Module 1 Paper

MODULE 1 PAPER – GED101

There are three major factors or views that influence and shaped me: (1) multi-dimensional factors, (2) philosophical view of Immanuel Kant, and (3) scientific views regarding social sciences. These different factors and views strongly influence and shape me into what kind of person I am now. All of this can be seen in my drawing wherein the outline is the girl which is me and inside them is the factors that contribute in shaping myself. Firstly, the multidimensional factors which consist of social, environmental, heredity, and person-volition. I learned that our self cannot be described using one trait because our self and identity are composed of multidimensional aspects that make us the products of these factors. In the drawing, the faces and icons of social media platforms represent the social factors. My peers, families, and classmates influence my interpersonal behavior such as being extrovert and helpful. However, my traits can be different depending on what kind of group of people is with me because I tend to apply what is more appropriate. Also, the environmental factor which was symbolized by the house, earth, flag, and trees, influences my emotional expressions such as being scared and cheerful. I was raised in an environment wherein there are a lot of joyful and positive people and that makes me into one of them. And ghost stories are also a trend in the province where I lived that makes me easily scared. Heredity was also one of the factors that contributes bigger to what I am now, and this was represented in the drawing by the DNA and chromosomes. Most of my physical appearance was inherited from my parents. Starting from my eyes, nose, and height which is from my father, while my hair and eye color are from my mom. These inherited traits strongly influence myself because this is what I look right now. On the other hand, some interpersonal behaviors and emotional expressions are also inherited from them such as being jealous (from my mother) and accommodating (from my father). I believe that the children are the younger version of the parents that is why I inherited a lot from them even if its physical, emotional, cognitive, or interpersonal traits. Also, person volition, which is represented by the brain and light bulb, has the biggest contribution among the four factors in the multidimensional aspects. This factor uses my free will to decide on what I want and set me apart and unique compare to other people. My own decisions influence myself because I think it would make me turn into an ideal person (e.g. possessing positive traits to be a good person and the way I dress to look pretty). Secondly, I imbibed the philosophical view of Immanuel Kant, a rationalist and empiricist, that helps me shape myself (represented by the arrow with an indication of in and out in the

drawing). I also believe that there an inner and outer self which unifies us to give consciousness. The inner self is where it includes rational intellect and psychological state, while the outer self includes the body and physical mind. Gaining knowledge can either be from our experiences (the things we do with our physical body) and reasons (the things we think logically). Sometimes, I become an empiricist wherein I tend to value my judgment based on what I see and experience. However, I also tend to become a rationalist wherein I gain knowledge through explanations of reasons, logic, and mathematics. I can say that there are certain situations wherein if you want to understand something you need to experience it yourself or you can just rely on things that are explained logically. Lastly, the scientific view that imbibed me is the social science which is about how a human function in the institutions and society. There are five (5) studies that contribute in understanding the self: psychology (represented by the brain), sociology (represented by faces), anthropology (represented by the skull), politics (represented by a number shaded for elections), and economics (represented by graph and money). Psychology helps me to understand my behavior. It also helps my self-awareness wherein I could know my strengths and weaknesses and the factors that might contribute to it. Sociology helps me to know the problems I might encounter socially, the impacts of my relationship on society, and how society shapes me. Anthropology helps me to deepen my understanding of how our ancestors impacted our generations in terms of physical character and culture. Political science enlightens me about my advocacies and ideologies in politics and political behavior and choices. And economics has helped me to shape my sense of self. In this module, I learned a lot of things about understanding the self. First, I learned that we cannot describe people only with one trait because our self and identity are composed of multidimensional aspects which are social, environmental, heredity, and person-volition. I realized that the one who influences me the most in these factors is the person-volition. Second, I learned and understand that the philosophical views about self, made by different philosopher are changing over time. This also enlightens me about the difference between empiricism (uses experience and observation) and rationalism (reasoning and logic) in terms of gaining knowledge. Lastly, I also learn that scientific studies also contributed to explaining self. I learned that there are two sciences: biological – explanation of human beings using biological context and social – explanation of human functioning within the society. Under the biological science contains neurophilosophy and

psychoneuroimmunology. On the other hand, social science contains psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science, and economics. It helps me to understand more about self using different perspective of explaining. In conclusion, module 1 of this course helped me in understanding myself. While making activities in this course, I get to know myself better. For example, the traits and characteristics I have and what factors influence me the most. Before, I do not give any realizations on how or where did I get that kind of trait or attitude, but now I know and understand the factors that influence me in shaping myself even if it’s good or bad. I was also contemplating if I was a rationalist or empiricist and after the discussions and activities, I became aware that maybe 40% part of me is an empiricist and 60% rationalist, that’s why I imbibed the view of Kant who is also both an empiricist and rationalist. Rationalist is higher than empiricist because most of the time, I make choices not only based on the present but also in the future and my life choices are not only based on what I have experienced.