Lesson 1 for Understanding the self

1. PSYCHOLOGY AND ANTHROPOLOGY

2.  Discuss the different representations and
conceptualization of the self from various
disciplinal perspectives.
 Examine the different influences, factors and
forces that shape the self; and
 Compare and contrast how the self has been
represented across the different disciplines and
perspectives.,

6. PHILOSOPHY IN
LIFE
General attitude towards the
meaning of life or of the way life
should be lived.
Product of human experience.

7. Philosophers from ancient to
contemporary times sought to
describe the essential qualities
that compose a person’s
uniqueness.

8. FORERUNNER OF WESTERN
PHILOSOPHY
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
 Examination of one’s self, as well as the question about how one ought
to live one’s life, are very important concerns because only by knowing
yourself can you hope to improve your life
 Realities: physical and ideal realms.
 Physical- changeable, transient, imperfect (BODY)
 Ideal- unchangeable, eternal, perfect (SOUL)
 Self is the essence of the soul.
 Reason- a tool used by the soul to achieve perfection.
 As long as the soul is tied to the body, the soul cannot achieve its
perfect state (continuous reflection is a must).

9. GREEK PHILOSOPHER, FOUNDED THE ACADEMY
 Man is a dual nature of body and soul.
 Tripartite Self
Composition of the Self:
 Reason — the divine essence that enables us to think deeply, make wise choices,
and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths.
 Physical Appetite — our basic biological needs such as hunger, thirst, and sexual
desire.
 Spirit or Passion — our basic emotions such as love, anger, ambition,
aggressiveness, empathy
 Man- omniscient or all-knowing before he came to be born into this world.
 Contemplation- allows man to regain perfection.

10.  Defined the soul as the core essence of a living being, but argued
against its having a separate existence.
 Body and soul: not separate entities.
 The soul is not ghostly occupant of the body. It is the first activity
in the body, it cannot be immortal.
 Humans have bodies for rational activity
 Three classifications of soul: vegetative, sentient, rational

11.  He believed that the human being was both a soul and body.
 Knowing God is also knowing oneself.
 Augustine emphasized the importance of the will, the ability to
choose between good and evil.
 The fundamental religious duty is to love and serve God; if we can
succeed in this, we will also choose the good and avoid the evil. But
humans are now constantly attracted towards evil, that is, toward
excessive satisfaction of our lower desires for material things and
pleasures.
 Early in his philosophical development he describes the body as a
“snare” and a “cage” for the soul. He considers the body a “slave” to the
soul, and sees their relation as contentious: “The soul makes war with
the body.”

12. Infused Christianity but focused on Aristotle’s
philosophy.
Self is composed of matter and form.
Matter: common stuff that makes up everything
Form: essence of substance or thing
Theory of Self-knowledge- all our self-knowledge is
dependent on our experience of the world around us.
Soul animates the body.

13. Cogito, Ergo Sum—“I Think, Therefore I Am.”
Man- thinking entity distinct from the body
No one has ever doubt his own existence.
All of us exist because of our thinking ability.
Believe in body-mind dualism.
Self as thinking entity, Self as physical body.
Mind- Body dichotomy.
Must use his mind and thinking abilities to investigate and
develop himself.

14. “SELF” - He defines the self as "that conscious thinking
thing, (whatever substance, made up of whether spiritual, or
material, simple, or compounded, it matters not) which is
sensible, or conscious of pleasure and pain, capable of
happiness or misery, and so is concerned for itself, as far as
that consciousness extends".
Locke posits an "empty" mind, a tabula rasa, which is
shaped by
experience; sensations and reflections being the two
sources of all our ideas.

15. There is no self.
Man- has no clear and intelligible idea of himself.
Self- bundle or collection of different perceptions.
Hume divided the mind’s perceptions into two groups:
impressions and ideas.
Impression- basic objects of our experience or
sensation
Ideas- copies of impressions.

16. We construct the Self
Our primary experience of the world is not in terms of a
disconnected stream of sensations (feelings).
All our knowledge begins with experience, but it does not follow that
it all arises out of experience.
Two components of self: Inner self and outer self.
Man- the only creature who governs and directs himself and his
actions.
Respect for self.
Should not be treated as tool.
Should be treated equally.

17. I act therefore I am.
Self is the same as bodily behavior.
Mind is a concept that expresses the
entire system of thoughts, emotions,
actions, and so on that make up the
human self.
The way we act is the same as who
we are.

18. Believe that to fully understand the nature
of the mind we have to fully understand the
nature of the brain.
Views that we need to develop a new,
neuroscience-based vocabulary that will
enable us to think and communicate clearly
about the mind, consciousness, and human
experience which he call as “eliminative
materialism.”

19. Views that the division between the “mind”
and the “body” is a product of confused
thinking.
Self is embodied subjectivity.
Body and mind are intertwined.
 The body acts what the mind perceives as a
unified one.

20. DIFFERENT VIEWS OF
ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN
DEFINING THE SELF.
Anthropology views the “self” as a
culturally shaped construct or idea.
Anthropologists assert that it is an
autonomous participant in the society as
much as it is submerged in the community.

21. Anthropologist and professor
“Self” is illusory. “People construct a series of self-
representations that are based on selected cultural concepts
of person and selected chains of personal memories. Each
self-concept is experienced as whole and continuous, with
its own history and memories that emerge in a specific
context to be replaced by another self-representation when
the context changes.”

22. Neuroscientist
Conceptualized the implicit and explicit aspects of the self.
explicit self-aspect of the self that you are consciously
aware of.
implicit aspect - the one that is not immediately available
to the consciousness.
Self is not static; it is added to and subtracted from by
genetic maturation, learning, forgetting, stress, aging, and
disease.”

23. Culture can influence
how you view:
relationships,
personality traits,
achievement, and
expressing emotions.