1. Why are you in this subject?
College life is said to be the most challenging and exciting phase
of your life. It is an entirely new adventure that everyone looks forward
to. It is a world different from your primary as well as junior and senior
high schools. Since you are in College, everything-including this subject-
is new to you.
You belong to this college so it is important to know and learn
how to interact with your fellow students. Learn to live together in peace
and harmony with yourself and whole school community.
2. Activity: Sharing Oneself
Your complete name
Your positive attribute or
characteristic that begins with
the first letter of your surname
The school where you came
from
Your reason for studying in this
institution
You feeling to be in this class
3. Questions:
Who am I?
How would you describe yourself?
Dou you love yourself? Why or why
not?
What are you most grateful for in life?
What are the biggest and most
important things you have learned in
life so far?
5. 1. Socrates: KnowYourself
- The famous line of Socrates,
“Know yourself,” tells each man to
bring his inner self to light.
Knowing one’s own virtue is
necessary and can be learned.
The Philosophical View of Self
6. 2. Plato: The Ideal Self, the Perfect
Self
- According to Plato, man was
omniscient or all-knowing before
he came to be born into this world.
With his separation from the
paradise of truth and knowledge
and his long exile on earth, he
forgot most of the knowledge he
had. However, by constant
remembering through
contemplation and doing good, he
can regain his former perfections.
7. 3. Immanuel Kant: Respect for Self
- Man is the only creature who
governs and directs himself and his
actions, who sets up ends for himself
and his purpose, and who freely
orders means for the attainment of
his aims. A person should not be
used as a tool, instrument, or device
to accomplish another’s private ends.
Thus, all men are persons gifted with
the same basic rights and should
treat each other as equals.
8. 4. Rene Descartes: “I think,
therefore I am”
- Descartes states that the self is a
thinking entity distinct from the
body. His famous principle was
“Cogito, ergo sum,” which means
“I think, therefore I am.”
Although the mind and the body
are independent from each other
and serve their own function,
man must use his own mind and
thinking abilities to investigate,
analyze, experiment and develop
himself.
9. 5. John Locke: Personal
Identity
- Personal identity is the
concept about oneself that
evolves over the course of
an individual’s life. It may
include aspects of life that
man has no control over,
such as where he grow up
or the color of his skin, as
well as the choices he
makes, like how he spends
his time and what he
believes.
10. 6. David Hume: The Self is the Bundle
Theoryof Mind
- For him, man has no “clear and
intelligible” idea of the self. He
posits that no single impression of
the self exists; rather, the self is just
the thing to which all perceptions
of a man is ascribed. Hume asserts
that what we call the “self” is really
just “a bundle or collection of
different perceptions which
succeed each other with an
inconceivable rapidity.”
11. 7. St. Augustine: Love and Justice
as the Foundation of the
Individual Self
- St. Augustine believes that a
virtuous life is dynamism of love.
It is a constant following of and
turning towards love while a
wicked life is a constant turning
away from love. Loving God
means loving one’s fellowmen;
and loving fellowmen denotes
never doing any harm to another
or, as the golden principle of
justice states, doing unto others
as you would have them do unto
you.
12. 8. Sigmund Freud: The Psychoanalytic
Theory of Self
- Freud’s asserts that the human psyche
(personality) is structured into three
parts (tripartite). These structures –
the id, ego and superego – all develop
at different stages in a person’s life.
- These three structures are systems
and not physical parts of the brain.
Although each part comprises unique
features and contributes to an
individual’s behavior, they interact to
form a whole.
13. Partsof Personality
1. Id (internal desires) Also called
interval desires or instinctive
drives, it consists of the body’s
primitive biological drives and
urges which are concerned only
with achieving pleasure and self-
satisfaction. Id lives completely in
the unconscious.
2. Ego (reality) It is the “I” part of
the individual that gives him/her
sense of his/her own identity. The
ego is the rational part of the
personality.
3. Superego (conscience) It is the
part of the personality concerned
with morals, precepts, standards
and ideas. The superego is also the
critical faculty of the personality.
14.
15. 9. Erik Erikson: The
Psychosocial Stages of Self-
development
- Erikson was primarily
concerned with how both
psychological and social
factors affect the
development of individuals.
He defined a crisis is not “a
threat of catastrophe but a
turning point, a crucial
period of increased
vulnerability and
heightened potential”.
Accordingly, individuals
develop a healthy
personality by mastering
“life’s outer and inner
dangers.”
