CENTRAL MINDANAO UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

DEPARTMENT OF VETERINARY MEDICINE

PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVE’S SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION NARRATIVE

A Course Requirement on

GEC 11 – Understanding the Self

DVM 1C

Submitted by:

FEROLIN, JASPER KENT M.

LISBOS, KARYL ABEGAIL A.

MALAGAMBA, CYNTHIA MAY A.

REYES, KYNA KAYE D.

TAGABI, JOHN WALTER V.

Submitted to:

OFELIA V. VILLANUEVA, RPm

Instructor

1st Semester, SY 2021 – 2022

 NARRATIVE REPORT

"Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses." This quote from John
Locke, one of those who made an influential presentation of empiricism, arises from our
ability to think. Perceptions are given by our bodily senses and that's why in order for us
to acquire knowledge, we must be able to perceive it. Locke views this as the primary
source of all and could be a key towards understanding ourselves together with our
consciousness. But what can really be Locke's claim about this? What were his
thoughts regarding the perspective of 'self'?

Last Monday, we had a small group discussion about a certain political theorist
and an English philosopher, John Locke. We started our discussion by digging up some
of his basic information. We ascertained that he was born on the 29th of August 1632 in
Wrington, United Kingdom and is widely renowned for the development of liberalism as
well as laying the groundwork for enlightenment. Thereafter, we further illustrated his
background and found out that he published a series of writings and even advocated a
theory concerning human understanding. Furthermore, through the essays and a bunch
of other information, we were able to share our insights specifically at Locke's
perspectives about 'self'. In addition, one of us put forward the term "Tabula Rasa",
denoting that the human mind at birth is a blank slate. We thought of some examples
that could present this and talked about how a paper can represent us. Moreover, we
talk about how we are 'empty' and as we go on in our lives, those spaces fill up
gradually. Additionally, one of us even talked about a movie that mostly has the same
concept of what we were discussing about. What the movie tackled can be applied to us
since knowing nothing from the beginning is completely temporary and as we grow,
knowledge also does. After that we thought of what Locke's claim of self really is. One
of us discussed that the essence of self is its conscious awareness and that the self is a
thinking intelligent being that is able to reason, reflect and have a concept of our
personal identity. We conversed about it and maybe it was for us to find out what it
means to be a person. Other than that we put across about how before knowledge is
committed as a memory, it starts from the sensations that were perceived similar as to
what we call as experiences. As a group we also thought about times when we simply
just exist in the experiences in our life and are not consciously aware that we are in that
situation. That made us realize the huge role that consciousness and awareness take
part in for us to really be able to understand ourselves.

In conclusion, further intellect can mostly be acquired in some manner in the

senses that forms our consciousness. Furthermore, in order for us to know what really
self is, we must perceive what we are as a person first and as a being who can reflect,
think, and has the ability to reason, we are able to gather different experiences and
knowledge from different situations and events in our lives. By that, along with our
consciousness and awareness that was melded from our experiences, we can truly
understand and identify what self is. This refers to John Locke's quote and answers our
question about the philosopher's idea of what self really is and as well as to ours.
Finally, our group decided to call a halt to our Small Group Discussion.