Understanding the Self

• The philosophical framework for understanding the self was first introduced by the ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
• Although there are disagreements in how philosophers view the self, most of them agree that self-knowledge is a prerequisite to a happy and meaningful life.
• For Socrates, the self is synonymous with the soul. He believes that every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body.
• For English philosopher John Locke, the human mind at birth is Tabula Rasa, a blank slate. He thinks that the self , or personal identity, is constructed primarily from sense experiences.
• For Plato, the three elements of the soul/ self are reason, physical appetite, and spirit or passion. Reason is the divine essence that enables people to think deeply, make wise choices, and achieve a true understanding of eternal truths. Physical appetite includes basic biological needs, whereas Spirit or Passion includes basic emotions.
• Aristotle suggests that the rational nature of the self is to lead a good, flourishing, and fulfilling life.
• St. Augustine believes that the body is united with the soul so that man may be entire and complete.
• French philosopher Rene Descartes is the Father of Modern Philosophy.
• Rene Descartes suggests that the act of thinking about the self or being self-conscious is proof that there is a self. There are two dimensions of the human self: the self as a thinking entity and the self as a physical body.
• John Locke believes that conscious awareness and a memory of previous experiences are the keys to understanding self. He believes that the essence of the self is its conscious awareness of itself as a thinking, reasoning, and reflecting identity.
• To David Hume, the idea of personal identity is a result of imagination and that if a person carefully examines his or her sense experience through the process of introspection, he or she will discover that there is no self.
• According to Immanuel Kant, the self constructs its own reality, actively, creating a world that is familiar and predictable.
• Sigmund Freud (Father of Psychoanalysis) holds that the self consists of three layers: conscious, unconscious, and preconscious.
• Gilbert Ryle believes that the self is best understood as a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition for a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.
• Canadian philosopher Paul Churchland advocates the idea of eliminative materialism or the idea that the self is inseparable from the brain and the physiology of the body.
• According to French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty, all knowledge about the self is based on the "phenomena" of experience.
• The looking-glass self, a concept introduced by Charles Horton Cooley, describes the development of one's self and identity through interactions with others.
• George Herbert Mead suggests that the self has two divisions: the I and the Me. The I is the subjective element and the active side of the self, whereas the Me is the objective element of the self.
• According to George Herbert Mead, the self passes through three stages of development: Preparatory, Play, and Game.
• According to Gerry Lanuza, self-identity continuously changes due to the demands of multitudes of social contexts, new information technologies, and globalization.
• French sociologist Jean Baudrillard explains that individuals achieve self-identity through the prestige symbols and signs that they consume.
• The I-Self refers to the self that knows who he or she is. The Me-Self refers to the person's personal experiences and is further divided into subcategories: material self, social self, and spiritual self.
• According to Carl Rogers, the real self consists of all the ideas, including the awareness of what one is and what one can do. The ideal self is the person's conception of what one should be or what one aspires to be, which includes one's goals and ambitions in life.
• Winnicott - The function of the false self is to hide and protect the true self.
• People are viewed as proactive agents of experiences. Efficacy beliefs are the foundation of human agency.
• The self is the central archetype that unites all parts of the psyche. The ego is the individual's conscious perception of the self.
• Sigmund Freud makes a distinction among the three components of the personality: id, ego, and superego.
• The id refers to the component of the personality characterized by its need to satisfy basic urges and desires.
• The ego refers to the I and operates on the reality principle and controls the id.
• The superego refers to the "conscience" and "moral judge" of one's conduct.
• In Erik Erikson's theory, to achieve an individual identity, one must create a vision of the self that is authentic.
• Another aspect of self-understanding that is important in adolescent years focuses on self-concept. This refers to the image of oneself. Psychologist Carl Rogers defines the self as a flexible and changing perception of personal identity.
• Carl Rogers suggests two components of self-concept: The Real Self and the Ideal Self.
• The real self consists of all ideas, including the awareness of what one is and what one can do.