INTERWORLD COLLEGES FOUNDATION, INC

Burgos St., Paniqui, Tarlac

S.Y 2022-2023/ First Semester

COURSE MODULE

Credit: 3 units

Course Code: GE1

Student’s Name _______________________________________Student Number ________________

Course / Year _______________________________________
Schedule: ______________ (days ) ______________( time) _______________(room)

LEAH M. AZMI
Instructor
 INSTITUTIONAL VMGO
VISION
A model of performing formal learning institution where students are provided with
flexible, accessible, and equitable education resulting to a higher level of literacy, development
of critical thinking, creative thinking, and effective decision-making skills as prerequisites for
lifelong learning.
MISSION
ICF is committed to the wholesome development of every learner who is expected to
demonstrate exemplary competence and productivity by providing an efficient and effective
administration of its programs and instructions.

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

In the realization of learning standards prescribed by the national educational agencies
and other stakeholders, ICF sets its contextualized goals and objectives grounded on human
development and learner-centered curriculum; therefore, we aim to:

1. Provide knowledge and develop skills, attitudes, and values essential to personal
development necessary for living in a continuously changing environment and diverse
society;
2. Discover and enhance the different aptitudes and interests of students in order to equip
them with skills for productive endeavor and or to prepare them for higher learning
opportunities;
3. Provide general education programs which will promote national identity, cultural
enrichment, moral integrity, spiritual vigor, respect of human rights, and personal
discipline;
4. Promote work experiences which develop orientation to the world of work and prepare
the learners to engage in honest and gainful work;
5. Facilitate learning for diverse types of learners, in diverse types of learning environment
using a wide range of instructional and assessment techniques.

CORE VALUES
 DILIGENCE
 SPIRITUALITY
 PATRIOTISM
 RESILIENCY
 HONESTY
 SELF RELIANCE
 PERSISTENCE
 INTEGRITY
 TRANSPARENCY
 BROTHERHOOD
 COURSE DESCRIPTION
The General Education Curriculum for tertiary education includes a core course called Understanding the
Self. The purpose of it is to assist the students in comprehending the nature of identity, including the elements that
affect and shape individual identities.
This course is divided into three (3) major parts.
1. It gives the students the chance to comprehend the concept of the self from a variety of angles,
including psychology, anthropology, sociology, and the more conventional distinction between
the East and the West. It asks, among other things, "Is there such a thing as the self?" as it
aims to address the challenging but crucial question of "What is the self?"

2. The second section examines some of the numerous components of the self, ranging from the
biological, material, spiritual, political and digital self.

3. The third part identifies three areas of concern for young students: learning, goal setting, and
managing stress. It provides for the more practical application of the concepts discussed in this
course and enables them to get the hands-on experience of developing self-help plans for self-
regulated learning, goal setting, and self-care.
Finally, this field of research places a strong emphasis on the fundamental subjects of population
education and family planning.

COURSE OBJECTIVES
The Self from Various Perspective
1.Explain why it is essential to understand the self.
2.Compare and contrast how the self has been represented across different disciplines and perspectives;
3.Examine the different influences, factors, and forces that shape the self;
4.Demonstrate critical and reflective thought in analyzing the development of one’s self and identity by
developing a theory of the self.
Unpacking the Self
5. Explore the different aspects of self and identity;
6. Demonstrate critical, reflective thought in integrating the various aspects of self and identity;
7. Identify the different forces and institutions that impact the development of various aspects of self and
identity;
8. Examine one’s self against the different aspects of self-discussed in class.
Managing and Caring for the Self
9. Understand the theoretical underpinnings for how to manage and care for the different aspects of the
self;
10. Acquire and hone new skills and learning for better managing of one’s self and behaviors;
11. Apply these new skills to one’s self and functioning for a better quality of life.

GRADING SYSTEM
To pass the course, a student must attain at least 75% rating based on the criteria given below.
CRITERIA PERCENTAGE
Preliminary Examination 15%
Midterm Examination 15%
Final Examination 15%
Module Activities / Class Standing 25%
Required Learning Output 30%
 LESSON 1
FEELING PROUD OF MYSELF

Lesson Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. explain why it is essential to understand the self;
2. examine one’s self against the different views of the self.

Introduction:
Before we even had to be in any formal institution of learning, among the things that we were first
taught as kids to articulate and write our names. Growing up, we were told to refer back to this name
when talking about ourselves. Our parents painstakingly thought about our names. Should we be
named after a famous celebrity, a respected politician or historical personality, or even a saint?
A name is not the person itself, no matter how intimately bound it is with the bearer. Our names represent who
we are; they are only signifiers. and his name. Even death cannot break the bond between a person and his
name. Names are inscribed even on one’s gravestone   A person who is named after a saint most probably will
not become an actual saint. He may not even turn out to be saintly. "The self" is thought to be something else
than the name. "The self" is something that a person perennially molds, shapes, and develops. The self is not a
static thing that one is simply born with, like a mole on one’s face or is just assigned by one’s parents just like a
name. Everyone is tasked with discovering themselves. Have you truly discovered yours?

INTERWORLD COLLEGES FOUNDATION, INC.

Burgos St., Paniqui, Tarlac

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

S.Y. 2022 – 2023 / First Sem.
College Department

Name _______________________________________ Rating __________

Course / Year _________________________________ Date Issued___________
Date Submitted -
___________
Activity 1 Describe yourself in the most original and creative way possible
Rubrics Scoring

Contents / Articulation 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Communicates with mastery, enthusiasm, ease, and confidence 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

Speaks with proper voice projection, volume, clear delivery, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0

gestures and expression

SCORE _________

LEAH M. AZMI
Instructor
 INTERWORLD COLLEGES FOUNDATION, INC.
Burgos St., Paniqui, Tarlac

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

S.Y. 2022 – 2023 / First Sem.
College Department

Name _______________________________________ Rating __________

Course / Year _________________________________ Date Issued___________
Date Submitted _____________
Activity 2

Attempt to recall your favorite song. If you have a favorite part, write and explain why do you like it and
connect it to your life.
Write inside the box only.

Scoring Rubrics:
contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________
clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

LYKA JOBELLE S. MEDINA

Instructor

LESSON 2
THE SELF FROM THE VARIOUS
PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

Lesson Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. describe and discuss the different notions of the self from the point-of-view of the various
philosophers across time and place;
2. compare and contrast how the self has been represented in different philosophical schools.

Introduction
The history of
the self. Along with the question of the primary substratum that defines the multiplicity of things in
the world, the inquiry on the self has preoccupied the earliest thinkers in the history of philosophy: the
Greeks. The Greeks were the ones who seriously questioned myths and moved away from them in attempting
to understand the reality and respond to perennial questions of curiosity, including the question of the self. The
different perspectives and views on the self can be best seen and understood by revisiting its prime movers and
identify the most important conjectures made by philosophers from the ancient times to the contemporary
period.

Socrates and Plato

Prior to Socrates, the Greek thinkers, sometimes collectively called the Pre-
Socratics to denote that some of them preceded Socrates while others existed around
Socrates’ time as well, preoccupied themselves with the question of the primary
substratum, arche’ that explains the multiplicity of things in the world. These men like
Thales, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Empedocles, to name a few, were
concerned with explaining what the world is really made up of, why the world is so, and
what explains the changes that they observed around them. Tired of simply conceding to
mythological accounts propounded by poet-theologians like Homer and Hesiod, these men endeavored to
finally locate an explanation about the nature of change, the seeming permanence despite change, and the unity
of the world amidst its diversity.
 After a series of thinkers from all across the ancient Greek world who were disturbed by the same issue,
a man came out to question something else. This man was Socrates. Unlike the Pre-Socratics, Socrates was
more concerned with another subject, “the problem of the self ”. He was the first philosopher who ever
engaged in a systematic questioning about the self. To Socrates, this has become his life-long mission, the true
task of a philosopher is to know oneself.

Plato claimed in his dialogs that Socrates affirmed that the unexamined life is not worth living. During
his trial for allegedly corrupting the minds of the youth and for impiety, Socrates declared without regret that
his being indicted was brought about by his going around Athens engaging men, young and old, to question
their presuppositions about themselves and about the world, particularly about who they are. Socrates took it
upon himself to serve as a “gadfly” that disturbed Athenian men from their slumber and shook them off in order
to reach the truth and wisdom. Most men, in his reckoning, were really not fully aware of who they were and
the virtues that they were supposed to attain in order to preserve their souls for the afterlife. Socrates thought
that this is the worst that can happen to anyone: to live but die inside.

For Socrates, every man is composed of body and soul. This means that every human
person is dualistic, that is, he is composed of two important aspects of his personhood. For
Socrates, this means that all individuals have an imperfect, impermanent aspect to him, and the
body, while maintaining that there is also a soul that is perfect and permanent.

Plato was Socrates’s student, basically took of from his master and supports the idea
that man is a dual nature of body and soul. In addition to what Socrates earlier espoused, Plato
added that here are three components of the soul: the rational souls, the spirited soul, and the appetitive soul. In
o his magnum opus, “The Republic”, Plato emphasizes that justice in the human person can only be attained if
the three part of the souls are working harmoniously with one another. The rational soul forged by reason and
intellectual has to govern the affairs of the human person, the spirited part which is in charge of emotions
should be kept at bay, and the appetitive soul is in charge of base desires like eating, drinking, sleeping, and
having sex are controlled as well. When this ideal state is attained, then the human person’s soul becomes just
and virtuous.

Augustine and Thomas Aquinas

Augustine’s view of the human person reflects the entire spirit of the medieval
world when its comes to man. Following the ancient view of Plato and infusing it
with newfound doctrine of Christianity, Augustine agreed that man is of a bifurcated
nature. An aspect of man dwells in the world and is imperfect and continuously
yearns to be with the Divine and the other is capable of reaching immortality.

The body is bound to die on earth and the soul is to anticipate living eternally in a
Augustine realm of spiritual bliss in communion with God. This is because the body can
only thrive in the imperfect, physical reality that is the world, whereas the soul can
also stay after death in an eternal realm with the all-transcendent God. The goal of
every human person is to attain this communion and bliss with the Divine by living
his life on earth in virtue.
 Thomas Aquinas, the most eminent thirteenth century scholar and stalwart of the
medieval philosophy, appended something to this Christian view. Adapting some ideas from
Aristotle, Aquinas said that indeed, man is composed of two parts: matter and form.
Matter, orhyle in Greek, refers to the common stuff that makes up everything in the universe.
Man’s body is part of this matter. Form on the other hand, or morphe in Greek refers to the
essence of a substance or thing. It is what makes it what it is. In the case of human person,
the body of the human person is something that he shares even with animals. The cells in

Aquinas
man’s body are more or less akin to the cells of any other living thing, organic
being in the
world. However, what makes a human person a human person and not a dog. , or a tiger in
his soul, his essence. To Aquinas, just as in Aristotle, the soul is what animates the body; it
is what makes us humans.

Descartes
Rene Descartes, father of modern philosophy, conceived the human person as
having body and the mind. In his famous treatise, The Meditations of First Philosophy,
he claims that there is so much that we should doubt. In fact, he says that since much
of what we think and believe are not infallible, they may turn out to be false. One
should only believe that since which can pass the test of doubt. If something is so clear
and lucid as not to be even doubted, then that is the only time when one should actually
buy a proposition. In the end, Descartes thought that the only thing that one cannot
doubt is the existence of the self, for even if one doubts oneself, that only proves that
there is a doubting self, a thing that thinks and therefore, that cannot be doubted. Thus, his famous cogito ergo
sum, “I think therefore, I am.” The fact that one thinks should lead one to conclude without a trace of doubt
that he exists. The “self” then for Descartes is also a combination of two distinct entities: the cogito, the thing
that thinks, which is the mind, and the extenza or the extension of the mind, which is the body. In Descartes’s
view, the body is nothing else but a machine that is attached to the mind. The human person has it but it is not
what makes man a man. If at all, that is the mind. Descartes says, “But what then am I?” A thinking thing. It
has been said. But what is a thinking thing? It is a thing that doubts, understands ( or conceives ), affirms,
denies, wills, refuses, that imagines also, and perceives. ( Descartes 2008 )

David Hume

David Hume, a Scottish philosopher, has a very unique way of looking at man.
As an empiricist who believes that one can know only what comes from the senses
and experiences, Hume argues that the self is nothing like what his predecessors
thought of it. The self is not an entity over and beyond the physical body. One can
rightly see here the empiricism that runs though his veins. Empiricism is the school
of thought that espouses the idea that knowledge can only be possible if it is sensed
and experienced. Men can only attain knowledge by experiencing. For example, Jack knows that Jill is another
human person not because he has seen her soul. He knows she is just like him because he sees her, hears her,
and touches her.
To David Hume, the self is nothing else but a bundle of impressions. What are impressions? For Davis
Hume, if one tries to examine his experiences, he finds that they can all be categorized into two: impressions
and ideas. Impressions are the basic objects of our experience or sensation. They therefore form the core of
our thoughts. When one touches an ice cube, the cold sensation is an impression. Impressions therefore are
vivid because they are products of our direct experience with the world. Ideas on the other hand are copies of
impressions. When one imagines the feeling of being in love for the first time, that is still an idea
 What is the self then? Self, according to Hume, is simply “a bundle or collection of different
perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in perpetual flux and movement.
Men simply want to believe that there is a unified, coherent self, a soul or mind just like what the previous
philosophers thought. In reality, what one thinks is a unified self is simply a combination of all experiences
with a particular person.
Immanuel Kant
Thinking of the “self” as a mere combination of impressions was problematic for
Immanuel Kant. Kant recognizes the veracity of Hume’s account that everything starts with
perception and sensation of impressions. However, Kant thinks that the things that men
perceive around them are not just randomly infused into the human person without
organizing principle that regulates the relationship of all these impressions. To Kant, there
is necessarily a mind that organizes the impressions that men get from the external world.
Time and space, for example, are ideas that one cannot find in the world, but is built in our
minds. Kant calls these apparatuses of the mind.

Along with the different apparatuses of the mind goes the “self.” Without the self, one cannot organize
the different impressions that one gets in relation to his own existence. Kant therefore suggests that it is an
actively engaged intelligence in man that synthesizes all knowledge and experience. Thus, the self is not just
what gives one his personality. In addition, it is also the seat of knowledge acquisition for all human persons.
Gilbert Ryle
Gilbert Ryle solves the mind-body dichotomy that has been running for along
time in the history of thought by blatantly denying the concept of an internal, non-
physical self. For Ryle, what truly matters is the behavior that a person manifests in
his day-to-day life.

For Ryle, looking for and trying to understand a self as it really exist is like
visiting your friend’s university and looking for “university.” One can roam around
the campus, visit the library and the football field, and meet the administrators and faculty and still end up not
finding the “university.” This is because the campus, the people, the systems, and the territory all form the
university. Ryle suggests that the “ self “ is not an entity one can locate and analyze but simply the convenient
name that people use to refer to all the behaviors that people make.
Merleau-Ponty
Merleau-Ponty is a phenomenologist who asserts that the mind-body bifurcation
that has been going on for a long time is a futile endeavor and an invalid problem.
Unlike Ryle who simply denies the “self “, Merleau-Ponty instead says that the mind and
body are so intertwined that they cannot be separated from one another. One cannot find
any experience that is not an embodied experience. One’s body is his opening toward his
existence to the world. Because of these bodies, men are in the world. Merleau_Ponty
dismisses the Cartesian Dualism that has spelled so much devastation in the history of
man. For him, the Cartesian problem is nothing else but plain misunderstanding. The
living body, his thoughts, emotions, and experiences are all one.

REFERENCES (Lessons 1 & 2 )

Alata, Eden Joy P., Castillo Jr., Bernardo N., Serafica, Janice Patria J., Pawilen, R. A., UNDERTANDING THE
SELF, Rex Book Store 2018
 INTERWORLD COLLEGES FOUNDATION, INC.
Burgos St., Paniqui, Tarlac

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

S.Y. 2022 – 2023 / First Sem.
College Department

Name _______________________________________ Rating __________

Course / Year _________________________________ Date Issued___________
Date Submitted ___________

Activity 3
In your words, state what "self" is for each of the following philosophers. After that, explain how your
concept of "self" is compatible with their concept of "self."

1. SOCRATES

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

2. PLATO

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______
3. AGUSTINE

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

4. DESCARTES

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

5. HUME
 Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

6. KANT

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

7. RYLE

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______
8. MERLEAU-PONTY

Scoring Rubrics:

contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________

clarity of ideas ( 5 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 5 points ) _______
grammar ( 5 points ) _______
mechanics ( 5 points ) _______

LEAH M. AZMI
Instructor
 INTERWORLD COLLEGES FOUNDATION, INC.
Burgos St., Paniqui, Tarlac

UNDERSTANDING THE SELF

S.Y. 2022 – 2023 / First Sem.
College Department

Name _______________________________________ Rating __________

Course / Year _________________________________ Date Issued___________
Date Submitted ___________
RLO No. 1
From the different concepts about the “SELF” shared by the various philosophers, to whom do you agree
with, why?

WRITE NSIDE THE BOX ONLY

Rubrics Scoring:
contents ( 10 points ) ______ SCORE __________
clarity of ideas ( 6 points ) ______
cleanliness / orderliness of work ( 6 points ) _______
grammar ( 6 points ) _______
mechanics ( 6 points ) _______

LEAH M. AZMI
Instructor
Prepared by Checked by

LEAH M. AZMI BENNY R. AGUINALDO

Instructor Module Coordinator

Approved by Noted by

LIGAYA B. AUSTRIA MARY ANN C. PABALAN

School Director School Administrator