Villafranca, Nezza Mariz P.

Understanding the Self

CLOCA – H131 August 22, 2019

Which of the Philosophy of the Self relates to your own belief and explain how each view impact your self –
understanding? What is your own philosophy of the self?

The philosophy of the self that relates to my own belief is John Locke’s philosophy of the self. Locke said
that Self-consciousness is necessary to have a coherent personal (self) identity or knowledge of the self as a person.
Consciousness is what makes possible our belief that we are the same identity in different situations. I relate to
this because in my own opinion we need our consciousness to be able to understand the things we encounter and
the things that happens in our everyday lives. For example, for me I had the so – called ‘self’ when I gained my
consciousness or when I got matured or let’s say the years that really opened my eyes. It is when I entered my
freshman year in high school or Grade 7.

In this year I learned about myself more, like the things I am interested with, the things that I love doing, the
things that I hate doing, I also learned the kind of people or peers I want to be with. In these years I already know
in myself that I don’t want myself to get involved in anything that is not right such as getting in trouble with my
friends or peers or cutting classes that results of bad grades and can also affect my academic performance. I didn’t
want that for myself therefore I will choose my friends and peers wisely or simply just being friends and civil
with them and not get involved in their way of fun anymore especially when it is something that I believe that is
not right for my age and not something that I should be associated with.

As John Locke stated that the self, or self identity, is constructed primarily from sense experiences – or more
specifically what we see, hear, smell, taste and feel. These experiences shape and mold the self throughout a
person’s life. Because also in my own belief we construct ourselves through this experiences for example my
sense of smell, I know what scent I like or I hate, specifically I like the strawberry and vanilla scent and on the
other hand I hate strong smells such as mint car air fresheners etc.
In my sense of feelings it changes my attitude or mood on a specific day especially when I am at my most down
moments for example when I am on my ‘that day of the month’ as what we girls call it there are times that I am
in a bad mood like I would be such in a bad mood that I will be angry at small things even the things that can be
considered when you’re on your normal mood I’m making it like it is such a big deal that actually causes my
whole day to be ruined. I would also sometimes be mad or irritated by the people around me most specifically my
siblings even if they are just simply doing, they’re own things or just lightly glancing at me.

Although these types of moments don’t really define the kind of self or self – consciousness that I have it is part
of molding the self or myself throughout my life. Through this I am constructing myself everyday to become or
achieve my better self.

In my own humble opinion my senses such as seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and feelings changes my point of
view or perspective in life all the time as I see new things and new trends it changes what I like or it adds something
to my likes and dislikes which makes us our own unique self as we mold or make ourselves feel fulfilled and
completed.