UNDERSTANDING THE SELF authority and tradition, the self can only find its truth and

THE SELF IN VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES authenticity within its own capacity to think.
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES “The fact that I am doubting, cannot be any more open to
SOCRATES doubt”
“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing”
• Know Thyself JOHN LOCKE
• Question Everything “No mans knowledge here can go beyond his experience.”
• Only the Pursuit of Goodness Bring Happiness • Personal identity is a matter of psychological continuity.
• Socratic Method: Question and Answer; • Personal identity (or the self) is founded on
Leads Students to think for Themselves consciousness.
“An unexamined life is not worth living” • Identity over time is fixed by awareness of the past.
• Locke posits an “empty” mind, a tabula rasa, which is
PLATO shaped by
“Human behavior flows from the three main sources: experience, and sensations and reflections being the two
desire, emotion, and knowledge.” sources of all
Tripartite Soul our ideas.
• The Rational part desires to exert reason and attain “Our concept of personal identity must derive from inner
rational decisions (RULING CLASS) experience”
• The Spirited part desires supreme honor
(MILITARY CLASS) DAVID HUME
• The Appetite part of the soul desires bodily pleasures “A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.”
such as food, drink, sex, etc. (COMMONER) • He rejects the notion of identity over time.
• There are no “persons” that continue to exist over time,
ARISTOTLE there are merely impressions.
“All human actions have one or more of these sevens Challenge: Try to think about your “self.”
causes: chance, nature, compulsion, habit, reason, passion, • According to Hume, you cannot.
desire.” • Or, when you do, the only things you are thinking about
• Contributed the foundation of both symbolic logic and are individual impressions or perceptions of yourself.
scientific thinking “The self is a bundle of impression”
• The best way to gain knowledge was through “natural
philosophy,” which is what we would now call science. IMMANUEL KANT
• Happiness, which is dependent in an individual’s virtues, is “To be is to do”
the central purpose of human life and a goal in itself. • Consciousness is the central feature of the self.
“Happiness depends in ourselves” • The consciousness is divided into:
1. Internal Self - composed of psychological states and
ST. AUGUSTINE informed
“The truth will is like a lion. You don’t have to defend it. let decisions; remembering our own state, how can we
it loose. It will defend itself.” combine the new and old ideas with our mind
• An important figure in the development of Western 2. External Self - made up of ourselves and the physical
Christianity world where the representation of objects
• His philosophy of man brings together wisdom of the
Greek philosophy SIGMUND FREUD
and the divine truths contained in the scripture. “The child is the father of a man.”
• The absolute and immutable is the Living God, the Creator • The self continues from childhood to adulthood
of the entire • Personality is determined by childhood experiences
universe. • Personality is largely unconscious
• To love God means to love one’s fellowmen, and to love • Structure of the Self
one’s fellowmen mean never to do any harm to another. • Id: animalistic self; pleasure principle
“Do unto others, what you want others do unto you” • Ego: executive self; reality principle
• Superego: conscience; morality principle
RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)
“I doubt therefore I think, therefore I am.” GILBERT RYLE
• The Self is defined as a subject that thinks. “I made it, and so I am.”
• The self that has full competence in the powers of human • Rejects the theory that mental states are separable from
reason. physical states.
• Having distanced the self from all sources of truth from • He concluded that adequate descriptions of human
behavior need never refer to
anything but the operations of human bodies ◆ Self creation along cultural lines must be done in
• His form of Philosophical Behaviorisms (the belief that all maximum cultural recognition of differences among and
mental phenomena can be between individuals and cultural groups.
explained by reference to publicly observable behavior)
became a standard view for Self-Creation and the Struggle for Cultural Identity
several decades. • A challenge of self-identity amidst recognition of racial
• He argued that philosophers do not need a "hidden" and ethnic identities.
principle to explain the
supra-mechanical capacities of humans, because the Beyond self-creation
workings of the mind are not ✔ Search for self-identity is a product of modern society but
distinct from the actions of the body, but are one and the this is complicated by the socio-cultural sensibilities of
same. postmodernity, new information technologies and
globalization. Yet the project of self-creation is embedded
MAURICE MERLEAU PONTY within imagined communities.
“We know not through our intellect but through our ✔ The self constantly lives in this paradox: to pursue self
experience.” creation within pre-given, not willfully chosen social
• His work is commonly associated with the philosophical circumstances.
movement
called existentialism and its intention to begin with an GEORGE HERBERT MEAD
analysis of the  He is well-known for his theory of the social self,
concrete experiences, perceptions, and difficulties, of which is based on the central argument that the
human selfish a social emergent.
existence.  The social conception of the self-entails that individual
• Consciousness, the world, and the human body as a selves are the products of social interaction and not
perceiving thing the logical or biological preconditions of that
are intricately intertwined and mutually "engaged”. interaction.
• Our perception of the self is a collection of our  According to Mead, there are three activities through
perceptions of our outside world. which the self is developed:
1. Language
2. Play
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES 3. Game
Sociological Perspectives of the Self:  George Herbert Mead is also well-known for his
◆ Self as Product of Modern Society concept of the “I” and the “me”.
◆ Self as a Necessary Fiction
◆ Post-Modern View of the Self ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES
◆ Self as Artistic Creation The Anthropological Perspective of The Self
◆ Self Creation and Collective Identity Anthropology as a science is a systematic exploration
◆ Self Creation and the Struggle for Cultural Identity of human biological and cultural diversity. It basically
Post-Modern View of the Self studies humans as a species and it's emitted in
◆ Self is a narrative, a text written and rewritten ancestors.
Manifestations:
▪ Information technology dislocates the self, thus, self is What is a culture?
“digitalized” in cyberspace It is the customary beliefs, social forms, and
▪ Global migration produces multicultural identities material traits of a racial, religious, or social group.
◆ Post-modern selves are “pluralized” selves
Self as Artistic Creation Tabula Rasa by John Locke
◆ Self is not discovered, it is made through the socialization “The implication is that at birth all individuals are
process. BUT individuals are not just hapless victims of basically, the same in their potential for character
socialization. development and that their adult personalities are
◆ Individual is an active, strategizing agent that negotiates exclusively the products of their postnatal
for the definition of himself. experiences, which differ from culture to culture.”

Self-Creation and Collective Identity Urie Bronfenbrenner

◆ Memories (photographs, videos) play significant role in “He divided the environment into five different levels.
creating the self and identity The microsystem is the most influential, has the
◆ Self creation is formed within “imagined communities” closest relationship to the person, and is the one
 where direct contact occurs. The mesosystem consists 3 Domains:
of interactions between a person's microsystems.” 1. THE EXPERIENTIAL SELF. This is the ‘theater of
consciousness’ andbthe first person felt experience of
Thomas Csordas (1999, 143): being.
"If embodiment is an existential condition in which the 2. THE PRIVATE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS SYSTEM. This is
body is the subjective source or inter-subjective called the “narrator” (or interpreter), because is the
ground of experience, then studies under the rubric of portion of your being that verbally narrates what is
embodiment are not about the body per se. Instead, happening and why and tries to make sense of what is
they are about culture and experience insofar as these going on.
can be understood from the standpoint of bodily 3. THE PUBLIC SELF OR PERSONA. It refers to the public
being-in-the-world." image that you
attempt to project others, which in turn interacts with
Clifford Geertz (1926 – 2006) how other
American Anthropologist people actually see you.
 Aim of most his work is to provide an
understanding and acknowledgement of UNIFIED SELF
“thick description” that exists within  The self that consists of unified consciousness of acts
cultures; understanding other peoples of experiencing.
understandings of things.  It is present when, for the current acts of
 Thick description is an anthropological method of experiencing that one is doing, consciousness of one
explaining with as much detail as possible the reason act of experiencing (consciousness of how one is
behind human actions. experiencing something, for example seeing it,
 He believes that culture is not something that occurs imagining it, ...) provides consciousness of other acts
in the heads of humans; of experiencing.
“Culture is public, because meaning is” (Geertz 1973).
MULTIPLE SELF
PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES 2. THE PRIVATE SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS SYSTEM. This
is called the “narrator” (or interpreter),
Self a person's essential being that because is the portion of your being that
distinguishes them from others, especially verbally narrates what is happening and why
considered as the object of introspection and tries to make sense of what is going on.
or reflexive action. 3. THE PUBLIC SELF OR PERSONA. It refers to the
public image that you attempt to project others,
Premise Personality of normal adults and kids is composed which in turn interacts with how other people
of a group of subselves or parts. actually, see you.

WILLIAM JAMES
4 Sub-sections of the Me-self
1. The Material Self
2. The Social Self
3. The Spiritual Self
4. Pure Ego

REAL SELF
 The real self is who we actually are.
 It is how we think, how we feel, look, and act.
IDEAL SELF
 The ideal self is how we want to be.
 It is an idealized image that we have developed over
time, based on what we have learned and
experienced.

MULTIPLE SELF
The self that resides in the dimension of the mental and
cultural and is not really reducible to the physical and
biological.
READING IN PHILIPPINE HISTORY  on evaluation, and selection of material from
primary and secondary sources.
HISTORY AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE
HISTORICAL METHOD is the process of critically examining
What is history? and analyzing the records and survivals of the past.
 History was taken from the Greek word ίστορία  he collection of techniques and guidelines that
(historia) which means “to learn or to inquire”. historians use to research and write histories of the
 History is concerned with the study of the human past past.
(Barnes, 1963). It deals with the past events, the records of
the past 4 events such as chronicle, annals, official records, POSITIVISTIC APPROACH OR POSITIVISM is a theoretical
like birth certificates, marriage certificates, and history as framework that is highly based on empirical evidences. In
an academic discipline (Shaffer, 1974). historiography, it is the dependence on the written documents
 Factual history presents the plain and basic information vis- from the pasts. This framework is the traditional or pioneering
a-vis the events that took place, the time and date with way of the historical writing. Its mantra is “No document, No
which the events happened, the place with which the history!”
events took place, and the people that were involved.
 Speculative history goes beyond facts because it is POST-COLONIALISM is a school thought that emerged in
concerned about the reasons for which events happened the early twentieth century when formerly colonized nations
and the way they happened. It tries to speculate on the grappled with the idea of creating their identities and
understanding their societies against the shadows of their
cause and effect of an event (Cantal, Cardinal, Espino
colonial past. Postcolonial history looks at two things in
& Galindo, 2014).
writing history: first is to tell the history of their nation that will
highlight their identity free from that of colonial discourse and
HISTORIANS knowledge, and second is to criticize the methods, effects,
 study the records or evidence that survived the time. and idea of colonialism. Postcolonial history is therefore a
They tell history from what they understood as a reaction and an alternative to the colonial history that
credible part of the record. colonial powers created and taught to their subjects.
 strive to restore the total past of mankind.  IMPORTANT REASONS WHY WE SHOULD
 For the historian, history becomes only that part of LEARN ABOUT HISTORIOGRAPHY. 
the human past which can be meaningfully
reconstructed from the available records and from A. For better understanding – Lets the
inferences regarding their setting. students have a better understanding of
history.
To sum up the topic about history and its significance, here B. For proper contextualizing – Provides
are the important pointers to remember. understanding of the facts and the
✔ Greek word ίστορία (historia) which means “to learn or historian’s contexts.
to inquire”. C. For understanding the historian’s
✔ Individuals who write about history are called historians. procedures – The methods employed by
✔ There are theories constructed by historians in the historian and the theory and
investigating history: factual perspective, which guided the person, will
history and speculative history. also be analyzed.
✔ The historian’s aim is verisimilitude (the truth, D. For training critical thinking – It teaches
authenticity, plausibility) about a the students to be critical in the lessons of
past. history presented to them.
✔ The primary importance of studying history is raising the
national consciousness
and strengthening the national identity. The ANNALES SCHOOL OF HISTORY is a school of
history born in France that challenged the canons of
history. This school of thought did away with the
common historical subjects that were almost always
HISTORIOGRAPHY AND PHILIPPINE HISTORIOGRAPHY
related to the conduct of states and monarchs. Annales
scholars like Lucien Febvre, Marc Bloch, Fernand
HISTORIOGRAPHY term is rooted from the Greek word Braudel, and Jacques Le Goff studied other subjects in
historia and graphein/ graphier/ graphos, a historical manner. They were concerned with social
meaning past and to write respectively. history and studied longer historical periods.
 historiography means to write about the past.
 the study of how history is written and how
historical
 understanding changes over time. It is the narrative
presentation of history based
 HISTORICAL CRITICISMS: INTERNAL
Historical method- The process of critically examining and ANDEXTERNAL CRITICISM
analyzing the records and survivals of the past.
Historical criticism examines the origins of the earliest
Historiography- The art of writing history, including the text to appreciate the underlying circumstance upon which
theories and history of historical writing. the text came to be (Soulen & Soulen, 2001).

Annales School Of HISTORY- It advocated that the people  Historical criticism has its roots in the 17 th century
and classes who were not reflected in the history of the during the Protestant Reformation and gained
society in the grand manner be provided with space in the popular recognition in the 19 th and 20 th centuries
records of mankind. (Ebeling, 1963).
 The absence of historical investigation paved the
way for historical criticism to rest on philosophical
POSITIVISTIC APPROACH OR POSITIVISM- Its trademark is and theological interpretation.
the dependence on the written document from the pasts. GOALS OF HISTORICAL CRITICISM
a. To discover the original meaning of the text in its
TEODORO AGONCILLO - This Filipino historian started primitive or historical context and its literal sense or sensus
revolution in Philippine history by considering oral literalism historicus.
evidences.  b. To establish a reconstruction of the historical situation of
the author and recipients of the text.
SPANISH ERA- It is this period that the interest of the
Filipino ilustrados in socio-political affairs of the country led The passing of time has advanced historical criticism into
them to contribute to the development of Philippine various methodologies used today. Soulen (2001) identified
historical writing. several types which as follow:
1. Source criticism – analyzes and studies the sources used
RENATO CONSTANTINO- He introduced Marxism in the by biblical authors.
writing and interpreting Philippine history. 2. Form criticism – seeks to determine a unit’s original form
and historical context of the literary tradition.
ZEUS SALAZAR- He introduced the pantayong pananaw
3. Redaction criticism – attempts to trace the
which gave new direction to the study of history.
developmental stages of the oral tradition from its historical
emergence to its literary presentation.
LLUSTRADOS/PROPAGANDISTS- He introduced the
4. Canonical criticism – focuses its interpretation of the
pantayong pananaw which gave new direction to the study
bible on the text of biblical canon
of history.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL CRITICISMS
NO DOCUMENT NO HISTORY- The motto of the positivistic
EXTERNAL CRITICISM
paradigm in history.
 refers to the authenticity of the document
 examining its physical characteristics;
consistency with the historical characteristics of
 Historiography came from the Greek word historia
the time it was produced; and the materials used
and graphein/ graphier/ graphos meaning past and
for the evidence.
to write respectively. INTERNAL CRITICISM
 Historiography evolved to mean as the art of  evaluates the relevance of the content of the
writing history, including the theory/ies and history documents to the time and place of the
of historical writing. phenomenon.
 Historical method, meanwhile, is the process of
 the truthfulness of evidence is examined by
critically examining and analyzing the records and
determining the historicity of the facts contained in
survivals of the past. 
the document.
 Positivism is a theoretical framework that is highly
based on empirical evidences. 
 Post-colonialism is a school of thought that
emerged in the early twentieth century when
formerly colonized countries grappled with the idea
of creating their identities. 
 Pantayong pananaw is a perspective highlighting
TAKEAWAY POINTS
the importance of facilitating an internal
✔ Historical criticisms involved various
conversation and discourse among Filipinos about
methodologies namely; source criticism,
their own history.
 form criticism, redaction criticism and canonical  Primary and secondary sources are both
criticism (Soulen, 2001). useful in writing and learning history.
✔ Historical criticism is generally categorized into  Primary evidence which records the actual
two: the external and internal words of someone who participated in, or
criticism. witnessed the events described.
✔ External criticism is the practice of verifying the  Secondary sources are those that record
authenticity of evidence by the findings of someone who did not
examining its physical characteristics. observe the event but who investigated
✔ Internal criticism evaluates the relevance of the primary evidence. 
content of the documents to the  Primary sources can be grouped into two;
time and place of the phenomenon. the written sources and unwritten sources.
✔ Anachronism is a literary device that places  The types of written sources are narrative
someone or something associated or literature, diplomatic sources and social
with a particular time in history in the wrong time documents.
period.  Unwritten sources can be in the form of
material evidence and oral evidence. 
PRIMARY SOURCES, SECONDARY  Libraries and archives are important
SOURCES, AND REPOSITORIES OF repositories of historical documents and
PRIMARY SOURCES evidences.

 can be classified between primary and

secondary sources.

Primary Sources
Primary evidence which records the actual words of
someone who participated in, or witnessed the
events described (Benjamin, 1994).
Primary sources are considered as the windows to
the past of historians which enable them to discover
what people were doing, planning or discussing at a
particular time.

Secondary Sources
Those that record the findings of someone who did
not observe the event but who investigated primary
evidence (Benjamin, 1994).
Secondary sources often quote and/or use some
primary sources, they are considered one step
removed from primary sources since they can add a
layer of interpretation and analysis of the same topic
being presented, or being written.

 TYPES OF PRIMARY SOURCES

  Online Sources
  Libraries and Archives
 Historical Shrines and Museums

TAKEAWAY POINTS