UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

Philosophical Self
1. How would you characterize yourself?
2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes yourself special?
3. How has yourself transformed itself?
4. How is yourself connected to your body?
5. How is yourself related to other selves?
6. What will happen to yourself after you die?

Philosophers
 Socrates (470-399 BC)
o Know Thyself!
o Question Everything
o Only the pursuit of goodness brings happiness
 Socratic Method
- question and answer, leads to students thinking for themselves
o “Unexamined life is not worth living”
o “I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think”
o “To know is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true
knowledge”

 Plato
o Greek philosopher who founded the Academy in Athens. The Academy is the
first institution of learning in the West.
o According to him, the soul is in the human body. The rational part is the head,
the spirit is in the upper part of the body, and the appetite is in the central
part of the body to the heart.
o “Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how
slow”
o “Be kind, because all the people we met may have battle to surpass”
o “Scholars and wise men speak because they have to say; fools speak because
they have to speak”
o “Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the world, wings to the mind, flight to
the imagination, and charm to life and to everything”

 Saint Augustine of Hippo

o His mother is a Christian while his Father remains a pagan
o He takes a different philosophy before he became a Christian at the age of 35.
o “Temperance is a love of giving up entirely himself to Him and that’s the only
reason; Courage is a love that can go beyond everything with pleasure for the
 sake of Himself and that’s the only reason; Justice is love that is uniquely
serve only Him and no other reason, and Prudence is love that can make the
right decision on what prevents and what helps."
o “Pray where supposedly everything depends on God. Work which seems all
depends on you.”
o “You must lose what ever you have filled and you will be filled with things
that you don’t have.”
o “Admission of wrongdoing is the first step to a good cause.”
o “A habit that, if not prevented, is becoming a necessity.”

 Descartes
o “I think therefore I am”
o According to Descartes, the mind exists and not far from the mind of man, so
man exists. When in doubt someone has doubts for him, the work itself will
doubt the fact that he exists.

 Locke
o “No man’s knowledge here can go beyond his experience”
o According to Locke, even if a man has the ability to think, it does not mean
that he is using it. (1) Others have chosen to live in ignorance, (2) others
think very weak, or (3) others are slaves to their emotions which they use
their brains to understand the laws of nature. (4) Others chose to simply be
bad because they are accustomed to it.

 Hume
o “A wise man therefore proportions his belief to evidence”
o Empiricism is the theory that says all knowledge comes from the senses.
o The mind is not separated from perception
o The entire contents of the mind are transmitted daily to the human condition.
o The man is a collection of different successive perception is always changing
and moving
o The qualities that we feel the is only part of something.

 Kant
o “Morality is not properly the doctrine of how we make ourselves happy, but
how we may make ourselves worth of happiness”
o The Metaphysics of Self
- Branch of philosophy that studies the nature, substance and identity.
- It also explains how we get knowledge.
- The path to true knowledge:
o Rationalismo - reason Empiricism - by the senses
o The consciousness is divided into:
 1. Internal Self - composed of psychological states and informed
decisions; remembering our own state, how can we combine the new
and old ideas with our mind
  2. External Self - made up of ourselves and the physical world where
the representation of objects

 Freud
o “The child is the father of a man”
o A famous neurologist create psychoanalysis
 Threefold yourself:
 (1) Id
- Early stage self-shaping
- The center of all human wants and desires that you
must satisfy
- Indifferent to the moral laws of society
- Collection of preferences that must be met
 (2) Ego
- Act according to reality
- Balances the desires of the people & how to present it
- To know what is right or wrong based on context
 (3) Superego
- To achieve the super ego, it can be cruel and
punishable
- Looking at the perfection of things
- We felt embarrassment and guilt when we have fallen
short of the high expectations.

 Ryle
o “In searching for the self, one cannot simultaneously be the hunter and the
hunted.”
o Self and Behavior
 "I made it, and so I am“
 Wrong bases and problems arise on how we give meaning and how
we deliver or how we paraphrase the words
o Ghost in the Machine
 The mysterious component called mind, controls the mechanistic
body

 Patricia Churchland
o “To understand the mind, we must understand the brain”
o “In all probability mental states are processes and activities of the brain.
Exactly what activities, and exactly at what level of description, remains to be
seen”
o “There isn’t a special thing called the mind. The mind just is the brain”
 Paul Churchland
 Modern philosopher who studied the brain.
 "The Self as a brain."
 The physical brain allows us to say we are so different.
  Maurice Merleu-Ponty
o French Phenomenological Philosopher
o Philosophical movement called Existentialism
o Rejects Edmund Husserl’s philosophical movement
o Analyze experiences, perceptions and difficulties of human existence
o “Because we are in the world, we are condemned to meaning, and we cannot
do or say anything without its acquiring a name in history”
o “The body is our general medium for having a world”

Physical Self

 Our body image, which includes our perception of ourselves and our own body and
the manner in which we feel about our body, is influenced by a variety of factors.
 Many aspects contribute to body image, including the environment in which we are
immersed in as well as our biological make up and genetic predisposition.
 The culture in which we are surrounded by has a significant impact on how we feel
about ourselves and the manner in which we think about our body.
 Depending on the culture and overall emphasis of traditions involved, a person may
find his surroundings either conducive or resistant to the building of a healthy body
image and self-esteem.
 Culture is just one factor:
o While culture alone is not responsible for a poor or negative body image, the
influence and potential in which it can impact how a person feels about
himself and his body is substantial.
 Self-esteem defined:
o The evaluative or affective consequence of one’s self-concept
o The extent to which one feels positive or negative about one’s self-concept
o “How I feel about who I am.”
 Beauty in terms of art refers to an interaction between line, color, texture, sound,
shape, motion, and size that is pleasing to the senses.
 Aesthetics - the branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, taste, and the
creation and appreciation of beauty.

FACTS:
 Not all countries feel the same way about the concept of beauty. In fact, cultures
around the world have different ideas of what is beautiful.
o Some cultures in Africa, for example, do not celebrate thinness the way
Americans do. (Famously, the country of Mauritania has come to be known as
one that idolizes overweight women.) This is most often seen as a sign of
wealth and fertility.
 In Brazil, women want to appear fit and toned, and things like waxing, sculpting
massages, and manicures are everyday treatments, not only reserved for the spa.
  In both Asia and Africa, skin lightening has risen in popularity. Korea, Thailand, and
Japan have all been known to champion skincare products that smooth and
brighten, as milky, unblemished skin is the ultimate beauty goal.
 Skin tone is a proxy for socioeconomic status.
o In western countries a tan means that you have disposable income to take
vacations into sunny climates or have free time away from a desk job to lay
on the beach and get a tan. A tan symbolizes wealth.
 Actor Tom Cruise, has held a pilot license since 1994. Inspired by the experiences of
filming Top Gun, (many of the scenes were filmed in the backseat of a mid air F-14A
Tomcat), aviation advocate Cruise is now the proud owner of five private jets

Material Self

SELF
 William James conceptualized SELF as having 2 aspects- the “I” and the “me”.
o “I” is the thinking, acting, and feeling self
o “Me” on the other hand, is physical characteristics as well as psychological
capabilities that makes who you are.
 The material self is a total of all of the tangible things you own:
o your possessions
o your home
o your bod
 The material self to tangible objects, people, or places that carry the designation:
“my or mine”
 Two subclasses:
o Bodily self
o Extracorporeal self - It includes all of the people, places, and things that we
regard as “ours.”
1. BODY
The innermost part of our material self is our body. Intentionally, we are investing
in our body.

2. CLOTHES
Herman Lotze’s ‘Philosophy of Dress’ James believed that: Clothing is an essential
part of the material self.
Lotze book: ‘Microsmus ’any time we bring an object into the surface of our body, we
invest that object into the consciousness of our personal existence taking in its contours to
be our own and making it part of the self.’ (Watson 2014)

3. Immediate Family
Our parents and siblings hold another great important part of our self. What they do
or become affects us.
When an immediate family member dies, part of our self dies, too. When their lives
are in success, we feel their victories as if we are the one holding the trophy. In their
failures, we are put to shame or guilt. When they are in disadvantage situation, there is an
urgent urge to help like a voluntary instinct of saving one’s self from danger.
We place HUGE INVESTMENT in our immediate family when we see them as the
nearest REPLICA of our self.

Home
 Home is the earliest nest of our selfhood.
 Our experiences inside the home were recorded and marked on particular parts and
things in our home.
 The home thus is an extension of self, because in it, we can directly connect our self

Investment
 The collections in different degree of investment of self, becomes part of the self.
 As James (1890) described self: “a man’s self is the sum total of all what we CAN call
his.”
 Possessions then become a part or an extension of the self.

WE ARE WHAT WE HAVE

 Russel Belk (1988) – “we regard our possessions as part of ourselves. WE ARE WHAT
WE HAVE AND WHAT WE POSSESS.
 The identification of the self to things started in our infancy stage when we make a
distinction among self and environment and others who may desire our
possessions.
 Material possession gains higher value in our lifetime if we use material possession
to find HAPPINESS, associate these things with significant events, accomplishment,
and people in our lives.
 There are even times, when material possession of a person that is closely
identified to the person, gains acknowledgement with high regard even if the person
already passed away.
 Digital Self
Tim Berners-Lee
 Made the world wide web available to the public. The internet has already become
an integral part of everyday life for most of the world’s population.

Philippines
 Almost two-thirds of the world’s population now has a mobile phone.
 More than half of the world’s web traffic now comes from mobile phones.
 More than half of all mobile connections around the world are now : broadband”.
 More than one in five of the world’s population shopped online in the past 30 days.
 Media users in the Philippines grew by 12 million or 25 %
 The number of mobile social users increased by 13 million or 32%.

Identity
 The categories people use to specify who they are that is to locate themselves
relative to other people.

Online Identity
 Is actually the sum of all our characteristics and our interactions.

Partial Identity
 Is a subset of characteristics that make up our identity.

Persona
 Is the partial identity we create that represents ourselves in a specific situation.

Self- Presentation
 The process of controlling how one is perceived by other people.
 The key to relationship inception and development.

Personal Identity
 Is the interpersonal level of self which differentiates the individual as unique from
others.

Social Identity
 Is the level of self whereby the individual is identified by his or her group
memberships

What do we like about the Internet?

1. Use for research.
2. Connect with friends.
3. Communicate with celebrities or famous people.
4. Posts pictures.
5. Watch videos from all over the world.
6. Learn new skills.
7. Updated on news/current affairs and fads.
8. Play online games.

What Harm Can Internet Make?

1. Prone to deception.
2. Exposure to obscene language (i.e. curses), pictures and videos.
3. Disclosure of private posts, pictures and/or video.
4. Publicize secrets and private details.
5. Giving out/sharing of fake news.

Influence of Internet
 On Sexuality and Gender
o Sex – biological state that corresponds to what we might call a “man” or a
“woman”
o Gender – the social understanding of how sex should be experienced and how
sex manifests in behavior, personality, preferences, capabilities, and so forth.
o Sexuality – an individual expression and understanding of desire.
 Gender & sexuality studies are mainly concerned with gender identity and gender
representation in society.
o Preference
o Culture representation

 Note: Internet abuse the ability of being able to completely change and hide who
they are.
o FAKE IDENTITY
o MULTIPLE IDENTITIES

Performing Gender Online

Free culture – individuals are empowered to engage in cultural production using
raw materials, ranging from homemade videos to mainstream television characters to
create new culture, memes, and humor.

 Apps for men:

o 4chan
o digg
o reddit

 Apps for women:

o Facebook
o Flicker
o LiveJournal
o Tumblr
o Twitter
o YouTube
  Apps for both women and men:
o Wikipedia

Facebook or YouTube – male students more likely to create, edit, and distribute digital video
Wikipedia – 87% male contributors
Blog – 14% (men & women) of internet users
➢Food, fashion, parenting – women
➢Technology, politics – men

Setting Boundaries
 Is this post/story necessary?
 Is there a real benefit to this post—is it funny, warm-hearted, teachable—or am I
just making noise online without purpose?
 Have we (as a family or parent/child) resolved this issue? An issue still being
worked out in the home, or one that is either vulnerable or highly emotional, should
not be made public.
 Is it appropriate? Does it stay within the boundaries of our family values?
 Will this seem as funny in 5, 10, or 15 years? Or is this post better suited for sharing
with a small group of family members? Or maybe not at all?

Proper Way of Demonstrating Values and Attitudes Online

 Stick to safer sites.
 Guard your passwords.
 Limit what you share.*
 Remember that anything you put online or post on a site is there forever, even if
you try to delete it. **
 Do not be mean or embarrass other people online.***
 Always tell if you see strange or bad behavior online.****
 Be choosy about your online friends.
 Be patient.
 Control/limit your time in using your gadget.

Spiritual Self
Dimensions of Human Life
In relation to
 Self
 Others
 God
What is spirituality and spiritual self?
Spiritual self is the most intimate, inner subjective part of self. It is the most intimate
version of the self because of the satisfaction experience when thinking of one’s ability to
argue and discriminate of one’s moral sensibility and conscience, and of our unconquerable
will.
Spirituality does not mean any particular practice. It is a certain way of being.

Some World Religion Beliefs and Practices

 Buddhism Believes that life is not a bed of roses. Instead, there are suffering pain,
and frustrations.
 Christians believes in Trinitarian God. One God in three personas.
 Hindus believes that existence is a cycle of birth, death and rebirth, governed by
karma.
 Muslims believed in Allah, who is their “One God”. They believe in the unity and
universality of God.

Religion
 Rebecca Stein (Stein 2011) works on the definition of religions as set of cultural
beliefs and practices that usually includes some or all of the characteristics.
o 1. A belief in supernatural being such as Spirit and God
o 2. A focus on the sacred supernatural
o 3. The performance of ritual activities that involves manipulation of sacred
object.

Ritual
- is the performance of ceremonial acts prescribed by a tradition or sacred law

 Religious beliefs, rituals, practices, and customs are all part of the expression of the
spiritual self. What to believe and how to manifest the belief is entirely dependent
on the individual to the self. A person might believe that there is a higher being, a
supernatural being, usually terms as God but not necessarily wants to be affiliated
or identified with a certain religious group. Others may have religious practices
which are perceived to be contrary to the practices of other groups. Religious beliefs
and practices, therefore, are formed relative to its content and culture.

Theological Explanation (Scripture Based)

 Nepesh (soul, breath)
o Life or living itself: God breathe on adam and he became a Nepesh (Gen 2:11)
o Emotions appetites and desires like the deer that years for running streams,
my nepesh is yearning for you my God (Psalm 42)
 Basar (Flesh)
o Always conjunction with nepesh not in contrast with it.
o My Soul (nepesh) thirst for you and how much more my flesh (Ps 63:1)
Concept of a Human Being

 First Layer (Shell)

o It is our physical appearance made up of branding, clothing, titles in life.
 Second Layer (False Self)
o A false concept about our self, it is made up of experience from childhood up
to the present given by the people around us.
 Third Layer (True Self)
o It is who we are, our true self inherited from our divine creator.
 Center (Divine Dwelling)
o A space in every person occupied by the divine creator

Political Self

 The word politics is derived from “poly” meaning “many” and “ticks” meaning
“bloodsucking parasites” – Larry Hardiman
 It involves making common decisions for a group of people.
 It is the activity by which differing interests within a given unit of rule are conciliated
by giving them a share in power in proportion to their importance to the welfare
and survival of the whole community

Philippine Politics
 Elitism – leadership or rule by an elite
 Personalistic politics
o Philippine politics is personalistic by Lewis E. Gleeck, on his book “President
Marcos and the Philippine Political Culture,”
 “Kleptocracy”- government by those who seek chiefly status and personal gain at the
expenses of the governed

Orientation of political self

 Political attachment and loyalties directed towards the nation or its significant
political symbols
o National identity
 Particular content : democracy
 Formal content: separation of powers, democratic system govern in
the name of people and are accountable to them
 Various forms of specific knowledge, feelings, beliefs about political institutions
 More transient views about specific policies, issues, programs, personalities and
events

Defined identities as:

o Personal – our unique and distinct characteristics
o Social – roles & members of groups
o Human – universal; membership of the human species in a globalized world.
Three Level of Political Identities
1. Passive - identities in the form of lived relationships but not acted on
2. Active – conscious identities that come to the fore when threatened
3. Politicized – a more constant base for actions and how individuals identify
themselves

1st level:Individual Attitudes and values

 Presence of dualism
o Highlights the contradiction between self-interest and the good of the
community
 Attitudes change
o Due to events that sweep the nation
o Due to involvement in service-oriented activities

2nd Level : Institutional

 Family
 School
 Church
 Media
 Government
 Non-government and people’s organizations

3rd level: Community

 The degree of identification with the nation depends, among others, on the type of
community to which one belongs and the extent to which it is served by, or benefits
from, instruments of the state

Social responsibilities
 To be loyal to the Republic
 To love and defend the country
 To contribute to the development and welfare of the State
 To uphold the Constitution and obey the laws
 To cooperative with duly constituted authorities
 To exercise rights responsibly and with due regard for the right of others
 To engage in gainful work

Role of citizenship in developing political self?

 gives young people a sense that they have a stake in society and democracy
 learning to be ‘political’, skills and experience of being actively involved in
democracy
 learning about the relationship between citizens and the state, how democracy
works