Monday, July 19, 2010

“Dual Identity”

According to Frege, sense and reference are two different aspects of the meaning of at least some kinds of terms. A term reference (Bedeutung) is the object it refers to and its sense (Sinn) is the way in which it refers to that object. In my life as a seminarian, I always have my associations of the things around me. Sometimes this may not refer only on the things that are directly observed but it encompasses also the way I shaped my paradigm looking through the reality I perceived about. Prior to my existence in the seminary, I always believe in the principle; what I perceive I believe and what I believe I live. Oftentimes I have the tendency of owning the concreteness of the things according to my biases and personal understanding. There were even times wherein I did not mind others point of views, as long as I believe that everything that has passed my standards are true and firm. My paradigm is always precise. External factors are just there but they do not have their purpose. I failed to broaden the way I comprehend things and situations. I limit only myself in the particular sphere of my mind set without going outside my being and trying to go beyond with what is supposed to be. But when I entered the seminary and was able to grasp about the things around me, everything has changed. Paradigm entails the person’s pattern of thinking and the way it embraces the identity that was given to him. This identity is used in order to have a preference of the way things are lived according to its very purpose and meaning.
When I was still in the second year high school I have this paradigm of owning a “dual identity”. Usually, when I arrived late for school my teacher would command me to throw the trash cans in the compost pit near the school vicinity which is called “bubog”, a word derived from the tree which blossoms with the flowers that are so bad in smell. It was 3 weeks already that I repeatedly threw the trash can with the same reason. When my classmates noticed it they asked me, “Are you the king of bubog”? I replied, why? We often see you at the bubog tree. With this conception my name started to change. They called me “buga”. During that time I was very angry when they approached me using that identity. But later on, I realized it doesn’t make any sense if I continue to be high tempered, so, I decided to recognize what they labeled me and I used it as my school identification name. Anyway I am having fun with it. “Buga” has been a well- known name to my classmates but our teachers doesn’t know it. During that time, I was campaigning for student council. Of course, I am using my real name since the voters will come from the lower years. They knew me better if I used this name. With my real name placed on the sets of officers, I was known by them (lower years) with respect and valor. But, when I am inside the classroom I’m using the name “buga” and when going outside together with the lower years and some of my batch mates I preferred to use Reynard. One time, my youngest brother visited me at my classroom. He inquired inside if I am still around because he will join me in going home. My brother said, ara si manong Reynard? My classmate replied, yes dali lang tawgon ko anay si“buga”. My brother was a bit confused about it. He doesn’t know that “buga” and “Reynard” are one and the same person. He just discovered it later on. What he comprehends was that the name “buga” in the classroom and the “Reynard” he knew is true. When he first heard the word “buga” he became hesitant but when I went out and presented myself to him, he was consciously informed. With this reality, proper names are not just labels, Frege attempted to resolve the problem by distinguishing between sense and reference of a proper name. According to this distinction, proper names may have the same reference, or refer to the same person, yet present this person in different ways of presenting the object. Thus, the difference between “Reynard is buga and Reynard is Reynard results from the fact that in the imagined situation Reynard and buga have the same reference but different senses; these proper names refer to the same person, yet present this person in different ways (as the “Reynard” for the student council and “buga” for throwing the trash), and so have different senses. According to Frege this difference in sense accounts for the difference in informative content between two sentences. Frege in this particular notion seems to hold a form of the so called description theory of proper names- the theory that proper names, like definite description, refer to objects through their descriptive or informative content. Even until now, my identity remains as what it is just like before. My paradigm becomes a model of my identity. My dual identity causes a memorable manifestation to me. Even in the seminary I was given also with the “bansag”. Instead of getting mad at it, I just enjoy, anyway everything goes. It shapes the way I think and has developed my paradigm to become flexible in looking life’s perspective with extended horizons. I thought everything I knew were true. Even my identity changes me the way I handle things in the long run.


By:Reynard Tubid

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