30 August 2012
Discussed Text: Gabriel Marcel, "Primary and Secondary Reflection," The Mystery of Being
Today, I thought about mirrors.
Actually, I really didn’t, but this was the best analogy I could come up with in my head.
As in, “who is that girl I see / staring straight back at me / why is my reflection / someone I don’t know” and all that jazz about Mulan being the perfect daughter and bride of the famous Disney Chinese family which gave birth to one of the best feminist figures in human history, both in the folklore and in the 1998 Disney movie.
So it leads to questions about who I am, really. And when am I really myself. Can I even be myself? I think I can.
And maybe, I’ll be like Mulan, who sings about looking reflections and knowing that what she sees is or isn’t her.
I remember the day when we were talking about the body as an object and as a subject, the word 'ideology' came to my mind and I started doodling.
ReplyDeletemyself --> mirror --> 'myself'
I cannot remember exactly what it means, but I think that it is when I look into the mirror, I see 'myself' but not myself, because I am seeing myself through something else, that is, the mirror. And when it comes to introspection, I am a subject who is viewing the self as an object.
me as subject --> 'self' as object
I learned it from somewhere, that as much as we want to look deeper into ourselves, we will always be the viewer, not the viewed. Hence, intersubjectivity comes into play, because we need other people to view us so that we may see see the pieces of self that we cannot see with our own eyes.
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ReplyDeleteRegarding that quiz about how I think others see me and who I think I really am, I noticed a lot of similarities, although of course there are differences too. It kind of makes me wonder though. Why are there so many similarities? Does that mean I really am as others perceive me to be or am I unconsciously conforming to other people's perception of me? It kind of makes it even harder to figure out who I really am.
ReplyDeleteLica Lee
PH101 C
One question, guys: Do you think it is possible to see the self as an other?
ReplyDeleteI think so. Isn't primary reflection the radical detachment from the body that is "mine"? Instead of viewing the self as myself, I am viewing the self as an other, or an object. Wait, is there a distinction between an other and an object? In either case, the theme seems to be defamiliarization. I can try to compare the self with an onion. So, Ms. Onion is an other who is living inside of me. She and I are not as close as I would have wanted; we are more acquaintances than friends. Nonetheless, I do make the effort to bridge the gap. Every time I peel back a layer, I know a new thing about Ms. Onion, yet at the same time, I realize that there are still so many layers to be peeled back, so many things that I do not know about her. Such is a way of self-discovery; it is I as a subject looking from the outside into the self as an object to be discovered, known, and uncovered, gradually.
DeleteI'm not sure if I'm making any sense, and I'm sorry if I'm not.
Abi Go
Ph101 A
I think it's possible to view yourself as other when you do something so unlike what you normally do. Or more precisely, when you realize that you've been doing something or have done something so unlike what you normally do. It is in that moment of reflection when it hits you. You strive to determine whether this person who has committed this unthinkable act is you, or someone else. When you are entirely unable then to associate yourself with this person, you perceive him or her as another. But then this argument can be subjected to the persisting question, do you really know who you are?
DeleteJustine Dinglasan
PH-101 A
I think it depends on what you mean by "other." If by other, you mean looking at yourself in a more objective manner, I think it is possible and sometimes necessary. I too think that's what Marcel means by primary reflection, which means detaching yourself from your body. I think it's necessary because if we keep living our lives without reflecting about ourselves in this way, we may end up too full of ourselves or too lost in our own world and thus, less human. Like for example, if we're too lost in ourselves, when we do something wrong (like lie, cheat, steal, etc), we may end up simply justifying our shortcomings. By looking at ourselves more objectively, we can ask "if someone else did what I did, would I think it is wrong?" That way, we stop being too caught up in our own little world.
DeleteDoes that make sense? Sorry, I'm not the best at articulating my thoughts :|
Lica Lee
PH101 C
I believe it's possible. One thing that came up to my mind of how we may see this "other" us is when we're indecisive or when we're in an argument with ourselves. There's a person in us who wants to say yes, but the other one is saying no. There would be times when we think we should do this, but the other is saying we should do that. It comes to a point when we are in a battle with ourselves and a kind of detachment happens, which separates the person in us who says one thing and the person who says otherwise. I think this is what Marcel is saying about primary reflection - that we treat our other self as an object, as another reality.
DeleteCara Garcia
Ph101 A
I think so too. Like when you do something that is so unlike of you and after a moment of reflection you would ask yourself: "What have I done?" or " Did I really do that?" Then I think there is a sense of "detachment" or a sense of unfamiliarity that we would feel towards ourselves. I think it also depends on how you see yourselves whether in a positive or a negative perspective that would determine whether to see yourself as an other. For example, if we think back when we were in grade school or in high school naturally the way we think back then is different from how we think now ( well, most of the time)If let's say that our thoughts and how we act back then tends to be so different from how we think now maybe we would question who we were in the past.(e.g Kind of like a bully who regrets what he did and decided to change for the better) On the other hand, if we accept our past self as someone who is growing to become who we are now then we are more incline to have this sense of familiarization of both who we were in the past and the present.
DeleteKat Balonan
PH 101 A
I think we can attribute this to listening to your own voice as well. It's like when you see yourself through some sort of medium, it's hard to accept that it's truly your own. Like when you're recording something and you listen to how you sound, you ask "Is that really me?"
ReplyDeletePeople are quick to judge themselves, but I really feel that we are aware of what we are, but we aren't very accepting of it. After all, we are our own worst critic.
Karl Rojas
PH 101 A
I remember this quiz (not just because it was a bonus) because I was able to notice that there were some differences between how I see myself and how other see me. I then thought about the question, are these differences caused by other people not being able to see me 24 hours a day? or because I really am different in front of others, maybe so that they can see me in a way I want them to see me?
ReplyDelete