UNDERSTANDING THE

SELF REVIEWER

What is Self?

David Hume
o All knowledge passes through the
senses
o There is no self, only a bundle of
perceptions

Maurice Merleau-Ponty
o We are our bodies

Rene Descartes
o I think therefore I am
o Mind and Body Dualism

Gilbert Ryle
o I act therefore I am

Augustine
o All knowledge leads to God

John Locke
o The Human Mind at birth is a

Plato
“Tabula Rasa”
o Identity exists in the consciousness

Immanuel Kant
o Reason is the final authority of
Morality
o There is the inner self and the outer
self.

o Moral Virtue is rooted in the intellect

and leads to Happiness

Socrates
o Self-knowledge is the ultimate virtue.

Churchland
o The physical gives us a sense of
self.

What Sociology and Anthropology say

about our Self?

Sociology

1. The self as a product of Modern

Society among other constructions
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Modernization -> developing one’s self-
identity considered central

Key Characteristics to Modernity

o Industrialism
o Dynamism
o Institutions of Surveillance
o Capitalism

2. Mead and the Social Self

- Espoused by George Herbert Mead
- “The self is a product of social
interactions and internalizing the
external (other’s people) views along
with one’s personal view about
oneself.

Stages of Self Development

o Language – shared understanding
of symbols, gestures, and sounds
o Play – role playing or assuming the
perspective of others
o Game – internalizing others’
perspectives by taking into account
societal rules and adhering to these.

Anthropology

Katherine Ewing (1992)

o The self comprising the “physical

organism, possessing psychological
functioning and social attributes”.
o People creating multiple self-
representations based on “selected
cultural concepts of person and
selected ‘chains’ of personal
memories.
Joseph LeDoux (2002)

o The self having two aspects:

implicit, which is not immediately
available to the consciousness and
 the explicit, that which a person is
consciously aware of.

The self embedded in Culture

o The self culturally shaped and
infinitely variable
o Culture can influence how you
view including the following
(Raeff, 2010):

- Relationships
- Personality Traits
- Achievement
- Expressing Emotions

o Two ways of how self is

constructed:

1. Independent Construct –
individualistic culture
2. Interdependent Construct –
Collectivist Culture