GE3_Unit-I_Lesson-1-and-2.pdf

For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 No copies temporary or permanent, in whole or in part of this I.M. shall be made without written permission from the school. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 20...

For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 No copies temporary or permanent, in whole or in part of this I.M. shall be made without written permission from the school. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 South Cotabato State College Vision A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Mission Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. ii For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Learning Guide in GE 3: UNDERSTANDING THE SELF RUTH G. SILVERIO, MEd, LPT, RL Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page ii of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 FOREWORD Many of us were caught unprepared with the abrupt rise of this pandemic. The tasks and schedules that should be accomplished on time resulted to delays and confusions because of health and safety protocols being enforced to date. Commitments and obligations in teaching was aggravated by the suspension of many normal things, yet despite it, we as educators are bound to our duties to conquer the barriers and fulfill our duties and commitment in the teaching profession. Writing a module in haste is not an easy task. With the insufficient time allocated to organize thoughts and make the relevant research required as well as the other needed preparations, the task is so daunting and very difficult to finish perfectly. Surprisingly, writing the module taught many of us that there is so much to learn about adaptability and resilience; managing time efficiently and prioritizing this task to provide a learning alternative to students. The need for a module as an option for students to continue their studies will address the issue of online instruction by simply filling out the spaces and answering the questions in every topic and submitting the same to the concerned Instructor for checking and evaluation. Most of the students in SCSC are indigent and some are living in far flung areas that a simple stable internet connection is not a luxury they can afford. With that in mind, a blended learning approach of online and module lesson materials have been put together. To the students, may this module open your minds in wider horizons of intellectually stimulating your thought process and broaden your perspectives. Hoping that this module will serve the purpose for which it is written and that students will find it not a burden to comply with but an opportunity to think and learn, finally, with the highest aspirations of making a good contribution to our beloved institution in its function and mandate of providing quality education. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page iii of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The author extends utmost gratitude and thanks to the South Cotabato State College (SCSC), to the Office of the President, Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, the Dean's Office, General Education Department, for providing ample support in the preparation of this module learning guide. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page iv of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 ABOUT THE AUTHOR The author finished her undergraduate course of Bachelor of Arts Major in Library Science in 1993 from the Notre Dame of Marbel University (NDMU). She obtained her Masteral degree in Guimaras State University in 2022 for Master of Arts in Social Science. She was hired as an Academic Librarian for Kings College of Marbel, Inc. in 1993 and worked there until 1995. From 1997 and for the next 20 years, she tirelessly worked as a Librarian for Surallah National Agricultural School. As a licensed Librarian and Professional Teacher, she realizes that her love and passion for teaching is something that she needed to pursue in the academe. So, in 2017, the South Cotabato State College hired her as a faculty where RUTH G. SILVERIO, MEd, LPT, RL she presently holds the position of an Assistant Professor III. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page v of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 TABLE OF CONTENTS Vision..………………………………..………………………………………………i Mission …..……………………...……………………………………………………i Title Page.……………………………..……………………………………..………ii Foreword...…………………….……...……………………………………...……. iii Acknowledgement …….……………………..………………………………..… iv About the Author………….….……...……………………………………....…… v Table of Contents……..……………………..…………………………………… vi Introduction.……...…………………….……...…………………………………. vii Evaluation ……...…………………….………...………………………………... viii UNIT 1: THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES 1 Lesson 1: Meet and Greet: My Home, My School 2 Lesson 2: Philosophical Perspective 6 Lesson 3: Sociological Perspective 16 Lesson 4: Comparison of Eastern and Western Perspective 22 UNIT 2: UNPACKING THE SELF 27 Lesson 1: Physical Self: The Beautiful Me 30 Lesson 2: The Sexual Self 36 Lesson 3: Material and Economic Self 46 Lesson 4: Spiritual Self 52 Lesson 5: Political Self Lesson 6: Digital Self 60 UNIT 3: MANAGING AND CARING FOR SELF 67 Lesson 1: Learning to be a Better Student 75 Lesson 2: Setting Goals for Success 83 Lesson 3: The Need for Self-Care and Compassion 94 Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page vi of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 INTRODUCTION The course Understanding the Self (GE 3) is intended to facilitate the exploration of the issues and concerns regarding self and identity to arrive at a better understanding of oneself. It combines the wisdom of prominent figures in the areas of philosophy, psychology, sociology, anthropology as well as Eastern and Western thoughts to provide answers to the questions “who am I?” and “what am I?”. Students will analyze how understanding oneself is the most interesting and challenging task as an individual should be able to achieve in a lifetime, as well as they will establish an adequate knowledge on the different and several information about themselves from various perspectives – time: their past, present and future self; dimensional: their physical, emotional mental, social and spiritual self; and functional: their political, material, economic, and digital self. This lesson material is made to meet the lesson objectives by stressing the integration of the personal and with the academic-contextualizing matters discussed in this new normal platform of learning and in everyday experiences of students. The author put together this module while keeping in mind the making for better learning, generating a new appreciation for the learning process, and developing a more critical and reflective attitude while enabling them to manage and improve their selves to attain a better quality of life. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page vii of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 EVALUATION To pass the course, you must: 1. Attend classes at all times. Participate in the class lessons related activities, and discussions. 2. Read all the required reading materials like the supplementary readings and answer the self-assessment activities, quizzes, journals, and reflection questions. 3. Answer the print-based discussion activities on your Journal. 4. Follow the submission date (for midterm and finals) projects. 5. Do the midterm and final examinations Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page viii of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 UNIT 1 THE SELF FROM VARIOUS PERSPECTIVES Self-identity is how you identify and define yourself. It is your perception of specific and selective traits, qualities, abilities, and characteristics that represent you. Your self- identity is a combination of personality traits, abilities, physical attributes, interests, hobbies, and/or social roles from your personal identity that you specifically selected to identify yourself. It is also your perspective of your personal identity. You may not perceive or value some traits that make up your personal identity, so you do not incorporate them as part of your self-identity. Simply put, personal identity is who you are, while self-identity is who you see or define yourself to be. At the end of this unit, you will be able to: 1. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from various disciplinal perspectives 2. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across the different disciplines and perspectives 3. Examine the different influences, factors, and forces that shapes the self 4. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the development of oneself Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 1 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 LESSON 1: Meet and Greet: My Home, My School In college, you are expected to do something for the whole community and even at home. You are now a freshman student. Can you identify the things that you expect to do for the community and for the school? At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: 1. Understand the vision and mission, core values and ideology of the school 2. Explain the program and the school’s vision-mission statements and objectives 3. Demonstrate self-understanding and self-acceptance Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 2 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 South Cotabato State College Core Values Wisdom Excellence Service Efficiency Resilience Virtue Environmentalism Ideology The South Cotabato State College upholds Integrity, Accuracy, Innovation, Profitability, and dedication as its prime virtues, elicit students and staff’s best potential, advocates academic excellence at all times, and performs as a solid arm of the national government in its agricultural development goals. Goals and Objectives To ensure the training of productive and competitive graduates in agriculture and other related disciplines, SCSC has the following goals/objectives: Strengthen and pursue vigorously the instruction and training in the thrust areas of agriculture and allied sciences in order to develop globally- competitive middle and high level/or manage the industries, enterprises, government and non- government agencies. Ensure provision of state-of–the-art instructional facilities, equipment, and infrastructure projects. Conduct sustainable technological researches relevant to the needs of the community to advance rural development. Transfer technology through the conduct of trainings that will promote engagement to productive enterprise Achieve dynamic management through innovative approach in the areas of human resource, budget and finance operation, and general services. Attain sustainable production and management of high-value industrial crops, poultry and livestock Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 3 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Maintain morally strong, committed, responsive and dynamic manpower in order to effectively carry out balanced curricular development programs Innovate entrepreneurship through managing sustainable enterprises Promote progress through continuing rural development Implement comprehensive and centralized student registration services and academic coursework delivery support using innovative information technology Provide accurate and reliable services to students and other college personnel by efficiently and integrity To institutionalize the SCSC Guidance and Counseling Services (GSC) Center Provide a premier instructional support services through Knowledge Resource Center and seamless access to information in all formats to enrich teaching, learning, research, and personal growth of its clienteles. Provide scholarship services to Academic and Non Academic scholars Promote better understanding of the culture that is distinctively of recognition of other cultures by initiating some social courses presentation and preservation To achieve these goals/objectives, the College is guided with the following: Academic Programs. Achieving academic excellence through instruction and relevant curricular offerings. Student welfare. Assistance and support to greater majority of the students Faculty and Staff welfare. Wholesome working atmosphere for competent and satisfied faculty and staff members as dedicated public servant contributing in national development. Infrastructure and facilities. Additional and/or renovation of existing buildings and facilities to complement growth on programs and activities Research and development. Viable R and D activities on……. Fiscal management and resource generation. Augmenting the college appropriations and efficient fiscal management through viable income generating activities and resource generations. Administration. Competent and hardworking college officials, faculty members and non-teaching personnel to carry out priorities and thrusts in contributing on the national agenda on higher- education program. Note: for further readings please refer on the Student Handbook Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 4 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Write an essay about your expectations of the class course, the teacher, classmates, and the school. Answer the following questions about yourself as fully and precisely as you can in your writing journal. 1. How would you characterize yourself? 2. What makes you stand out from the rest? What makes yourself special? 3. How do you define “self-understanding” and “self-acceptance” pertaining to self- identity? Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 5 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 LESSON 2: Philosophical Perspective Our names represent who we are. Our names signify us. However, the name is not the person itself no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. It is only a signifier. Self is thought to be more than the name. Self is something that a person perennially molds, shapes, and develops. The self is not static. Understanding oneself is one of the most underrated topics. It is also deemed irrelevant by some because they think that it is already given that one knows himself or herself. But have you experienced a scenario where you do not know what to do? Maybe some of you were confronted to the decision whether you are going to sleep or you are going to eat? Seems simple but there are numerous instances where we really do not know what to do simply because we do not understand ourselves. This fact leads to the conclusion that understanding oneself needs careful attention. This lesson will give us a background on how philosophers viewed the self. At the end of this lesson, you will be able to: 1. Discuss the different representations and conceptualizations of the self from various philosophical perspectives. 2. Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across the different disciplines and perspectives 3. Examine the different influences, factors, and forces that shapes the self 4. Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the development of oneself Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 6 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 PERSPECTIVES OF FAMOUS PHILOSOPHERS ABOUT THE SELF Socrates One of the greatest and wisest philosophers in the world is from Athens, Greece. In the world of skeptics who claimed that knowledge is uncertain, relative and unreliable, there is Socrates who is committed to the pursuit of truth by means of argumentation. Socrates was successful in defending that knowledge can be certain, reliable, and stable through building the edifice of knowledge. The foundation of knowledge is found within oneself. The interior life is the seat of a unique activity which is the activity of knowing and eventually leading to the activity of doing, thus the person who knows what is right will do what is right. To further explain this activity Socrates developed the idea of the soul, or psyche. The soul is not meant to mean as a ghostly character that is inside each person, but rather it is a capacity of each person for intelligence and character. The soul is the person’s conscious personality. Socrates further described that the soul is "that within us by virtue of which we are pronounced as wise or foolish, good or bad." The soul is the personality structure, and its activity is to know and influence or even direct and govern the daily conduct of a person. He also claimed that the greatest duty of the individual is the proper care of our soul in order to "make the soul as good as possible." Once we understand the difference between truth and imagination, we take better care of our souls, and therefore base our thoughts on a knowledge of what human life really is like. Having acquired such knowledge, those who care properly for their soul shall conduct their behavior accordingly. In a nutshell, Socrates was primarily concerned with the good life, and not with mere contemplation. For Socrates, knowledge and virtue were the same thing. If virtue has to do with “making the soul as good as possible” it is first necessary to know what makes the soul good. Therefore, goodness and knowledge are closely related. But Socrates said more about morality than simply this. He in fact identified goodness and knowledge, saying that to know the good is to do the good, that knowledge is virtue. For Socrates virtue meant fulfilling one’s function. As a rational being, a person’s function is to behave rationally. At the same time, every human being has the inescapable desire for happiness or the wellbeing of his or her soul. This inner well-being, this, “making the soul as good as possible,” can be achieved only by certain appropriate types of behavior. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 7 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Because we have a desire for happiness, we choose our acts with the hope that they will bring us happiness. Which acts, or what behavior, will produce happiness? Socrates knew that some forms of behavior appear to produce happiness, but in reality, do not. For this reason, we frequently choose acts that may in themselves be questionable but that we nevertheless think it will bring us happiness. Thieves may know that stealing as such is wrong, but they steal in the hope that it will bring them happiness. Similarly, we pursue power, physical pleasure, and property, which are the symbols of success and happiness, confusing these with the true ground of happiness. Plato When Plato’s teacher (Socrates) was executed because of impiety, he developed a very comprehensive philosophy in his Republic. In the Republic, Plato’s conception of the Self can be found. According to Plato, the Self which has a soul that is imprisoned in the body, and is composed of three parts, which he calls reason, spirit, and appetite. Everyone experiences an internal conflict or confusion and he analyzed that this confusion was caused by three different kinds of activity going inside the person. First internal activity is the person’s awareness of a goal or a value of something--the act of reason. Second internal activity is the drive toward action--the spirit. Last internal activity is the desire for the satisfaction of the physical body--the appetite. These three activities are ascribed to the soul, thus, Self, according to Plato is moving, deciding and acting because of the Soul. The physical body for Plato is just a typical inanimate object like stone, water, house, which will not move without a soul. Therefore, the soul is the principle of life and movement of the body. The body can be equated to a car where it will not move without a force exerted into it, that is, the body needs a soul for it to move. What makes the self- move and alive is the three components of the soul--reason, spirit and appetite without it the body will become inanimate. The function of reason which is the rational part of the soul is to find the goal of human life and govern appetite and spirit by evaluating things according to their true nature. The function of spirit is to direct the self towards the love for honor and victory, the appetite (passion) on the other hand directs the self to the physical pleasures of the body. The self sometimes follows appetite over reason because we confuse appearance and reality, that is, we think physical pleasure will always give us long lasting happiness. Plato calls this ignorance. Similar to what Socrates said that the cause of moral evil is ignorance. The self to have peace, order, and happiness he or she must use reason over appetite and spirit. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 8 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 St. Augustine St. Augustine’s philosophy connotes spiritual grounding since he is a medieval philosopher. Plato’s philosophy is quite different from St. Augustine because of St. Augustine’s belief in the Supreme Being. For Plato the world came about when the Demiurge combined the Forms and the receptacle, for St. Augustine on the other hand the world was created by God ex nihilo (out of nothing). All things, including humans owe their existence to God. St. Augustine believed that the ultimate goal of human behavior is happiness, that is, we are made in such a way that we seek happiness. It can be concluded that for St. Augustine the self is always driven to find happiness, but how can the self- achieve happiness? Since humans are created by God, humans bear a mark from God, and because of this we have a permanent relation to God. The relation is, God is the creator and humans are the creation; God is independent, humans are dependent; God is complete, humans are incomplete and because of this incompleteness and finitude, we seek happiness. Happiness can only be found through God who is independent, complete, and infinite, according to St. Augustine. To find happiness humans must love, love involves reaching outside ourselves, and fastening our attention on an object of love, it can be things, persons, or oneself. Our object of love can give us satisfaction and happiness but the problem is everyone expects happiness and fulfillment from love, yet some are unhappy, miserable and suffering. Augustine places the blame on "disordered" love, which is the reality that we value different stuff more than we should, thus refusing to dedicate our absolute love and loyalty to God. St. Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas is a theologian and philosopher who Christianized the philosophy of Aristotle. Like the previous philosophers Aquinas also believed that the human person is a composite of body and soul. A person is a physical substance underscored the substantial unity of human nature. It is the soul that gives us life, understanding and special and unique physical features. The soul is responsible for our human capacity for sensation and the powers of intellect and will. The intellect is our greatest human ability, making us logical creatures and giving us the means to achieve the contemplation of God. The special attribute of the person is to exist and function as a rational creature. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 9 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 As a rational creature we are able to fulfill our end or purpose, according to Aquinas human person has two ends or goals which are natural end and supernatural end. Natural ends are those goals related to human nature itself which is also the basis of a person's moral obligations. These are preservation of life, propagation of species, the search for truth. Our supernatural end is our ultimate end in God. Rene Descartes Rene Descartes is famously known as a rationalist (someone who believes that reason is the basis of knowledge and self) and the Father of Modern Philosophy. His famous dictum is the cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) or known as the methodic doubt. In this dictum he doubted the existence of the world because there is a possibility that he is just dreaming that the world is a product of one’s dream. Someone might say that it is very illogical to doubt the existence of the world because in this world we are capable of experiencing pain, but Descartes says that we are also capable of experiencing pain in our dreams, thus, pain will not prove that the world is true. For Descartes we can only disprove the reality of dreams upon waking. Descartes also doubted God for there is a possibility that God is also part of his dream, but one thing is very certain, that is, there is someone doubting the existence and reality of the world and God. The one doing the doubting is definitely thinking, and that thinking self (I) is definitely real because he cannot doubt that there is someone doubting or thinking because a person cannot doubt without thinking. This led him to the conclusion that the Self exists for it connotes that if someone is doubting there is someone doing the thinking (doubting). Eventually, led him to conclude that the world and God does exist. Since he proved the existence of the Self (I), it is worth knowing what is the nature of this self. Descartes believed that the Self is composed of body and soul (mind), which led him to the philosophy of dualism--the notion that there are two different kinds of substances in nature that are totally independent of each other. Thus, for Descartes to know something about the mind is totally independent of the body. Meaning, we can thoroughly understand the mind without any reference to the body and vice versa. Descartes holds that many activities of the human body are mechanical, that is, without mental involvement like respiration, digestion, circulation of blood and excretion of waste. He believed that body movements are similar to movements of animals because animals for him are not capable of thinking, all of their actions are not caused by mental faculties. For him, animals are machines. But, unlike animals, humans can think because of their soul (mind). It is very evident that there is a separation of mind and body for Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 10 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Descartes. When he defined “what I am” as “a thing which thinks’’ he says that a “thinking thing is a thing which doubts, understands, affirms, denies, wills, refuses, and which also imagines and feels.” This definition implies that the mind is the seat of consciousness. David Hume David Hume was a British empiricist. He was someone who believed that ideas and knowledge come from experience; as an empiricist, he is very confident that experience can give us reliable and certain knowledge. His philosophy of the self affirms the separation of body and mind, for him the body is just confined to where it is but the mind can roam around to different and distant places of the planet. Although the mind/thoughts are boundless, it is limited only to the information given by the senses and experience of the body. Thus, the mind can only know the things that the body experienced. The total content of the mind is composed of impressions and ideas. The difference between the two is just a matter of vividness. The moment a person experiences something like seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling an elephant, that original perception is called impression. These impressions are vivid and lively. The memory and reflection of seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling an elephant are ideas. Ideas are less lively and less vivid versions of impressions. Without impression there are no ideas therefore all our ideas are from sense impressions. For David Hume, what the self knows is based from his or her experiences. But it doesn’t mean that all ideas are existing in the real world like unicorns, flying horses, and all the imaginary beings. We have these ideas because the mind can compound and transpose impressions given by the senses. David Hume denied that we have any idea of self, this seems unbelievable but he asked the question “from what impression could this (self) idea be derived?” For him, there is no single impression of the self that is not related to others, the impression is always in relation to other things. He says, “I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception and never can observe anything but the perception.” Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 11 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Immanuel Kant Immanuel Kant was the critical mediator of rationalist philosophers and empiricists philosophers. Kant holds that knowledge is acquired through the complementary relationship between mind and body. The inner self is comprised of our psychological state and our rational intellect. Persons are able to have a unified grasp of the world because the mind is able to process the impressions given to our senses into a coherent and related set of elements. This process implies a unity of the body and mind, thus the unity of the self. The person senses an object, remembers its characteristic then imposes the forms of time and space and the categories of causality. If these activities were not a unified experience in a single subject, then there could be no knowledge, what we could have is just sensation and memory. For Kant, the SELF is the single subject that is able to unify the sense experience and impositions of the mind, that is, the transcendental unity of apperception. Gilbert Ryle Gilbert Ryle is a 20th century analytic philosopher who authored the book entitled The Concept of Mind. He discussed in this book the errors committed by different philosophers regarding the dichotomy of mind and body. For him the mind-body dualism of Descartes is unsound and contradicts our knowledge about human mentality. The self is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient name that we use to refer to the behaviors that we make. In our everyday experience, we act and speak as if we have much more direct knowledge of other minds and what they’re thinking without having to go through this tortured and artificial reasoning process. We encounter others, experience the totality of their behavior, and believe that this behavior reveals directly “who” they are and what they’re thinking. Ryle goes on to analyze how this apparent conflict between the theory of Cartesian dualism (“the ghost in the machine”) and our everyday experience of others is actually the result of confused conceptual thinking, a logical error that he terms a “category mistake.” Thus, Ryle offered a new perspective in dealing with these concepts, by defining the self through observable behavior. For him, the self is basically our bodily behavior. Ryle called this dogma as logical behaviorism--the theory that talk of mental events should be translated into talk about observable behavior. For Descartes it is “I think, therefore I am” but for Gilbert Ryle it is “I act, therefore I am”. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 12 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Maurice Merleau-Ponty Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenologist (someone who believes that all knowledge of ourselves and our world are based on the phenomena of experience) who offers a theory of perception in reaction to the dualism of Descartes. The main theme of Merleau-Ponty’s theory is the primacy of perception. For Merleau-Ponty, “the perceptual nature of our bodies constructs and shapes sensory data; our higher mental functions play no such role. All consciousness is perceptual, even the consciousness of ourselves”. Thus, The Self is an embodied subject. To explain it further, for him the self is the body, meaning the self cannot separate itself (mental subject) to the body. The mental aspect of the self is embedded in the physical body. This self is capable of conscious human experience. Paul Churchland The philosopher Paul Churchland acknowledges that a simple identity formula— mental states = brain states—is a flawed way in which to conceptualize the relationship between the mind and the brain. Instead, we need to develop a new, neuroscience-based vocabulary that will enable us to think and communicate clearly about the mind, consciousness, and human experience. He refers to this view as ‘eliminative materialism’. Churchland’s central argument is that the concepts and theoretical vocabulary we use to think about ourselves—using such terms as belief, desire, fear, sensation, pain, joy—actually misrepresent the reality of minds and selves. Eliminative materialists believe that we need to develop a new vocabulary and conceptual framework that is ground in neuroscience that will be a more accurate reflection of the human mind and self. He said that “The physical brain and not the imaginary mind give us our sense of self”. Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 13 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 Write a word/phrase that best describes the philosophy of the self of each of the following philosophers. 1. Socrates 2. Plato 3. St. Augustine 4. St. Thomas Aquinas 5. Rene Descartes 6. David Hume 7. Immanuel kant 8. Gilbert Ryle 9. Maurice Merleau-Ponty 10. Paul Churchland Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 14 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development. For instructional purposes only 1st Semester SY 2024-2025 As a student, what is the importance of having a philosophy of the self? Describe who you are, the meaning of your life, the purpose of your existence, and how to achieve a happy and successful life. What are your characteristics that can contribute to your happiness and success? Vision: A premier technological Institution in Agriculture and allied sciences in the region. Page 15 of 102 Mission: Advancing agriculture, allied sciences, and technological development through production, research, extension, management, instruction, entrepreneurship for rural development.