PART I BASIC CONCEPTS OF "SELF"

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of the lesson, the student should be able to:

• analyze the need of understanding the self;

• identify the meaning of self, its nature and importance;
• examine the self in eastern and western thoughts;
• demonstrate better understanding of the Filipino concept of the self; and,
• discuss how the mind, self, and society functions and interact with society.

The Need of Understanding the Self

There is a well-encompassing need to understand the self. Understanding the Self-

1. helps learners acquire a positive sense of self and social responsibility.

2. helps learners develop their potentials to enable them to live harmoniously in the context of a fast changing and
challenging world.
3. helps learners participate meaningfully in all endeavors as responsible members of a global community taking into
account multi-cultural perspectives,
4. helps learners understand local and global issues and concerns that continue to impact their lives and the lives of
others,
5. enables the learners develop the capacity to think, reason and act legally and morally as these will have a sphere of
influence to others.
6. enables the learners to behave in ways that will fulfill their needs and goals in the contemporary society.
7. helps the learners to possess personal, civil, and moral obligations, not only to themselves but also to their families,
nations, and the globalized contemporary society.

In short, understanding the self must continue to expand beyond the self to a larger self. The flow of change
process must necessarily start from the self and continues throughout life so that the self will live and work effectively as
a human person.

Meaning and Nature of Self

The term "self" is defined in many ways:

1. Self is a unified being and is essentially connected to consciousness, awareness, and agency or with the faculty of
rational choice
2. Self is the condition of identity that makes one subject of experience distinct from all others
3. Self is exhibited and inferred in the conduct and discourse that emanate from the individual alone.
4. Self is the person regarded as an individual apart from all others
5. Self is one's identity
6. Self is expressed in the first person
7. Self is a dynamic responsive process that structures neural pathways according to past adolescent environment
(Self, Culture, and Society Class, 2015)

There are many explanations with respect to the nature of the self.

1. The self is independent of the senses. It has no sensory contact with its own body. It is not logically dependent on
any physical being - Avicenna in his famous essay, "The Floating Man"
2. The self may have changed in many respects but the same self appears present as was present then. Thus, the self is
a bundle or collection of different perspectives which succeed one another with an inconceivable and are in
perpetual flux and movement - David Hime
3. The self is a narrative center of gravity, not physically detestable but a kind of convenient fiction that does not
correspond to anything tangible. "People constantly tell themselves stories to make sense of their world, and they
feature in the stories as a character and that convenient but fictional character is the self" - Daniel Dennett
4. The self is both legal and moral person. It is legal in the sense that he is free and equal to other selves; moral
because he may have a unique identity different from other selves. - Joshua Knobe
5. The self is an intersubjective being, a unique being who is never alone on its existence in the world. Since the self is
an intersubjective being, the self establishes relationship with "I" and "thou" (you) - Rick Warren in his "Purpose
Driven Life".

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6. According to Swami Vivekananda, the self is conditioned by three. Factors: (1) the senses are unreliable; (2) the mind
is conditioned by space-time; (3) the mind is conditioned by logical limitations.

(a) The senses are unreliable. One has to know one's own self, but it does not mean that one has to know it through the
sense organ - for the structure of the sense organ is limited. Man is an object not a subject and therefore he is more in a
position to know his "self" than any other objects in the world. The sense organs cannot be relied upon totally because
they are conditioned. "Nothing can be known by examining the objects through the relative activities of the senses
which change according to thy function", Krishnananda said

(b) The mind is conditioned by space-time. The conditioning influence of space and time is such that nothing can be
known except as being present in space and time. Even if the one closes the eyes and imagined the existence of an
object, it would be a presence conceived in space and in time. It means that the mind is involved in the motion of space
and time. All objects are spaced-temporal, including one's own self as an observed subject; Inasmuch as the mind is
conditioned in this manner, one cannot hope to have an unconditioned knowledge of anything. Perception is restricted
by the operation of space and time

(c) The mind is conditioned by logical limitations. The mind is limited in many other ways. Mathematics, Algebra, and
Geometry, for example are fixed science. They are incapable of logical demonstrations and no questions can be raised
about them.

For example: 2+2 equals 4. No one can rationally explain why 2-2 should make 4. It has to be taken for granted
that it must be like that - that they must be logically affirmed. This is a type of conditioning that any question about it
cannot be raised by the mind.

The Self Overcomes All Conditioning

The self can rise above all conditionings, according to Krishnananda. Man knows one's own self in way that Logic
and Mathematics cannot explained. Every person knows that he exists. The phrase "I exist" need not be known by seeing
with the eyes. Even if the eyes are closed and other senses are not used, one can know that one exists. This knowledge
that "I exist" cannot be explained in terms of logic. The only infallible knowledge that can be finally survive all tests and
conclusions is the knowledge of the self. All other knowledge is liable to amendment. What today is infallible truth -
Science become tomorrow an outgrown, outmoded knowledge. What was truth yesterday is not necessarily so today.
Science has not yet come to a conclusion as to what the ultimate truth is.

7. The self is constantly evolving due to the complexities of cultures and societies. The self is dependent on the culture
that the self has been situated in Eastern versus Western cultures show that there are differences among the self.
8. Religion views the nature of the self very widely. The self is a complex and core subject in many spirituality. Two
types of self are: the self that is the ego - also called the learned self, the superficial self of mind and body. The other
self is the "true self" the "observing self" or the" witness" self. Spirituality is the self's search for ultimate meaning
through independent comprehension of the sacred.
9. Human beings have a self - that is they are able to look back on themselves as both subjects and objects in the
universe.

Why Self is Important?

Philosophers look at self as very important in several ways.

1. According to Kant, by knowing ourselves, that we are free and that our actions and choices matter, we can make
good on these commitments without fear of being contradicted by theory. In other words, we can be responsible to
ourselves.
2. By knowing the sell, we are able to examine what type of object the self is and how it is constituted.
3. According to Thorin Klosowski, by knowing the self, we are able to develop self-awareness and introspection which
are the starting point to every improvement. This improvement relates to understanding your own needs, desires,
and failings, habits and everything else. The more you know about yourself, the better you are at adopting life
changes.
4. Understanding the self is a very important basis of quantified self-movement which means that if a person collects
data about himself, he can make improvements based on that data (New York Times report)
5. Knowing the self requires more than intellectual self-examination for it demands knowing something about your
feelings and emotions. The more you pay attention to your feelings and emotions and how you work on them, the
better you will understand why you do the things you do. Ultimately, the more you know about your habits, the
easier it is to improve those habits.

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The Constitution of the Self

The self is an automatic part of every human being which enables people to relate to others. The self is
constituted or made up of three (3) main parts that, incorporated, allow for the self to maintain its functions. These
parts are: self-knowledge, interpersonal self, and the agent self.

1. Self-knowledge

This is sometimes referred to as self-concept. Self-knowledge allows for people to gather information and beliefs
about themselves. Self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-deception belongs to the self-knowledge part of the self. We
can learn about ourselves in four (4) ways: looking glass self of Charles Cooley, introspection, social comparisons, and
self-perception. (Baumeister and others, 2011)

The "looking glass self" is a theory that people learn about themselves through other people. In the looking-glass
self-proposal, a person visualizes how he appears to others, the person imagines how other people will judge him, and
he then develops a response to the judgment he received from other people. The response will likely be something
viewed as pride or shame about themselves. The looking-glass self has proven to be partially accurate and inaccurate. A
person's self-concept does not solely depend on how others view him. A person can view himself as friendly; however,
he may appear to be quiet and uptight to another person who may not know him very well. (Baumeister and others,
2015)

Introspection is a manner in which a person gathers information about himself through the use of mental functions
and emotions. Although the person might not know why he is thinking or feeling in such a way, he is able to know what
he is feeling. However, developmental stages in life might affect introspection. In a Rosenberg study, children up to a
certain stage in development showed that they knew that their parents actually knew them better than they knew
themselves. Also, studies done by Nisbett and Wilson uncovered the fact that people might not actually know what
children are thinking all of the time. In one particular study, they discovered that many people bought the first stockings
that they saw and gave the reasoning behind their choice for buying being based on the color or softness. So, in
conclusion, introspection is a way of gaining knowledge about yourself through your inner emotions and thinking,
however it is a conscious part of the brain. The autonomic part of the brain can make us do a lot of unconscious acts that
people have no reasoning for. (Strozer, 1985)

Social Comparison. Is the manner in which we compare ourselves to other people around us.

By looking to other people, we can rate our work and behaviors as good, neutral, or bad. The most beneficial or
useful comparisons are those of people that are in the same category as ourselves. For example, a high school football
player would be more appropriate in comparing himself to an all-star high school football player, rather than a Super
Bowl-winning football player with over 10 years of experience. An upward social comparison refers to a person
comparing himself to a person that is perceived as better than him in a particular area. This can be either motivational or
discouraging to the person comparing himself to a person who is perceived as worse than him, which can make a person
feel better about himself. (Kohut, 1971)

Self-perception aspect of self-knowledge is a process of which a person infers about himself through his behavior.
His behavior can give him insight as to how his feelings and emotions truly are. If a person regards himself as being
smart, however, he continuously receives bad grades over the years, that person might rearrange his thinking that he is
not as smart as he previously thought. This helps readjust a person's thoughts in order to match his behavior better.

Self-knowledge is a desire for the majority of human beings. In knowing about themselves, we are more capable of
knowing how to be socially acceptable and desirable. We seek out self-knowledge due to the appraisal motive, self
enhancement motive, and consistency motive. The appraisal motive describes the desire to learn the truth about
oneself in general. The self-enhancement motive is the desire to learn about one's good qualities only. The consistency
motive is the desire to receive reinforcement of the person has about himself. The feedback has about himself. The
feedback will verify the thoughts and beliefs already had relating to himself. (Watts, 2009)

Self-awareness is divided into two categories: private awareness and public self-awareness. Private self-awareness
is defined as the self-looking inward at oneself, including emotions, thoughts, beliefs, and feelings. All these cannot be
discovered by anyone else. Public self-awareness is defined Information about yourself through the perception of
others, and behaviors that others show towards a person will help that person establish a sense of how others perceive
him. For example, if a person likes however, many other people discourage him singing, that person may conclude that
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he might not be the best in singing. Therefore, in this situation he is gaining public self-awareness about an aspect of
himself. (Watts, 2009)

Self-esteem examines how a person evaluates negatively. Four factors that contribute to self-esteem are the
reactions we get from people, how we compare people to ourselves, social roles, and our Identification. Our social roles
can sometimes be conceived as higher or ability such as an Olympic athlete or Biotechnologist. Other social roles might
be stigmatized as being negative, such as a criminal or homeless person. People with high self-esteem tend to be
confident, gain self-acceptance, do not worry as much about what others think about them, and think more
optimistically. In contrast, people with low self-esteem view their selves as containing negative traits. It is rare for a
person to rate his overall self as being terrible. People with low self-esteem typically:

• are less successful in their work, are less confident in their success rate

• have confused and diverged notions about their self (self-concept confusion)

• focus on self-protection more than self-enhancement

• are more prone to emotional imbalances

• are less confident about their success than high self-esteemed people

• worry what others think about them consistently

• have more pessimistic thinking

• desire to resemble others more than high self-esteemed people (Sedikides, 2007)

Our self-concept entails the thoughts, feelings and beliefs that each of us uniquely foster. However, many
psychologists have questioned whether our self-concept is more realistic or filled with illusions about ourselves and the
world around us. Clinical psychologists have studied depressed people with perceived low self-esteem in order to
observe if their perceptions were fabricated or not. Contrary to their hypothesis, they found that depressed people have
a more realistic view of the world, the qualities they obtain, and the control they have over situations in their life. It was
proposed by psychologists Shelley Taylor and Jonathon Brown that the majority of the people in normal-functioning
mental states display are instilled with positive illusions including: (Sedikides, 2007).

• overestimating their own good qualities

• their control over happenings in their life
• an unrealistic portrayal of optimism

Positive illusions remain constant for the majority of one's life due to self-deception. Self-deception strategies
are mental tricks of a person's mind that hide the truth and constitute false beliefs. Due to self-deception, people are
able to obtain resiliency upon negative events that might occur throughout life. This also can reinforce different ideas or
thoughts that the person wishes and hopes for. The self-serving bias is a strategy in which a person titles
acknowledgment for success and rejects blame for failure. For example, a person who wins a track meet would glorify
his ability as an athlete. However, if that person were to come in last in the meet, the person would most likely put
blame on contributing factors such as a muscle cramp or previous injury preventing a good performance. Another
strategy that people use is greater criticism involving bad feedback rather than good. A person would judge a situation
more harshly when he did worse, while the opposite would occur for a situation that entailed good feedback.

2. Interpersonal self

Interpersonal self can be referred to as your public self. This feature allows for social connection to others. With
the interpersonal self, a person is able to display himself to others around him. Interpersonal self is apparent in
situations of self-presentation, being a group member or partner in a relationship, a person's social roles and his
reputation. For example, a person might show confidence and determination in his work atmosphere, whereas, he
shows more emotional and nurturing side in his romantic relationship.

Social roles are defined as the parts that a person plays in different situations and with other people. Our roles
change in order to fit the "expected" behaviors in various scenarios. For example, a person may be a mother, a doctor, a
wife, and a daughter. Her behavior would most likely change in her transition from being a doctor in coming home to
her daughter.

Social norms constitute the "unwritten rules" that we have about how to act in certain scenarios and with
various people in our lives. For example, when a person is in a classroom, he is more likely to be quiet and attentive;
whereas at a party, he is more likely to be socially engaged and standing. Norms act as guidelines that shape our
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behavior. Without them, there would not be any order, as well as lack of understanding in situations in society.
(Baumaister and others, 2001)

3. Agent self

The agent self is known as the executive function that allows for actions. This is how we, as individuals, make
choices and utilize our control in situations and actions. The agent self-resides over everything that involves decision
making, self-control, taking charge in situations and actively responding. A person might desire to eat unhealthy foods,
however, it is his agent self that allows that person to choose to avoid eating them and make a healthier food choice.

The Constitution of the Self According to Aquinas and Aristotle

The Self is an Embodied Spirit

For St. Thomas Aquinas:

The self is by nature a finite embodied spirit in search of the Infinite, in social solidarity with its fellow human
beings, on a historical journey through this material cosmos towards its final trans-wordly goal - a loving union with the
Gods as the infinite fullness of all goodness (Ariola, 2016)

For Aristotle:

The self is an embodied spirit - one in which it is expressed fully, shining for all the world to see. It is the right
and responsibility of the self to give the Spirit its fullest expression in this body. The opportunity to become embodied
and whole begins at birth and continues throughout life (Ariola, 2016)

The Filipino Concept of Self

The concept of self varies within a culture. This is explained in a study of Edman and Kameoka as cited by Andres
(1987) comparing educated and less educated women. The study found that:

1. educated Filipino women characterized themselves as more individualistic than less educated Filipino women, while
the less educated characterized themselves as more collectivistic.
2. in terms of socio-economic status, middle class Filipino women rated themselves as more competitive than those in
the lower socio-economic group while lower class Filipino women rated themselves collectivistic including being
conforming, obedient to elders, devoted to family and friendly.

According to Baumeister (1987) increase in individualism within a country is due to increase social mobility that
allows a person to become detached from his/her social position. The concept of self within the community of women is
a function of socio-economic changes and increased educational opportunities. The study may also be true between
educated Filipino men and less educated Filipino men.

The Eastern Concept of Self

The two (2) major religions of the Asian countries delve on the existence and nature of the self. These major
religions are Hinduism and Buddhism.

Hinduism

In all the branches of Hinduism, there are two (2) important concepts that will help the students understand the
Hindu view of the self: the Brahman and Atman.

According to Hinduism, the self is just part of a larger whole, the Brahman (universe), which encompasses
everything. The self (Atman) is tied to everything. A sacred Hindu text says, "Thou are thou." To explain this concept
more, here is a narrative saying "Think of a single drop of water in a cloud way up in the sky. It comes down with other
drops in the form of rain and makes its way to river where it blends with other drops. Eventually, this single drop of
water flow out to the ocean where it is indistinguishable from other drops. Finally, it evaporates and make its way to the
atmosphere, where it becomes part of a cloud again."

To the Hindus, this drop of water is the Atman, and the cycle that it goes through of like reincarnation or the
belief that people die and are reborn over and over again. Each time a person dies and is reborn, it comes closer to
Brahman. Eventually, the person will complete the cycle of reincarnation when he had developed enough. When this
happens, he stops being reborn and are fully reunited with the Brahman. Its like the drop of water that stopped

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collecting in a cloud, raining down, and evaporating and instead simply dissolves into everything: the air, the earth, and
the water.

To summarize the above concept:

Atman (l'a:tmən/) is a Sanskrit word that means inner self or soul. In Hindu philosophy, especially in the Vedanta
School of Hinduism, Atman is the first principle the true self of an individual beyond identification with phenomena, the
essence of an individual. In order to attain liberation (moksha) a human being must acquire self-knowledge (atmajnana),
which is to realize that one's true self (Atman) is identical with the transcendent self Brahman.

The six orthodox schools of Hinduism believe that there is Atman (soul, self) in every being, a major point of
difference with Buddhism, which does not believe that every soul or self.

Western Concept of the Self

The concept of self in Western countries differ from the concept of self in the eastern countries. Here is a
summary of the Western concept of the self:

1. The self is formed by the individual's duty to use his judgment to determine who and what he is.
2. The self is free to accept and to deny the will. The self can decide for and against; it is free to judge and to act, even
against better reasons. In acting, the self makes himself independent of the world.
3. Reason is passion - and passion is not a contradiction to reason. Reason contradicts desire and greed, but not
passion.
4. The goal of self-assertion and the exercise of one's own capacities are directed toward excellence and immortality.
5. The basic premise of Western philosophy of self is to build and strengthen the self to improve overall functioning of
the body.
6. Perfectionism, anxiety, compulsiveness, self-destructive behavior, rigid beliefs are manifestations of an
underdeveloped self.
7. At the center of the conscious realm of the self lies ego. The ego serves many purposes and is vital to healthy and
adaptive functioning. Among other things, the ego act as a gatekeeper between the conscious and the unconscious.
The ego determines, based on a number of factors, what material is allowed into our conscious awareness and what
material is to remain in unconscious (and probably, to a lesser degree, what information is to be discarded
completely). The ego is also responsible for organizing the personality so that it is coherent and consistent. It is
essentially responsible for creating our "sense of self."
8. The true self consists of both the conscious and the unconscious. To experience the true self, a person must
integrate his conscious and unconscious minds This requires becoming aware of the material hidden in the
unconscious mind. This material is often difficult, and anxiety-provoking (which is why the ego has not allowed it
into conscious awareness). Becoming aware of this material also means dealing with (and tolerating) the negative
emotions associated with it. This is a difficult process, but one that promises very desirable payoffs. To experience
the true self is to expand one's consciousness and to more fully know oneself. A person's thoughts, feelings, and
behaviors are controlled by unconscious material so long as that material remains unconscious. To become
conscious of this material is to begin to gain control of it (and to therefore gain greater control of one's thoughts,
feelings, and behaviors).

Despite its many necessary functions, the ego can hinder one's quest to experience his true self. Recall that one
of the roles of the ego is to act as a gatekeeper between consciousness and unconsciousness. Thus, the ego can, at
times, interfere with efforts to know the true self by preventing unconscious material from entering conscious
awareness. (Ruth Hasenhauer, University of Paderborn, Germany)

Mind, Self and Society from the Standpoint of Social Behaviorists

In 1934, the students of George Herbert Mead, posthumously published his book entitled "Mind, Self, and
Society". This book is credited as the basis for the theory of symbolic interactionism.

Mead analyzed through behavior and interacting of an individual's self with reality. Mead rejects the view that
psychology deals with consciousness in the sense of something existing prior to and bringing about behavior. But he is
just as much opposed to Behaviorism which deals exclusively with bodily processes, Social Psychology for Mead studies
inner experience or activity which arises within a social process. The paradigm is language, which consists both of
meaning or intelligence and intercommunicative (social) behavior. Mead thought that the origin of psychological
phenomena in social processes saved it from any taint of parallelism.

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 The second division constitute of lengthy argument purporting to show that mind arises through communication
by a conversation or gestures in a social process. For Mead, the mind is well characterized by the process of meaning,
knowing, significance, and reflection. Now, meaning lies within the field of gesture. When an individual's gesture
indicates a subsequent behavior to another organism, then it has meaning. When the organism has indicated to it that
the other organism is responding to his gesture, then the gesture is significant. Such significant gestures are symbolic of
and basic to intelligence and reflection.

The self arises in the process of gesture conversation or symbolic communication when the individual takes the
attitude of another and acts toward himself as others do. The self comprises two aspects in so far as the "I" consists of
the responses of the organism to the attitudes of others, while the "me" consists of the set of attitudes of others which
the individual himself assumes. In terms of these aspects of the self, Mead explains social control (the "me" limits the
"I") and social change (the "I"| asserts itself within the limits of his society).

Since society is not only the source of the individual in so far as he is mind or self but also the perennial locus of
his activity, the section entitled "Society" consists of a discussion of various adjustments of individuals. Sympathy is
calling out in ourselves the attitude of the person we are assisting, while self realization consists in having others partake
in and accept one's own attitudes.

By and large, Mead's social psychology sums up to a dialectic of mind quite in the tradition of the post-Kantian
idealists. But so modern is his gestural dialectic that it becomes for him basic to a criticism of even recent conceptions of
mentality, for the intercourse of individuals reaches down to a level of biological functions. Thus, mind is an objective
fact in a world of observable phenomena.

Howsoever well satisfied philosophers may be with Mead's social psychology, we fear that it may be entirely
acceptable to the psychologist, since the latter will question whether it touches the concrete realities (Reviewed by
Jacob Robert Kantor, U.S.A.)

The "I" and “Me" of Mead

The "Me" is what is learned in interaction with others and more generally) with the environment: other people's
attitudes, once internalized in the self, constitute the "Me". This includes both knowledge about that environment
including society), but also about who the person is: his sense of self. "What the individual is for himself is not something
that he invented. It is what his significant others have come to ... treat him as being." This is because people learn to see
who they are (man or woman, old or young, etc.) by observing the responses of others themselves or their actions. If
others respond to a person as (for instance) a woman, the person develops a sense of herself indeed as a woman.

At the same time, the "Me" disciplines the "I" by holding it back from breaking the law of the community. It is
thus very close to the way in a man Freud's (egosensor), the conscience...arose from the critical influence of his parents
(conveyed to him by the medium of the voice), to whom were added, as time went on, those who trained and taught
him and the innumerable and indefinable host of all the other people in his environment - his fellow men - and public
opinion'. It is the attitude of the other in one's own organism, as to controlling the thing that he is going to do'.

By contrast, 'the "I" is the response of the individual to the attitude of the community. The "I" acts creatively,
though within the context of the me. Mead notes that "It is only after we have acted that we know what we have
done...what we have said. People, he argues, are not automatons, Mead states that "the I" reacts to the self which
arises though the taking of the attitude of others. They do not blindly follow rules. They construct a response on the
basis of what they have learned, the me". Mead highlighted accordingly those that attach particularly to the "I" rather
than to the me,"...which cannot be calculated and which involve the reconstruction of the society, and so of the 'me'
which belongs to society." Taken together, the "I" and the "me" form the person or the self in Mead's social philosophy.
According to Mead, there would be no possibility of personality without both the "Me". (Based from the review of
Kantor)

Fusions

Mead explored what he called the fusion of the "I: and the "me" in the attitudes of religion, patriotism, and
team work, noting what he called the "peculiar sense of exaltation" that belongs to them. He also considered that the
'idea of the fusion of the "I" and the "me" gives a very adequate explanation of this exaltation... in the aesthetic
experience'. In everyday life, however, a complete fusion of the "I" and the "me" may not be a good thing...it is a
dynamic sort of balance in between the "I" and the "me" that is required.