Metacognitive Reading Report # 1

Student Name: Candelaria, Angela Faye A. Date: June 16, 2020

GED101 – Understanding the Self

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
      
BEFORE DO NOT
COMPLETING PLAGIARIZE!
REVIEW
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PLEASE MAKE YOUR
ASSESSMENT, FOLLOW THE THE ANSWER PLAGIARISM
YOUR WORK
PLEASE READ INSTRUCTIO REQUIREMEN IN ESSAY IS A MAJOR
HANDWRITIN BEFORE
ALL OF THE NS. TS OF THE FORM. OFFENSE
G LEGIBLE. SUBMITTI
INSTRUCTIONS TASK. THAT LEADS
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THOROUGHLY TO
AND CAREFULLY. EXPULSION.

Is there such a thing as the self? By Jim Holt

Topic/Lesson

1. Difficult Concepts (What concepts did you find difficult to understand?)

a. Dainton’s Self and his theory of “Core Self”
b. Larkin’s “Lading-list”

2. Insights (What new insights or learnings did you gain in discussion/ activity?)

i. Before reading the article/understanding the lesson, I thought that recognizing one’s
self or one’s identity will be based on a belief or a religion to know where each one of
us came from. Believing in religion would immediately give us an answer on why the
gods made a person to exist to fulfill a responsibility and service in this world. I
thought that since we are made or we exist. Then we must have our purpose and it
would be our identity on how we live in the world. Having a purpose would influence
the way we see life, make decisions, and understand the people around us in
accordance to what we believe- all influencing our morals in life.
However, reading the article/understanding the lesson, I now think/realize that it can
also be perceived in a philosophical and scientific way. I agree with Ouellette’s Me,
Myself, and Why, wherein she explained that our genes and our environment greatly
affect and contribute to who we are - our identity. The way our brain absorbs the
things in our environment affects who we are. From what I understand, the genes that
we have, greatly influence us. For example, if the genes make us understand more
 about things that involve analytic thought like math and science, then as a person, we
would tend to like and take interest in things that we understand more. If our genes
make our brain function more on the creative thought then we would find ourselves
taking interest in that field. Since all of us are different, it would be a mixture of both
and result in different views in life. It is all based on our genes as it influences our
brain on what it wants to absorb and demonstrate - overall making our identity.

ii. Before reading the article/understanding the lesson, I thought that consciousness
exists like a soul. Like from what I thought in the first part where we exist for a
purpose made by gods. We have souls made within our bodies to function and fulfill
our obligations here on Earth. We have souls to think, to make decisions, and to make
morals. We are like special beings that exist; superior to others creatures.
However, reading the article/understanding the lesson, I now think/realize that our
consciousness exist in our own minds; on our own brains. Other creatures also have
brains but they do not function like us since we were able to adapt and evolve
differently over time. We function differently as we have evolved differently. As said
in the article “I am essentially my brain.” We are all essentially our brain. We
function in accordance to how our brain function. In my first point, our brain function
based on our genes and how it chooses to absorb things that would make us “us.”

iii. Before reading the article/understanding the lesson, I thought that recognizing or
understanding the identity of ourselves will be beyond our understanding. As it is too
complicated for science or philosophy. That is why most of us would just rely this
knowledge to our belief.
However, reading the article/understanding the lesson, I now think/realize that in the
end it does not really matter how we explain ourselves, may it be in a religious
perspective or scientific perspective. The way we absorb knowledge, construct morals
and exhibit these is what makes us ourselves.
3. Questions (What questions would you want answers for? Or vague areas you want more
explanations about?
i. I do not understand Daiton’s C-Capacity, explaining that “we are nothing but
potential” does not make sense to me.