09_(164-183)Paulricoeur's Reflexive Philosophy PAUL RICOEUR’S REFLEXIVE PHILOSOPHY: TYING THE FILIPINO SELF TO THE FAMILY Ruby S. Suazo University of San Carlos, Philippines บทคัดย่อ บทความนี้ต้องการอาศัยการวิเคราะห์เชิงวิจารณญาณ ทำการอธิบาย ให้ชัดเจนถึงข้อเท็จจริงเกี่ยวกับการดำรงอยู่เองของอัตตสภาวะ ส่วนที่เป็น จิตสภาวะของข้อเท็จจริงน้ีคือรูปแบบการเข้าใจตนเองท่ีสูงส่ง บทความน้ีประยุกต์ วิธีมองปัญหาเร่ืองอัตวิสัยของริเกอร์เพ่ือทำความกระจ่างเร่ืองอัตลักษณ์ของชาว ฟิลิปปินส์ โดยเฉพาะอย่างย่ิงความพยายามของริเกอร์ท่ีจะจดจารึกอัตตาเสียใหม่ “ภายใต้สิ่งที่เป็นปัญหาของการกระทำในฐานะที่เป็นสนามของศักยภาพ” ใน ทำนองเดียวกัน การที่ผู้วิจัยมุ่งแสวงหาอัตลักษณ์ของชาวฟิลิปปินส์ก็เป็นการ คาดหวังถึงชัยชนะของความหมายเหนือการไร้ความหมาย ซ่ึงในท่ีสุดแล้วจะนำ ชาวฟิลิปปินส์ไปสู่การแสวงหาตัวตนท่ีแท้ซ่ึงสะท้อนออกมาภายใต้การพยายาม ท่ีจะสร้างชาติ ในขณะท่ีริเกอร์พยายามจะอธิบายข้อเท็จจริงเก่ียวกับความมีอยู่ของ อัตตาโดยอาศัยการใช้ส่ือกลางหลายชนิด (สัญลักษณ์และตำรา) ผู้วิจัยก็พยายาม สร้างความชัดเจนเก่ียวกับอัตลักษณ์ของชาวฟิลิปปินส์ โดยอาศัยการมีความหมาย (นัยสำคัญ) ของครอบครัว Abstract This essay wishes to clarify, through reflective analysis, the fact of the subject’s own existence. This consciousness of this fact is a form of heightened self-understanding. It applies Ricoeur’s approach to the prob- lem of subjectivity to the clarification of the Filipino identity. Particularly his attempt to re-inscribe the subject “within the problematic of action as 164 Prajna Vihara, Volume 11, Number 2, July-December 2010, 164-183 2000 by Assumption University Pressc ~ a field of potentialities”. In the same fashion, the researcher’s quest for Filipino identity anticipates the triumph of sense over non-sense that will ultimately lead the Filipino towards his quest for genuine selfhood as re- flected in the conscious effort towards nation building. While Ricoeur en- deavors to explain the fact of the subject’s existence by way of its several mediations (symbolic and textual), the researcher, on the other hand, at- tempts the clarification of the Filipino identity by way of the significance of the family. I. Introduction Some consider the issue regarding the Filipino identity a thing of the past. They feel that researchers have already exhausted this subject matter. Nevertheless, I am compelled to re-visit this issue in light of the fact that Philippines has not yet reached its desired goal __ an integrated development where every Filipino at least enjoys the minimum require- ments for a decent life. Concerning this problem of development, several approaches have been implemented, but they have not yet borne fruit. Foremost of them is the moral recovery program. Right after the EDSA I revolution, Licuanan, for example, points out that the government embarked on a moral recov- ery program for the reason that “[s]elf-interest and disregard for the com- mon good rears its ugly head. We are confronted with our lack of disci- pline and rigor, our colonial mentality, and our emphasis on porma (form). Despite our great display of people’s power, now we are passive once more, expecting our leaders to take all responsibility for solving our many problems”.1 The government embarked on this program because of the following needs: the need for economic recovery, the need to reestablish democratic institutions, and the need to achieve the goals of peace and genuine social justice. Former Pres. Gloria Macapagal __ Arroyo also formed the Presidential Commission on Values Formation because of “the existence of the Filipino’s strong desire to see the establishment and insti- tutionalization of just and moral governance and the imperative to have a continuing and intensified drive against graft and corruption, patronage politics, apathy, passivity, mendicancy, factionalism and lack of patrio- Ruby S. Suazo 165 tism”.2 This exercise suggests that Filipinos believe that the cause of our present troubles have to do with values, specifically cultural values. This has remained the main thrust of the values education curriculum which is “a response to a general feeling on the need for social transformation after the February 1986 People Power Revolution”.3 This thrust is spelled out even more clearly in the goals of the Values Education Program: “to pro- vide and promote values education at all three levels of the educational system for the development of the human person committed to the build- ing of a just and humane society and an independent and democratic nation”.4 There are several frameworks to look upon these different val- ues. To name a few, there is the widely disseminated The DECS Values Education Framework of Minda C. Sutaria et al., the Filipino Value System framework of Serafin Talisayon and the Philippine-Value Sys- tem framework of Tomas Andres. If Filipino identity is based upon what we value most, then the question arises as to which among our values we hold the dearest __ to which of these values we can truly identify ourselves. The moment this value is identified, it is to become “a rallying point for unity, self-discipline, and love and pride in one’s country”.5 Here I have found the approaches of Paul Ricoeur helpful. One of the routes that Ricoeur follows in understanding the self is through Jean Nabert’s “reflexive philosophy”. Accordingly, reflexive philosophy which concerns the possibility of self-understanding takes at reflexion as the “act of turning back upon itself by which a subject grasps, in a moment of intellectual clarity and moral responsibility, the unifying principle of the operations among which it is dispersed and forgets itself as subject”.6 Grasping the self in a moment of intellectual clarity and moral responsibil- ity can be expanded to include an entire people. II. What Reflexive Philosophy is Ricoeur explains that “the idea of reflexion carries with it the de- sire for absolute transparence, a perfect coincidence of the self with itself, which would make consciousness of self indubitable knowledge….”7 How- ever; this desire for absolute transparency is not intuitively possible. It is 166 Prajna Vihara~ only disclosed “through the mirror of the objects and acts, the symbols and signs”.8 Consequently, reflection becomes interpretation. Ricoeur explains further that all interpretation aims at overcoming the distance between the past cultural epoch to which the text belongs and the interpreter himself. To overcome this distance, the interpreter appro- priates the meaning of the text to himself. He makes familiar a foreign text by making it his own. In so doing, there is a conscious effort on the part of the interpreter to arrive at a complete understanding of oneself. This, however, is only possible through his understanding of the other. Thus, hermeneutics is surmised as .self-understanding by means of understand- ing others”.9 Self-understanding by means of understanding others signi- fies reflection, which must not be qualified as a blind intuition. For reflec- tion not to be a blind intuition, it must be mediated by the expressions in which life objectifies itself. Ricoeur explained that, reflection is nothing other than the appropriation of our act of existing by means of a critique applied to the works and the acts which are the signs of this act of existing. Thus, reflection is a critique. . . in the sense that the cogito can be recovered only by the detour of a decipherment of the documents of its life. Reflection is the appropriation of our effort to exist and of our desire to be by means of the works which testify to this effort and this desire.10 Ricoeur understands that .the increase in subjectivity... goes hand in hand with an increase in reflection and meaning. Subjectivity is granted us in and through the great variety of experiences that have shaped a cultural heritage”.11 The aim of reflexive philosophy is .to appropriate in praxis an originary dynamism which grounds human existence and with which the conscious, practical self does not coincide”.12 Through reflec- tion, the subject recaptures itself through the expressions of life that ob- jectify it. Nevertheless, Ricoeur recognizes the risk of the subject’s misin- terpretation due to the setting in of false consciousness. This is why he also emphasizes that reflection is .the task of equating my concrete expe- rience with the affirmation: I am. (Ricoeur 1974). This does not, however, dampen his spirit for he is positive that this is the very reason why herme- 167Ruby S. Suazo neutics becomes relevant. Hermeneutics exists due to misinterpretations. Reflexive philosophy becomes pertinent to Ricoeur’s project be- cause it is neither direct nor immediate. In fact, reflection needs to be doubly indirect for the reasons that “existence is evinced only in docu- ments of life [and that] because consciousness is first of all false con- sciousness, and it is always necessary to rise by means of a corrective critique from misunderstanding to understanding”.13 Nabert’s ethical philosophy seeks to recapture the primordial source of human existence, a quest made indirectly possible through the interpretation of the signs in which the “desire-to-be” is inscribed. This view implies that there is at least a direct relationship between the under- standing of the signs of the “desire-to-be” and self-understanding. Hence- forth, self-understanding passes through the signs in which the self in- scribes itself. Ricoeur believes that there exists a relationship that is fre- quently disregarded, the relationship between the act of existence and the signs through which this act is represented. For Ricoeur, the sign that mediates the subject and its experience is inscribed in language. Lan- guage in turn is also inscribed in the text. Ricoeur employs the theory of the text14 because he finds it a good guide for showing that “the act of subjectivity is not so much what initiates understanding as what terminates it. [Moreover, he takes] this terminal act [as] characteris[ing] appropriation”. To reiterate what has been said above, the rejoining of subjectivity is not the one that supports the meaning of the text. It only responds to the matter of the text as pro- posed meanings unfold in front of the text. The ultimate aim in reading a text remains the understanding of what it means to the reader. To understand the text is to interpret it. And, by interpretation, this means “the concrete outcome of conjunction and renewal”.16 Conjunction and renewal are necessary elements for the rea- son that to read is “to conjoin a new discourse to the discourse of the text. [Furthermore,] this conjunction of discourses reveals… an original ca- pacity for renewal which is its open character”.17 Thus, “an interpretation is not authentic unless it culminates in some form of appropriation (Aneignung), if by that term we understand the process by which one makes one’s own (eigen) what was initially other or alien (fremd)”.18 As Ricoeur expounds: 168 Prajna Vihara~ By ‘appropriation’, I understand this: that the inter- pretation of a text culminates in the self-interpretation of a subject who thenceforth understands himself better, un- derstands himself differently, or simply begins to under- stand himself. This culmination of the understanding of a text in self-understanding is characteristic of the kind of reflective philosophy which… I have called ‘concrete re- flection’.19 Nonetheless, appropriation implies “a moment of dispossession of the egoistic and narcissistic ego”.20 It is “the… making-one’s-own, of the ground of one’s existence, the home of the subject”.21 Thus, the mo- ment of appropriation marks the appearance of the subjectivity of the reader. III. Ricouer’s Reflexive Philosophy and the Filipino Self In connection with this, I apply Ricoeur’s approach to the prob- lem of the self to the seeking of the value whereby the Filipino self is very much attached. A parallelism emerges between Ricoeur’s project of un- derstanding the meaning of the self and my project of appropriating a meaning of the Filipino self. Inasmuch as Ricoeur mentions that the self in self-reflection can only be glimpsed through the mirror of the objects and acts, the symbols and signs wherein they are disclosed, I share in the position that culture which is “the totality of a people’s enduring shared patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting in response to their life-needs”22 is made visible through symbols. The Filipino self needs to be fully understood by closely studying the pervasive symbolism of the Filipino self: its cultural values. Neverthe- less, there are many values that are very dear to the Filipinos; the dearest of them all is the family. Thus, the attempt to understand the Filipino self is to be done by way of the Filipino’s orientation of the family. Ricoeur’s re-appropriation of the meaning of the self developed in the course of his studies of the philosophers of the subject is not for the sake of adding into the voluminous studies about the subject. His project 169Ruby S. Suazo is postured to re-inscribe the subject “within the problematic of action as a field of potentialities”.23 In other words, his desire to understand the meaning of the subject is consciously directed towards the postulation of the meaningfulness of the existence of the subject. Although there is no possible way of verifying this, “the desire for meaning, the hope for the ultimate triumph of sense over nonsense in our lives, the triumph of recon- ciliation… is not delusory”.24 Similarly, the pursuit to understand the Filipino self foresees a similar result. Henceforth, the Filipino self should be known because it is ex- pected to become an impetus to act; it serves as “a rallying point for unity, self-discipline, and love and pride in one’s country”.25 Further, De Quiros points out the significance of identity saying: [W]hat’s the big deal about identity? Well, look at countries like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, and look at us. With nations as with individuals, you have no sense of self, you will never know, and do, what you want. You will only know, and follow, what others tell you to.26 The importance of knowing one’s self depends on the ability of the person to appropriate his decision upon his own. The assumption is that the moment the Filipino understands who he is, he can extend such knowledge to the societal level and eventually create a wave of true national sentiment. Arguably, knowing the Filipino self can lead to a sense of meaning and an understanding of his reason for being. Consequently, this can give the Filipino a sense of direction. Presently, since the Filipino has not yet found a locus of control, he is unable to give direction to his endeavors. Inasmuch as the Filipino has been shaped by diverse influences, both Eastern and Western, with their opposing tendencies, he becomes confused. Seeing the best and the worst of both worlds is supposedly advantageous to the Filipino. But ignorance about his reason for being makes him incapable of threshing out the good influences from the bad influences, something that can lead his nation to the desired stability and integrated development. Inasmuch as the way to know a nation’s identity is by its values - as Roces puts it __ the Filipino self must discover itself in its values.27 In 170 Prajna Vihara~ the research of Talisayon, he found out that the core or central clusters of the Filipino value system revolve around seven values, with family/kin- ship orientation as the core value.28 Agoncillo echoes that among the many values, the Filipino is known for close family ties.29 Jocano also recognizes the importance that the Filipinos give to the family30 as it gives higher premium to its interest than to the interest of the community.31 He believes that “the family is basic to the life of Filipinos. It is the center of their universe. Much of what they do, what they think, and what they idealize, among others, are first learned within the narrow con- fines of the family before these are enriched, modified, or frustrated by other institutions in the larger community”.32 Curiously, the signifi- cance of this value is overwhelming because the state has strongly recog- nized the primacy of the family in Philippine society as enshrined in the Philippine Civil Code and the Philippine Constitution of 1986.33 The family is discerned “as a defense against a hostile world and a unit where one can turn to in case [a family member] has a serious prob- lem”.34 However, this seems to counter the idea of thinking nationally for this tends to make a Filipino act parochially. Family orientation is indeed very crucial to the Filipino. Historically, Covar points out that during the Formative Period of the Philippine history, the Filipino was concerned with the ginhawa (inner comfort) of the tao (person) and the well-being of the sakop (ward). As the Filipino progressed in the Period of Struggle and National Consolida- tion, the concern now turned to civilizing of the ‘natives’, first as Spanish mesticillos, and then as little brown Americans who eventually became the ilustrados. While the Filipino during this period did begin to think about national interest and general welfare, this was undermined by the colonizers who exploited the Filipino’s family-centeredness by pitting one family against another family, one region against another region.35 As we now enter the 21st century, social scientists and communi- cators usually ask, “What happened to the society and culture during the Formative Period? Were they wiped out during the Period of Struggle and National Consolidation? Is there anything left in the indigenous culture and society which we could rally around the Period of Cultural Solidar- ity?”36 He then declares, “Our answers to these questions shall help guide us in our quest for values beyond 1998”.37 171Ruby S. Suazo Ramirez believes there are still things left in the indigenous culture and society that subsist in the Period of Cultural Solidarity. The traces of the Formative Period pervades in what Ramirez calls as the suppressed culture that operates vis-aò-vis the dominant culture imposed by the colo- nizers. It might be thought of that the operating values during the Forma- tive Period are insignificant for they are now relegated to the collective unconscious of the people. However, Ramirez elucidates that they are not insignificant for they have “become the soil in which any external item from other cultures may be grafted to assume its own unique growth and evolution”.38 This hidden dimension, she explains further, “is sometimes more powerful than the external elements of a culture [for it] lives in the minds and hearts of people”.39 During the Period of Struggle and National Consolidation, the people’s operating values of the Formative Period were pushed aside. By the use of whip, people were forced to adopt the value system of the colonizers without positively understanding the impact of the modern prac- tices of modernization. They adopted the practices of the colonizers out of fear, practices which were not completely assimilated and grafted to the indigenous soul of the people.40 In the words of McCoy, although Spain and the United States tried to forge a strong bureaucratic apparatus based upon their own laws and social practice, they could not induce compliance through shared myth or other forms of social sanction be- cause the modern Philippine state did not evolve organically from Filipino society. They derived their authority from the implied coercion of colonial rule.41 Consequently, Filipinos became very religious and devout Chris- tians, but the sharing of material goods with others, most especially to the needy, was quite difficult for them. Also, nowadays, with free enterprise, people earn more money but it is not necessarily equated with hard work. People realize that if one is clever enough, one can get money through gambling, scheming (like in graft and corruption) or some illegal way.42 The simultaneous demands of these two incongruous systems on the Filipino create conflict situations which satisfy neither value system fully. Thus, in the supposed Period of Cultural Solidarity, there is really no solidarity that happens for the reason that the operating values in the For- mative Period (the traditional value system) and those of the Period of Struggle and National Consolidation (the dominant value system) are con- 172 Prajna Vihara~ tinually in conflict in this period of supposed solidarity. No matter how passionately the Filipino strives for national soli- darity, the interests of the family interfere with the interests of the nation, which might be the reason why the Filipino has the difficulty of achieving a true sense of nationalism. For this reason, to reconsider the family orienta- tion as a core Filipino value is an imperative. This proposal reflects Bago’s perception that integrated development in the Philippines will only be achieved if the cultural values of the Filipino be re-aligned according to the intentions of the Filipinos as a nation. Based on the analysis of various authors, family orientation as a value is seen as a hindrance to the desired development of the Filipino when it interferes with the workings of institutions with supposedly univer- salistic value assumptions. The pervasiveness of this family orientation can be witnessed in the constitution of political dynasties, nepotism, family corporations and profit-making educational family corporations and even religious organizations who are also not immune from the encroachment of family interests. Corruption is likewise a disease traceable to the desire of the Filipino to secure his own family. The aforementioned instances are known hindrances to national development. In like manner, the aforementioned instances are under the hands of the Philippine elite. Inasmuch as an elite is defined as those who have or may have the power to influence the thinking of the citizenry, send charges through the body politic and civil society, alter the power configuration of the nation, and in some instances be able to seize power at the top43, then the initiative of concretely redirecting the nation falls to their hands. However, historically speaking, the elite segment of the society had been derailing the desire of the Filipino citizenry for a developed and prosperous nation for all. Let us take for example, Jose Rizal sets up La Liga Filipina in Manila on July 3, 1892 with the aim of inculcating moral and political principles among the population in order to attain a greater unity.44 Moreover, on July 7, 1892, Bonifacio establishes the Katipunan (Brotherhood) with the aim of uniting all Filipinos in terms of a single ide- ology. He enables the masses to rally behind his Katipunan (Brother- hood) because of his vision to bring back the kasaganaan (bountifulness) and the kaginhawaan (prosperity) that the Pre-Spanish Philippines en- joyed.46 This was the central mantra of his article published in the one and Ruby S. Suazo 173 only issue of Kalayaan (Freedom), the official publication of the Katipunan, which they attributed the rapid growth of its membership.47 The cry for kalayaan (freedom), also becomes the driving force for Fili- pinos to persist in fighting against the Spanish regime. However, when the revolution was won, the expected national consolidation of the Filipino spirit did not materialize because of the illustrado and the principalia’s jockeying for power and opportunities just to assure the economic security of their own families. This demoral- ized the organization from the top down to the rank and file and eventually resulted in the rift between the illustrado and the masses.48 During this period, although the spirit of nationalism is very preg- nant and vibrant, Abueva maintains that “historically, some heroes and leaders have been inspiring models of a socially concerned and nationalis- tic leadership, but many leaders have also used their power and authority for their own benefit and for perpetuating their power and dominance in society. The latter reinforce the common tendency of citizens to be self- ishly individualistic and family-oriented”.49 Likewise, Agoncillo, as cited by McCoy, accuses the educated illustrados of Manila’s nineteenth-cen- tury elites for betraying the Revolution of 1898 and collaborating thereaf- ter with American colonialism.50 In the Period of Cultural Solidarity, the Filipinos were already granted their independence and there was no more inherent fear of the colonizers. But at this time, they regressed to the ideological enculturation of the Formative Period: which emphasized the economic well-being of the sakop or ward, instead of increasing the emphasis on national interest and general welfare. The one that has been relegated to the unconscious has now resurfaced. The family, although seen as the focal point of the Philippines’ underdevelopment, is also seen to be the facilitator of genuine national development. Taking the cue from Camilo Osias, reflecting on one of the Filipino languages, the Ilocano language, he realizes that an all-inclusive consciousness is imbedded in the psyche of the Filipino waiting to be roused up. His analysis of the four personal pronouns, first person under the nominative case of the Ilocano language comes out with four levels that can be made as indicators of the development, attitude, and outlook of the Filipino. Going into the four major stages in the process of broaden- 174 Prajna Vihara~ ing his concept, the Filipino may graduate from what he calls as the Siac (I) stage to the Data (You) stage then to the Dacami (We __ exclusive) stage, and ultimately, to the Datayo (We __ all inclusive) stage. His vision is for a Filipino to move out of the Siac stage and grow into the Datayo stage and not become stuck in the Dacami stage.51 This inner transformation must be done in the context of the fam- ily. The family as a microcosm of the society can serve as the jumping-off point for the re-consideration of the family as a core value. The success of this endeavor is seen to be decisive when the transformation is spear- headed by the elite forces of the society. Only when the elite forces of the Philippine society lead the Philippines accordingly, that is, when there is consistency between their words and deeds, will the Philippines achieve its perennial dream of a developed nation. Even Confucius, although he sees a parallel between running a family and running a state, does not isolate the family from the state. In fact, he admonishes that “people not only loved their own parents and children, but loved the parents and children of others as well…. All men shared their social responsibilities, and all women had their social respon- sibilities and respective roles. Natural resources were fully used to benefit all, and were not appropriated for selfish ends. People wanted to contrib- ute their strength and ability to society for public gain”.52 In the same end, Pope John Paul II preaches that “by means of his work man commits himself, not only for his own sake but also for others and with others. Each person collaborates in the work of others and for their good. Man works in order to provide for the needs of his family, his community, his nation, and ultimately all humanity”.53 Ultimately, even with the many regressive tendencies of family orientation as a core value, it still possesses several praiseworthy and noteworthy characteristics such as the promotion of “sobriety, education, skills, diligence, devotion to the group rather than individual interests, un- conditional respect for hierarchy and emphasis on non-confrontational approaches towards human relations”.54 Ruby S. Suazo 175 IV. Conclusion As a conclusion, we might say that the transformation of the idea family into a national family depends on the positive contribution and leadership of the elite. It is the elite forces of the society who have the power to act as a force to lead us towards a developed and prosperous Philippines. So far, since colonization, instead of fostering cultural soli- darity, they regressed to the securing of the well-being of the sakop. And this clannish and baranganic perspective of the family orientation became an impediment to all the governmental institutions with supposedly univer- salistic application. But in the present time, the elite must feel secure enough to recognize the existence of the under-privileged other. The said material prosperity should propel them to act on the ethical intention “as aiming at the ‘good life’ with and for others, in just institutions”. Endnotes 1Patricia B. Licuanan, “A moral recovery program: building a people __ building a nation”, in Values in Philippine culture and education: Philippine philosophical studies I, ed. Manny Dy, Jr. (Manila: Ateneo de Manila University Press) & The Council For Research in Values and Philosophy, http://www.crvp.or 2Gloria Macapagal __ Arroyo, Executive Order no. 314: Creating the Presi- dential Commission on Values Formation (Manila: Malacanang, April 30, 2004), http://www.ops.gov.ph/records/eo_no314.htm (accessed November 5, 2006). 3Adelaida Bago, Curriculum Development: The Philippine Experience (Manila: De La Salle University Press, 2001), 132. 4Bago, 132. 5Emmanuel Mangubat, “Basic Considerations for Attaining a Truly Fili- pino National Identity”, Philippine Journal of Education, 60 (December 1981), 297a. 6Paul Ricoeur, P. “On Interpretation” From Text to Action: Essays in Herme- neutics, II. trans. K. Blamey and J. B. Thompson (Illinois: Northwestern University Press, 1991), 12. 7Ricoeur, “On interpretation”, 12-13. 8John B. Thompson, “Editor’s Introduction” in Paul Ricoeur, Hermeneu- tics and the Human Sciences: Essays on Language, Action, and Interpretation, ed., trans, and intro. John B. Thompson (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 17-18. 176 Prajna Vihara~ ~ 9Paul Ricoeur, “Existence and Hermeneutics” in The Conflict of Interpre- tations: Essays in Hermeneutics, ed. Don Ihde (Evanston: Northwestern Univer- sity Press, 1974) 16-17. 10Ricoeur, “Existence and Hermeneutics”, 17-18. 11See. John Van den Hengel, The Home of Meaning: The Hermeneutics of the Subject of Paul Ricoeur (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1982), 15. 12Van den Hengel, 15-16. 13Ricoeur, “Existence and Hermeneutics”, 18. 14Morrison comments that “a theory of texts is important in Ricoeur’s hermeneutic as it offers the interpreter space for the application of critical tools. True appropriation of a text’s meaning is a reflexive action realized at the intersec- tion of ontological naivet? and critical distanciation”. Bradley T. Morrison, A Phe- nomenology of Marital Dynamics and Pastoral Care (1992), http://www.xcelco.on.ca/ ~btmorrison/ricoeur/Ricoeur&Systems.html (accessed July 7, 2006). 15Paul Ricoeur, “Phenomenology and Hermeneutics” in Hermeneutics and the Human Sciences, 113. 16Ricoeur, “What is a Text? Explanation and Understanding” in Herme- neutics and the Human Sciences, 158. 17Ricoeur, “What is a Text?”, 158. 18Ricoeur, “Metaphor and the Central Problem of Hermeneutics” in Herme- neutics and the Human Sciences, 178. See also, Ricoeur, “Phenomenology and Hermeneutics”, 113; Ricoeur, “What is a Text?”, 159; “Appropriation” in Herme- neutics and the Human Sciences, 185. 19Ricoeur, “What is a Text?”, 158. 20Paul Ricoeur, Interpretation Theory: Discourse and Surplus of Mean- ing (Texas: The Texas University Press, 1976), 94. 21Van den Hengel, 194. 22Mina Ramirez, “The Dominant and Popular Cultural Systems in the Phil- ippines”, Reflections on Culture (Manila: Asian Social Institute, 1991), 14. 23Kathleen Blamey, “From the Ego to the Self: A Philosophical Itinerary”, The Philosophy of Paul Ricoeur, ed. Lewis Edwin Hahn (Illinois: Open Court, 1995), 597. 24G.B. Madison, “Ricoeur and the Hermeneutics of the Subject”. The Phi- losophy of Paul Ricoeur. ed. Lewis Edwin Hahn (Illinois: Open Court, 1995), 89. 25Emmanuel, 297a. 26Conrado de Quiros, “A Question of Identity” [article online]; available from http://www.inq7.net/opi/2002/mar/20/opi_csdequiros-1.htm; accessed Sep- tember 3, 2003. 27Alejandro R. Roces, “A Nation Is Known By Its Values” in Lourdes R. Quisumbing and Felice P. Sta. Maria, Peace and Tolerance: Values Education Through History (Pasay City: UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, 1996), 122-124. Ruby S. Suazo 177 28Serafin D. Talisayon, “Values In Our Quest for Freedom (1896-1898) and Their Application for Future Development” in Lourdes R. Quisumbing and Felice P. Sta. Maria, Peace and Tolerance: Values Education Through History (Pasay City: UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, 1996), 105. This is a result of Talisayon’s compilation and review of almost a hundred academic journals and opinion articles about Filipino values, orientations or attitudes, and idiosyncrasies. He was able to discern commonalities and consensus among various authors, and reduce them into a set of identifiable value clusters with some internal consistency or coherence. 29Teodoro A. Agoncillo, History of the Filipino People, 8th edition (Quezon City: GAROTECH Publishing, 1990), 6-7. 30Stella Go says that the Filipino’s stress on the importance of the family can be attested by the voluminous existing literature studying the Filipino family. The Research for Development Department of the Development Academy of the Philippines even compiled in one volume bibliographies together with a directory of agencies and individuals involved in studying or working with the family. Stella P. Go, The Filipino Family in the Eighties (Manila: Social Development Research Center, De La Salle University, 1993), 2-4. 31F. Landa Jocano, Filipino Value System: A Cultural Definition (Manila: PUNLAD Research House, Inc., 1997), 9. 32F. Landa Jocano, Filipino Social Organization: Traditional Kinship and Family Organization (Manila: Punlad Research House,1998), 11. 33Alfred McCoy, “‘An Anarchy of Families’: The Historiography of State and Family in the Philippines” in An Anarchy of Families: State and Family in the Philippines, ed. by Alfred W. McCoy (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1994), 7. 34Isabel S. Panopio and Realidad Santico Rolda, Society and Culture: Introduction to Sociology and Anthropology (Quezon City: JMC Press, Inc., 2000), 79. Cf. Jaime Bulatao, Split-level Christianity (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila Uni- versity Press, 1966), 26. 35Prospero R. Covar, “Unburdening Philippine Society of Colonialism” in Lourdes R. Quisumbing and Felice P. Sta. Maria, Peace and Tolerance: Values Education Through History (Pasay City: UNESCO National Commission of the Philippines, 1996), 171. 36Covar, “Unburdening Philippine Society of Colonialism”, 174. Jocano shares the same perspective with Covar and Ramirez as to the Filipino’s retaining his old values. Jocano reveals that in the midst of the rapidly changing environ- ment, “the old rural patterns are retrieved and used to handle the pressure of adaptation to the changing environment. This keeps the traditional institutions, values, and sentiments alive. Thus, if one removes the outer trappings of moder- nity… one discovers that underneath the veneer, the Filipinos are still traditional in their institutional values and community outlook, even if they are in grey flannel suits”. Jocano, Filipino SocialOrganization: Traditional Kinship and Family 178 Prajna Vihara~ Organization (Manila: Punlad Research House, 1998), 3. 37Covar, “Unburdening Philippine Society of Colonialism”, 174. 38Mina Ramirez, “Toward a Revolution of Mindsets: A Critique of the Present Socio-Cultural System” in Reflections on Culture (Manila: Asian Social Institute, 1991), 4. 39Ramirez, “Toward a Revolution of Mindsets”, 4. 40The researcher considers this as a palpable possibility considering the general reverence that the Filipinos extend to these colonizers without extending the same sentiment to the Chinese, the Indians, and the Arabs. 41McCoy, 11. Cf. O.D. Corpuz, Bureaucracy in the Philippines (Manila: Institute of Public Administration, University of the Philippines, 1957), 128-213. 42Ramirez, “Toward a Revolution of Mindsets” in Reflections on Culture, 5. See also, Ramirez, “The Dominant and Popular Cultural Systems in the Philip- pines” in Reflections on Culture, 19. 43Teodoro C. Benigno, “The Philippines’ Elites”, in Here’s the Score, The Philippine Star (July 20, 2001). Based on his opinion as to the meaning of elite, Benigno enumerates six types of them in the Philippines: the Filipino Politicians, the Filipino businessmen, the clergy, the military, the media, and the left. 44Cesar Adib Majul, The Political and Constitutional Ideas of the Philip- pine Revolution, reprint edition (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1996), 3. 45Majul, 4. 46Ileto cites the annotation of Rizal to Morga’s Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas that pointed out the flourishing indigenous civilization in the archipelago even before the arrival of the Spaniards. Reynaldo Cleme�a Ileto, Pasyon and Revolu- tion: Popular Movements in the Philippines, 1840-1910 (Quezon City: Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1979), 83. 47Ileto cited Pio Valenzuela, one of the organizers of the katipunan, saying that “hundreds of people nightly joined the Katipunan” after the distribution of the Kalayaan. Ileto intimated that “Bonifacio himself was surprised at the rapid growth of the society. From the time he had founded it in 1892 to the appearance of Kalayaan in January 1896, it had only some three hundred members. But from the middle of March to the outbreak of hostilities against Spain in August 1896, its membership rose sharply to 30,000”. Valenzuela, Ileto said, “attributes the sharp rise in member- ship to the ‘effect of the periodical on the people’”. Ileto, Pasyon and Revolution, 82. Cf. “The Memoirs of Pio Valenzuela” (original in Tagalog), in Minutes of the Katipunan (Manila: National Heroes Commission, 1964); Teodoro Agoncillo (1956), The Revolt of the Masses (Quezon City: University of the Philippines). 48Bonifacio irks the leading citizens because they believe that if he is to progress, the existing boundaries and hierarchies in the province would be threat- ened. Mabini, as Cabinet President of the Malolos government, was subjected to harassment because he was born to very poor parents. Ileto, Pasyon and Revolu- tion, 111 & 117. Ruby S. Suazo 179 49Jose V. Abueva, “Some Indicators and Explanations of the Weakness of Filipino Nationalism” in Filipino Nationalism: Various Meanings, Constant and Changing Goals, Continuing Relevance, ed. Jose V. Abueva (Quezon City: Uni- versity of the Philippines Press, 1999), 814. 50McCoy, 2. Cf. Teodoro A. Agoncillo, Malolos: The Crisis of the Repub- lic (Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press, 1960), 644-45. See also Renato Constantino, The Philippines: A Past Revisited (Quezon City: Tala Publishing Ser- vices, 1975), 232. 51Camilo Osias, “The Tayo Concept” in The Filipino Way of Life: The Pluralized Philosophy (Boston: Ginn and Company, 1940), 3-4. 52Alfredo P. Co, Philosophy of Ancient China, reprint edition (Manila: UST Publishing House, 2002), 116. 53Pope John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, n.10 in Rev. Robert A. Sirico and Rev. Maciej Zieba, O.P., eds. The Social Agenda: A Collection of Magisterial Texts (Vatican City: Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2000), 87; [book online]; available from www.thesocialagenda.org/pdfs/english.pdf; accessed April 10, 2006, 112. 54Alejo Jose G. Sison, “Business and Culture in the Philippines: A Story of Gradual Progress” (Instituto Empresa y Humanismo, Universidad de Navarra), [ar- ticle on-line]; available from http://www.unav.es/empresayhumanismo/2activ/ seminario/miembros/sison/ii26/; accessed December 6, 2005. 55Paul Ricoeur, Oneself as Another, trans. Kathleen Blamey (Chicago: Uni- versity of Chicago Press, 1992), 172. References Abueva, Jose V. (Ed.) (1999). Filipino nationalism: Various mean- ings, constant and changing goals, continuing relevance. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1990). History of the Filipino people. Quezon City: GAROTECH Publishing. Agoncillo, Teodoro A. (1960). Malolos: The crisis of the republic. Quezon City: University of the Philippines Press. Bago, Adelaida (2001). Curriculum development: The Philippine ex- perience. Manila: De La Salle University Press. Benigno, Teodoro C. 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