrates
• Devoted himself in the pursuit of philosophy and science.

VIEWS:
• The examination of the self as a unique experience.
• The experience is called psyche
• psyche which is composed of three elements:
1. Appetitive – desires, pleasures, physical satisfaction,
comforts.
2. Spirited – is excited when given challenges, or fights
back when agitated, or fights for justice when unjust
practices are evident. The hot-blooded part of psyche,
3. Mind – superior of all elements. The “nous”-conscious
awareness of the self. Controls affairs of the self.
 • Man is a soul (immaterial) using a body (material). The soul
exist prior to the body.
• Reasons would rule over the physical desires.
• Man was omniscient before he came to be born. With his
separation from the paradise of truth and knowledge, and his
long exile on earth, he forgot most of the knowledge he had.
But by constant remembering through contemplation and doing
good, he can regain his former perfection.

Man should live a life of virtue in which true human perfection exists.
• Perfect happiness is the result of virtue which in turn is wisdom
or true knowledge.
• Happiness, which is the fruit of virtue, I attained by constant
imitation the divine exemplar of virtue, embodied on man’s
former perfect self.
In a nutshell:

1. Moral virtue is rooted in the intellect and leads to happiness.

2. Wisdom and knowledge lead to virtue which in turn will lead
to happiness.
3. ST. AUGUSTINE (354-430 A.D.)
“LOVE AND JUSTICE AS THE FOUNDATION OF THE
INDIVIDUAL SELF”
• Born in Tagaste, North Africa.
• Was not a former Christian before becoming a saint.
“Late Have I Found You”
• Baptized into the Catholic church in answer to his mother’s
prayers.
• Dedicated his Christian life to the pursuit of contemplative
ideals.
• Practiced extreme self-denial and self-mortification.
“My Heart Is Restless Until It Finds Rest In You”
• Became a priest then bishop of Hippo
• Awarded the title of Doctor of the Church, being a defender of
the church.
• Known as “the great formulator of Christian doctrine”.
VIEWS:
• The development of the self is achieved through self-
presentation and self-realization.
• Man is the perfect unity of the body and soul – a material
body that belongs to the phisical world and a soul which can
know God.
• A virtuous life is the dynamism of love, which is a constant
following of and turning towards love (God) while a wicked
life is a constant turning away from love. The golden rule
applies.
• Men’s end goal is happiness.
• Only God can man attain true and eternal happiness.
• Christianity id the full true philosophy. It is the full revelation
of the true God.
• Human beings alone, without God are bound to fail.
In a nutshell:

1. All knowledge leads to God so that faith enlightens reason.

2. Only the pure in heart can see God.
3. Love of God; faith in Him and the understanding of His
Gospel will ultimately lead to happiness.
4. RENE DESCARTES
“COGITO, ERGU SUM” (“I Think, Therefore I Am.” Or “I
Doubt, Therefore I Exist.”)
• A mathematician, whom the Coordinate System of the
Cartesian Plane is attributed.
• Also known for his contribution in Analytic Geometry and
Algebra.
• Also known as the Father of Modern Philosophy.

VIEWS:
• The self is a thinking entity distinct from the body. Man must
use his own mind and thinking abilities to investigate,
analyze, experiment, and develop himself.
• We cannot really rely on our senses because our senses
perceptions can often deceive us.
 • Only after a certitude of the “doubting I” can all the other
existences (e.g. God, things etc.) became certain.
• Everything must be subjected to doubt. Our existence, our
religion, world, special someone! There will never be certain
in this world as long us it passes our senses.

Simply put:

“We need reason to evaluate our thoughts and actions. We need

reasons to live fully the demands, challenges and call of our
religion. We need reason in order to establish firm foundations
for universal truth and morals. We need reasons in order to exist
and continue to survive the generations to come by protecting
our environment. We need reason in order to protect ourselves
from our being savage to one another. We need reason in order to
build and live out our peace.”
In a nutshell:

1. The mind and soul can exist without the body.

2. Establishing the distinction of the soul from the body can
make people believe in the afterlife and the soul’s
immortality.
5. JOHN LOCKE
“THEORY OF PERSONAL IDENTITY”
• A British philosopher and politician

VIEWS:
• Self is comparable to an empty space where everyday
experiences contribute to the pile of knowledge that is put
forth on that empty space.
• Experience, therefore, is an important requirement in order to
have the sense data which, through process of reflection and
analysis, eventually become sense perception.
• Believes that our theories must be built on experience.
• Our concept of personal identity must be derived from inner
experience. It is the experience that creates personal identity.
• It is in consciousness alone that identity exists.
6. DAVID HUME
“THE SELF IS THE BUNDLE THEORY OF MIND”
• A Scottish philosopher and historian

VIEWS:
• All knowledge is derived from the senses. The impressions
that we create are more superior than our ideas because ideas
come after impressions.
• All we know about ourselves are just bundles or collection of
different temporary impressions or perceptions.
• This idea supports the difficulty of answering the question
“Who am I” because what we can readily answer are
impressions such as names, skills, affiliations, achievements
and the like. All of these are temporary and non-persisting.
• There is no self. Man has no clear and intangible idea of the
self. No single impression of the self exists.
In a nutshell:

1. All knowledge passes through the senses.

2. No single impression of self exists.
7. IMMANUEL KANT
“RESPECT FOR SELF”

VIEWS:
• Man is the only creature who governs and directs himself and
his actions, who sets up end for himself and his purpose, and
who freely orders means for the attainment of his aims.
• Every man is thus an end in himself and should be treated as a
means-a plain dictum reason and justice: Respect others as
you respect yourself.
• A person should not be used as a tool, instrument, or device to
accomplish another’s private ends. Treat everyone equally.
• Our rationality unifies and makes sense the perceptions we
have in our experiences and make sensible ideas about
ourselves and the world.
In a nutshell:

1. Reasons is the final authority of morality.

2. There is the inner self which includes rational reasoning
and psychological state and the outer self which includes
the body and physical mind, where representation occurs.
8. GILBERT RYLE
“I ACT, Therefore I Am.” Or “YOU ARE WHAT YOU DO.”
• A British philosopher, proposed his Positive View in his
“Concept of the mind”, a stern critique of Descartes dualism
of the mind and body.

VIEWS:
• The mind is never separate from the body. Dualism is a
category of mistake.
• The mind will depend on how words are being told and
expressed and delivered.
• Physical actions or behaviours are dispositions of the self
which are derived from our innate private experiences,
meaning, we will only be able to understand the self based
from the external manifestations – behaviours, desires and the
like, hence, the mind is nothing but a disposition of the self.
9. MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY
“PHENOMENOLOGY OF PERCEPTIONS”
• A French philosopher who is associated with Existentialism.

VIEWS:
• Rejected classical empiricism because it eliminates the
indeterminate complexities of experience that may have an
effect on perception.
• Rejected idealist-intellectual position because it will only
falsify perception based from one’s biases and prejudices.
• Both empiricism and intellectualism are both flawed in nature.
• Believes that physical body is what makes up the subjective
self.
• Self and perception are encompassed in the physical body.
• We are bodies. Our bodily experiences do not detach the
subject/object, mind/body, rational/irrational.
10. PAUL and PATRICIA CHURCHLAND
“THE SELF AS THE BRAIN”
• A modern day philosophers who studies the brain.
• Promoted the position they called “eliminative materialism”
which brings forth neuroscience in the fore of understanding
the self.

VIEWS:
• These philosophical and psychological directions will
eventually be abandoned only to replaced by a more
acceptable trend in neuroscience that provides explanation of
how the brain works.
• It is not impossible that folk psychology will be replaced by
neurobiology. As the Churchlands wanted to predict, when
people wanted to ask about what is going on with themselves,
they might as well go for MRI scan or CT scan to understand
the present condition of the brain and how it currently works.
In a nutshell:

1. A fully matured neuroscience will eliminate the beliefs since

“they are not real.”
2. The physical brain gives us a sense of self.
 THE
SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
1. Self as Product of Modern society – Modernization
“delocalized” self. Free to seek own identity, defining religion,
theological tradition; free from customary constraints, hence,
destruction of the traditional way of life.

 Clifford Geertz – believes that the struggle for one’s

individuality is only possible in modern society where religio-
theological traditions are gradually replaced by rational and
scientific calculations; and the intimate personal affiliations are
replaced by exceedingly impersonal associations brought about
by urbanized way of life. Modernization or the destruction of
the traditional way of life “delocalizes” the self.
Problems:
 The new found freedom threatens the very authenticity of the
self (e.g. love – “Fifty Shades of Gray”)
 Alienation (Marx) – human beings are haunted by the very
images the have created.
 Objectification of the body (e.g. medical practices)
 Dehumanization of self.

Solution:
 For the individual to discover the “true” an “authentic”
part of himself/herself is to realize his/her potentials.
2. Self as a Necessary Fiction – Self (Nietzsche) – sum of
individual’s action, thoughts and feelings.

 It is possible for us to remember something even if we did

not experience it.
 Self has a continuity even if it is only in memory either heard
or witnessed which did not happen to you.
 Nietzsche – Self is nothing more than a metaphor – a
representation of something abstract; symbolic.
3. Post-Modern View of the Self

 Self is a narrative, a text written and rewritten.

 Self is a product of modern discourse that is historically and
socially imprisoned by what is acceptable by norms, etc.
 Self in post modernity is complicated by electronic mediated
virtual interaction by cyber self, e.g. changed appearance.

 N. Green – Self is “digitalized” In cyberspace, a virtual

version of who we are – the self in websites or social media.
Manifestations:
• Information technology dislocates the self;
• Global migration produces multicultural identities.

 Post-modern selves are “Pluralized” selves.

4. Self as an Artistic Creation

 Self is not discovered but made through the socialization

process.
 Self is acquired socially through language – like symbols
 We construct our self based on our social roles through
socialization agents – family, school, community, etc.
 Individual is an active, strategizing agents that negotiates for
the definition of his self.
 Nietzsche: Unity of the self is not pre-given but something we
need to accomplish through conscious effort.
 Individuals must fashion, care for and cultivate themselves.
• we can recreate ourselves to get hold of the present,
forgive the past and plan the future.
5. Self Creation and Collective Identity

 Memories (photos, videos) play a significant role in

creating the self and identity.
 Selves obtain their nature from cultural traditions,
embodied in various social institutions. These are Preserved
in a collective narrative which becomes the reservoir for the
project of self-creation.
 MEMORY and FORGETTING are the most important
powers in recreating a person’s Identity – pain, triumph
etc.
 Such experiences of the past can be linked to social
transformation.
 Self creation is formed within “imagined communities”
6. Self Creation and Struggle for Cultural Identity

 A challenge of self –identity amidst recognition of racial and

ethnic identities.
 We create ourselves through struggling with cultural hassles.
• owning the created self
 We hide the ugly part of our culture.
 We learn to adjust.
 GEORGE HERBERT MEAD – he is well-known for his theory
of the social self, which is based on the central argument that the
self is a social emergent.

 The social concept of the self is entails that individual selves

are the products of social interaction and not the logical or
biological preconditions of that interaction.
 It is not initially there at birth, but arises in the process of
social experience and activity.
• mind arises out of the social act of communication.
 There are three activities through which the self is developed:
1. Language – allows an individual to take on the “role of
other” and allows people to respond to his own gestures
in terms of symbolized attitudes of others.
2. Play – individuals take on the roles of other people and
pretend to be those other people in order to express the
expectations of significant others.
 3. Game – the individual is required to internalize the roles
of others who are involve with him in the game and must
comprehend the rules of the game.

 Mead is also well-known for his concept of the “I” and “Me”.
• The “Me” is considered as the phase of the self that is in
the past.
• It has been developed by the knowledge of society and
social interactions that the individuals gained.
• The “I” can be considered the present and future phase of
the self.
• It represents the individual’s identity based on response
to the “me”.
 Existence in the community comes before individual
consciousness.
 THE
PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
 Cognition refers to the mental activities and processes associated
with thinking, knowing, remembering, and communicating.

 WILLIAM JAMES
• American philosopher, psychologist and physician.
• The first educator to offer a Psychology course in US
• ‘Father of American Psychology”

‘Theory of SELF’
 Two main categories: “Me” Self and “I” Self
• The “Me” Self refers to the aspect that come’s from a
person’s experiences.
• The “I” Self is classified as the thinking self. He linked
this part of the self to the soul of the person, or what is
now thought as the mind.
 The three sections of “Me” Self :
1. Material Self
• Consists of things that belongs to us or that we belong to.
Things like, family, clothes, our body and money.
• The core of the material self was the body. Second to the
body, James felt a person’s clothes were important to the
material self. He believe that the person’s clothes were one
way they expressed who they felt they were; or clothes
were a way to show status, thus contributing to forming
and maintaining one’s self-image.

2. Social Self
• Our social self are who we are in a given social situation.
For James, people change how they act depending on the
social situation that they are in. James believe that people
had as many social selves as there are social situations they
participated in.
 3. Spiritual Self
• Our spiritual self is who we are at our core. It is more
permanent than the other two selves. Also, it is our
subjective and most intimate self.
• Aspects of an individual’s spiritual self include things like
their personality, core values, and conscience that do not
typically change through out one’s lifetime.

 The “I” is not a substance and therefore could not be examined

by science.
• For James, achieving a high level of understanding of who
we are at our core, or understanding our spiritual selves is
more rewarding than satisfying the needs of the social and
material selves.
 THE
THEOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
BUDDHISM (Siddhartha Gautama)

 The self is subject to the law of change (born, grows and dies).
 The self is composed of five aggregates: matter, sensation,
perception, mental construct and consciousness.
 The goal of the self is to attain enlightenment by freeing
himself from ignorance that’s causing suffering.
 To eliminate ignorance and attain enlightenment, the self
should know the four noble truths and practice the eight fold
paths.

Buddha’s Four Noble Truths:

1. Life has an inevitable suffering
2. There is a cause to our suffering
3. There is an end to suffering
4. The end of suffering is contained in the eight fold path.
Buddha’s Eight Fold Paths:

1. Right View
2. Right Intensions
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
6. Right Effort
7. Right Concentration
8. Right Mindfulness
CONFUCIANISM (Confucius)
 The self is a moral and social being. A true self is a noble man
possesses all the virtues and this noble man is called the man
of JEN.
 The four virtues the self shall posses:
• Human-heartedness;
• Righteousness;
• ritual or property and;
• wisdom.
 The self should actively harmonize himself with the nature by
translating the innate law of nature into action.
TAOISM (Lao Tzu)
 The self shall passively harmonize himself with the nature.
 To be able to harmonize, the self must practice the WU-WEI
or non-interference with the natural course of events.
 The practice of WU-WEI can be achieved by practicing the
three great virtues:
• Humility;
• Frugality and;
• Contentment
 The self should not strive for learning, riches and power but
rather lasting happiness by being quiet, thoughtful and
humble.
HINDUISM
 Atman: The Soul, The Real Self
• Refers to the non-material self, which never change.
• It is distinct from both the mind and the body.
• The Atman is spirit (Brahman) – unchanging, eternal and
conscious.
• The idea of eternal supports the idea of rencarnation.
• The Atman has a human experience rather than a human
being having a spiritual experience.

 Dharma: ‘Duty’, ‘virtue’, ‘morality’, even ‘religion’.

• Refers to the power which upholds the universe.
• Gives human the opportunity to act virtuously.
• Universal but also particular.
• Each person have their own Dharma – Sva-Dharma.
 Karma: ‘Action’
• Refers to the law that every action has an equal reaction.
• Operates not only in this lifetime but also in lifetimes.

 Samsara: ‘Reincarnation’
• The process of reincarnation.
• A continuous cycle in which the soul is reborn over and
over again according to the law of action and reaction.
• At death the soul is carried by a subtle body into a new
physical body which can be a human or non-human form.

 Moksha: ‘Liberation’
• It’s goal is to make us free from this cycle of action
and reaction, and from rebirth.
THANK
YOU