What Is the Self? Michael D. Moga, S.J. In Chapter 8 we followed various paths which opened up for us a sense of our individual selves. These paths have revealed to us that the self is a reality which has a very distinctive character, something which is far dierent from everything else which we !now. "e are challenged at this time to clarify the nature of this self. "hat precisely is its character# The attempt to understand the character of the self is not an easy one. $or the self is a reality which is mysterious and comple%. In the history of thought there have &een many widely dierent descriptions descriptions of the self made &y philosophers. There have &een philosophers who have claimed that the self simply does not e%ist at all. These philosophers have &een led to such a position &y the fact that there is no precise precise o&'ect of e%perience that we can point to which is the self. Such an approach is mista!en &ecause it presumes that only o&'ects e%ist. $or in e%perience e%perience we are not only of o&'ects &ut also also of su&'ec su&'ects. ts. "e are are awar aware e not only only of things things which are !nown !nown (o&'ec (o&'ects) ts) &ut also also !nowers, su&'ects which !now these things. *f course our awareness of su&'ects is dierent from our awareness of o&'ects. + su&'ect never stands in front us the way that an o&'ect does. "hen we are aware of our su&'ectivity we are aware of something which stands in the &ac!ground, something which is &ehind our !nowing and feeling and willing. *ur awareness of our su&'ectivity is an indirect awareness. Since our self is &asically a su&'ect our awareness of it will necessarily &e indirect. +nothe +notherr philos philosoph ophica icall positi position on arm arms s that that the self self is made made up entir entirely ely of a stream stream of consciousness, consciousness, a constant -ow of many &eing ten years in the future. This sense of permanence is &ased in a vague way in the permanence of the physical organism which is me/. This physical organism, separate from all others, maintains a certain identity throughout passage of time. There may &e changes in this organism &ut they are minor ones and not essential. (page 00 missing) This e%perience e%perience of self as 1ego1 emphasi2es emphasi2es the separateness separateness of human e%istence. e%istence. +s an ego I am set apart from everything else an opposed to everything else. 3o one else and no other thing is precisely 1here1 where I am. This separateness is revealed in the privateness of the ego4s e%periences. +s an ego I sense that no one else has the e%perience of seeing what I see and feeling what I feel. Conversely, as an ego I do not e%perience seeing what other egos see and feeling what they feel. +ll the e%periences of an ego self are contained within a certain area of consciousness. This within is cut o from what is without5 the world of outside things and the world of other people. 6ecause of this e%perience of separateness there is a 7uality of hiddenness a&out the life of an ego self. I am hidden from other people and other people are hidden from me. I mist struggle if I want to overcome this gap &etween us and to understand others. Similarly, as an ego I loo! out at a physical world which is &asically hidden from me. "ith my human sciences I try to devise and formulate theories which attempt to e%plain this world to me. 6ut all such theories are inade7uate and I am left with an uncomforta&le feeling of &eing surrounded &y a dar! world which of the most part is hidden from me. In contrast with the hiddenness of the outside world the ego nds that his inner world is open and o&vious. 9is world of thought, sensation and emotion are immediately present to him in perfect clarity. :ationalistic philosophers spea! of ideas found in this inner world
whose clarity and distinctness force one to assent to their truth. ;mpirical philosophers spea! of simple sense impressions or ideas found in consciousness which can never deceive us. These inner e%periences are perfectly recogni2ed and understood. Contemporary man, caught up in the separateness of his life as an ego self, often complains of the e%perience of 1alienation.1 9e feels that he is a stranger who is not at home with other people, with the world of nature and with i!e the actor in a drama, each of us is given roles to play in our lives. "e have a role in our family (mother father, older &rother, older sister, etc.), we have a role in school (student or teacher), we have a role in our barkada, we play a particular role in our wor! (security, nurse, &usinessman, etc.). These roles give us a certain self? understanding guiding what we do and how we do it. There is a distinctive pattern of activity which is given me &y each role that I play. If, for instance, I have the role of a housewife there are certain things that I !now that I should do. In a drama the actor only plays the role for a while and then sets it aside after his acting is completed. 6ut in our human lives our roles &ecome our permanent selves. If someone were to as! me who I am I would very li!ely answer &y giving the roles that I live.
My role contri&utes many things to my life. It guides me, rst of all, into assuming certain attitudes toward life and other people. (The role of a housewife, for instance, includes &eing concerned a&out one@s family). The role also give a very clear and set meaning to my life. $rom my role, I have a sense of my purpose in my life. It also gives me a sense of distinct self?identity, setting me apart from others. "hile I am caught up in a particular role I have a clear sense of who I am, an identity which is closely connected with the activity or function that I perform. This role/ way &eing a self is a type of ego self. "hen playing a role I am inside it and loo! upon all other people from the viewpoint of that role. $or instance, as a security guard I see all people as possi&le thieves, as a politician I see people as voters who might support me, as a &usinessman I see people as possi&le customers, as a clergyman I see people as persons whom I might minister to. + role can &e limiting in it I live as someone playing one particular role, a role that dominates my life. There is the possi&ility in life of moving outside of one@s role &ut sometimes this is very dicult. + teacher can tend to treat everyone she meets the way that she treats her students. + doctor can loo! upon his own family with the viewpoint of a doctor. +lthough a role enriches human life with the meaning it gives it can also constrict life &y conning it to one limited way of functioning. The Self as Person 6esides &eing an ego I can also &e a self &y &eing a person. This 1personal1 self is very dierent from the ego self. +s a person I sense myself as a free individual in control of a life that moves forward through time caught up in various involvements with others. +s a free person I develop a life which is 1mine,1 something which I am responsi&le for. This sense of my personhood is very much connected with the involvements and relationships which ma!e up my life. It is also very much connected with the particular meaning that is given to my life &y my self?image. >et us consider in detail these various aspects of human personhood. The Person as Historical I e%perience my personal self in terms of 1my life,1 that conte%t of personal history which is always there in the &ac!ground of my awareness. ;verything that happens to me is part of this life. It includes various dimensions= ?a past. My past is made up of everything that is the &asis for what I e%perience now. It includes those past e%periences which have left a permanent mar! on my life, those in-uences from my family and culture which have permanently aected me as well as those signicant decisions which I have made in the past. ?a future. My future is made up of everything that I reach out for. It includes the goals of my life, what it is that I want, what it is that I am concerned a&out, and that which is important in my life. +s a person I e%ist as someone reaching out toward these goals and values and concerns. ?a present. My present is made up of the concrete situation that I am now in with its e%pectations, moods and meanings. This is the situation where, in-uenced &y my past and responding to present in-uences, I decisively move forward. This total situation ma!es up who I am as a historical person. If I wished to reveal my inner self to a friend I would tend to present these three dimensions. I would tell this friend a&out
my e%periences of the past. I would spea! up my hopes for the future. I would spea! of the challenges of my present situation and the decisions that I am in the process of ma!ing. +s a person I am not someone who has these three dimensions &ut I am the dimensions themselves. I am my life,/ my history. The Person as Relatedness +nother form that the person/ ta!es is that of relatedness. 9ere the reality of my self is found in the relationships that are found in my life. "ho am I# I am this individual who is involved in concrete relationships with my family, my friends, my co?wor!ers and my
The comple%ity of the self raises several 7uestions. "hat is the relationship of these various forms# Is one form of the self more &asic than the others# Is one of these forms more true than the others#