Understanding the self

• How do you choose your political candidates?

  • Personal Background
  • Education
  • Relevant Experiences
  • Political History
  • Platforms/Plans for the country
• Politics


  (Kendall 1998) a social institution through which power is acquired and exercised by people and groups
• Politics


  • Promotes ideologies about democracy, citizenship, human rights, freedom, family, health, and other related social issues
• Citizenship


  The most basic identification with the nation, denotes the membership of a citizen in political society
• As citizens, we must

  • Enjoy full civil and political rights, including protection inside and outside the territory of the state
• Politics is a central component of their identity for some, and a more peripheral concern that temporarily becomes central in certain situations (Stevens, Anglin, and Jussim 2015)
• Political Self


  Organizes one's beliefs, attitudes, affiliations and aids in the processing of politically relevant information. People use their political values and belief systems to define themselves as unique individuals of society.
• Political Self/Identity


  Developed through socialization, the ways people learn the knowledge, norms, values, motives, and roles to their positions in a group or community
• Social interaction


  • May significantly influence a person's understanding of politics, and perhaps a person's political action in the future
• Institutions that influence political self

  • Family
  • Church
  • School
  • Media
  • Government
  • Non-government organizations
• Aristotle considers the state as a natural union of families, established for the common good under a definite government. Therefore, the family makes the most contribution to the child's development of political self.
• Parents


  • Educate basic values and beliefs. Morality underlies political values and beliefs. The family directly and indirectly influences a person's political attitudes, views, and beliefs.
• The Philippine Constitution recognizes the vital role of the school in inculcating among the youth the value of patriotism and nationalism and in encouraging their involvement in public and civil affairs of the country.
• School


  • Responsible for formal education, values, discipline, moral, spiritual, and political values. To train upright citizens.
• Church


  • Shapes the ideals of citizenship and democracy through religious teachings, values, and traditions.
• Peer Groups


  • Interaction encompasses and emphasizes the equal distribution of power, rights, and privileges among members of group.
• Mass Media


  • Could be a key source of information on politics, and thus may influence an individual's political values and beliefs.
• Social Learning Theory


  Person can acquire learning through observation and imitation.
• Cognitive Theory


  Suggests that the mental activities (knowledge, perceptions, ideas) are important determinants of behavior.
• Theory of symbolic interaction

  Suggests that behaviors are products of communication, meaning, and symbols.
• Buddha: 'Just as candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life'
• Spirituality


  The search for the sacred
• Sacred


  A process through which people seek to discover, hold on to, and, when necessary, transform whatever they hold sacred in their lives
• Spirituality


  Refers to meaning and purpose in one's life, a search for wholeness, and a relationship with a transcendent being
• Spiritual self


  The inner essence, the part of the self that connects to the sacred, the supernatural, and the universe
• Spiritual self


  • Enables the person to experience a feeling of oneness with a higher being and the universe
• Spiritual self development


  1. Interaction

  2. Observation

  3. Imitation
• Spirituality


  Originally developed in early Christianity, Christians use the term "Spirit" to describe the Holy Spirit
• Characteristics of the experience of the sacred in Christian Ethics

  • Reverence
  • Faith
  • Fear
  • Trust
  • Love
  • Admiration
• Worship


  Essential act to realize the ultimate meaning of transcendence and human life
• Worship


  May include prayer, reading Bible, attending sacraments, and doing sacrifices
• Spirituality


  Connected with religion
• Religion


  An organized system of ideas about the spiritual sphere or the supernatural along with associated ceremonial practices
• Spirituality


  Can be expressed through religion and participation in religious rituals and ceremonies
• Religious activities


  • People find comfort, security, and stability in times of suffering, loss, insecurities, and uncertainties
• Spirituality and religion


  • May be a source of love, hope, and affection
• Spirituality and religion


  Fulfill numerous social and psychological needs, such as the need to explain human sufferings and death
• Ultimately, we see and foresee no pithily characterizable relationship between religion and morality
• In short, in discussing whether religion is a force for good, we must be very clear what we mean by religion and what we mean by good
• The assumption that religion is the source of morality which still holds sway in moral theology is no longer tenable in contemporary philosophical discourse