UTS Midterms

• Human beings have been progressing on this earth since ancient time
• Human beings has been into research since time in memorial, due to this; there were various discovery modes; as a result of this world has become quite accessible
• The world has become a smaller place for us
• Desires are unlimited in spite of all the luxury we have
• In search of fulfillment of this vicious circle, we leave behind mental peace, consequently our heart cries for peace
• Our ultimate aim in life is to bring peace, happiness and satisfaction in our life
• Self awareness


  Necessary for well adjustment
• Self-concept


  Helps everybody to grow properly and adjust properly
• Positive self-concept


  • Strengthens the ability of reasoning, problem solving and efficiency of a child
  • High self-esteem leads a person towards great success
• Philosophy offers a ton of philosophers offering a ton of perspective with just about any topic
• Philosophically, discussion of the self is a basic search for meaning and purpose of life
• Determination, rationalization, and identification of self


  Sets the direction from which an individual travel to fulfill his identified purpose in life
• Inability to define oneself leads to a lot of contradiction in life later on, hence, it is of the many imperative of life to know oneself right away and to go on with the business of leading a life chartered by oneself
• Socrates left no known writings, his highly regarded student Plato, wrote extensively about Socrates
• Socrates' technique of asking basic questions


  • Who am I
  • What is the purpose of my life?
  • What am I doing here?
  • What is justice?
• For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul


  Every human person is dualistic, that is, he is composed of two important aspects of his personhood
• Socrates was literally charged with corruption of minors and was made to choose between exile and/or death via the intake of hemlock
• Plato emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be attained if the three parts of the soul are working harmoniously with one another
• St. Augustine's view of the human person


  Man is of a bifurcated nature, an aspect of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously yearns to be Divine and the other is capable of reaching immortality
• Rene Descartes' conception of the human person


  Having a body and a mind, the only thing that one cannot doubt is the existence of the self, for even if one doubts oneself, that only proves that there is a doubting self
• David Hume's view of the self

  The self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions, impressions are the basic objects of our experience or sensations, ideas are copies of impressions
• Immanuel Kant's view of the self


  There is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from the external world, the self is not just what gives one his personality, it is also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons
• Merleau-Ponty's view of the self


  The mind and body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another, one's body is his opening toward his existence to the world, the Cartesian problem is a plain misunderstanding, the living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all in one
• Sociology

  A social science which involves studying the social lives of people, groups, and societies; studying our behavior or social beings; scientifically investigating social aggregations; and is "an overarching unification of all studies of humankind, including history, psychology and economics"
• Human beings, by their very nature, are prone to focus on the self and to engage in behavior to protect it
• Self


  A relatively stable set of perceptions of who we are in relation to ourselves, others, and to social system
• Self


  Socially constructed in the sense that it is shaped through interaction with other people
• According to Emile Durkheim, society should be analyzed and described in terms of functions
• Society is a system of interrelated parts where no one part can function without the other
• If one part changes, it has an impact on society as a whole
• Durkheim was primarily interested in what holds society together when it is made up of people with specialized roles and responsibilities
• Durkheim argues that societies move from mechanical to organic solidarity through the division of labor
• How we see ourselves shapes our lives, and is shaped by our cultural context
• Self-perceptions influence, among other things, how we think about the world, our social relationships, health and lifestyle choices, community engagement, political actions, and ultimately our own and other people's well-being
• Western cultures tend to emphasize certain ways of being independent (e.g., being different from others, self-directed, and self-expressive), but not others (e.g., being self interested, self-reliant, and consistent across contexts)
• Viewed in global context, Western cultures view oneself as both independent and interdependent were emphasized in different parts of the world, and this was partly explained by socio-economic development and religious heritage of the cultural groups
• George Herbert Mead's theory of the social self


  The self emerges from social interactions, such as observing and interacting with other responding to others' opinions about oneself, and internalizing external opinions and internal feelings about oneself
• The self is not there from birth, but it is developed over time from social experiences and activities
• Activities that develop the self according to Mead


  • Language
  • Play
  • Games
• Language develops self by


  Allowing individuals to respond to each other through symbols, gestures, words, and sounds