Go, Irvinne Heather C. March 2, 2016

INTFILO C39

1. What is philosophy?

Life bombards us with questions. There are some that we can answer absolutely as

we have evidences to back it up, like “Why is the sky blue?” and such, but when it comes to

questions like “Who am I?” “Does God exist?” “What am I going to be in 10 years?” and

such, we would need to stop and think. These questions need philosophy to be applied, and

that is why we call them philosophical questions.

For me, philosophy can be two things. Initially, philosophy is a pursuit of knowledge,

and then a belief system. Firstly, when I say pursuit of knowledge, it means that we think

philosophically to gain a better understanding of the situation. It is like salt to a watermelon.

Without salt, we can only faintly taste the sweetness of the watermelon, but due to salt, it

heightens our taste receptors and there and there, we can taste fully the fruit. Like right now,

we can say that we are in the real world, but anyone can dispute that we are only dreaming.

There is still a big hole left unanswered, a flavor yet tasted. Again, in these kinds of

questions, we don’t have concrete verification, therefore it still can be disputed. The thing we

can only do is create a logical reasoning to support it or at least state our case, since it is

fundamentally impossible to be proven with science. A good example of use of philosophy in

this manner and with the issue mentioned earlier is with the topic discussed in class about

Descartes. Descartes, as a Christian, stated a perfect being is needed to validate the

physical world. He states that if God does not exist then what will say that we are indeed in

the physical world, what will prove that we are not dreaming. In his argument, God would not

allow delusions as He cares and loves us, thus in his conclusion God does exist. We are

free to believe it or not, but we do accept that there is logic behind his argument, though

circular. He still was able to shed more light on subject or give more flavor to subject. We

could also dispute it as again it does not hold any empirical evidence.

Following that, I also stated that it was a belief system. You hear people saying that

their personal philosophy is this and that, and usually it shapes how the person act and

behaves. It is like the mission and vision statements of a company; every move it takes

corresponds to those declarations. For example, my personal philosophy is make a line

between personal and professional life. In interacting with someone who I know in a

personal level or someone who I have an aversion with, I would screen out personal feelings

and think objectively, especially in a professional setting. This philosophy has made me able

to put an objective reasoning to most of my decisions in my life, hence I do not put personal

biases into them, unless the situation calls for it. I believe that personal philosophy differs

from person to person, as mine was shaped by my upbringing, values and environment, and

I think it also applies to everyone.

Everyone can think philosophically. We can apply our beliefs to to create our own

reasoning or answer. Philosophy can also be a guiding light for us. With our own philosophy,

we do things accordingly to it. Basically, philosophy is one’s own understanding of reality

and how one interacts with reality. It is different for everyone.

2. How can philosophy aid us in understanding or resolving social issues?

Though this issue is already old, more than 2 years old already, it still concerns me a

lot, and this is the PDAF scam, or generally the obvious corruption in the Philippines. Even

before this scandal, the Philippines is already known for its corruption, two of our former

presidents being part of the World's Ten Most Corrupt Leaders.1 Even in indicting the

“suspects” of the scam, corruption is still evident, until now there is still no final ruling about

the said suspects and these suspects are still in their lofty rooms, I mean jail.2 This scam

1 Transparency International Global Corruption Report 2004. (n.d.). World's Ten Most Corrupt Leaders. Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0921295.html 2 Diola, C., & Philippine Star. (2015, May 21). Court denies motion to transfer Bong to regular jail. Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2015/05/21/1457216/court-denies-motion-transfer-bong-

went on for 10 years, and the only reason we know about it is because of there was some

dispute between the masterminds, and one of them went and told on each other.3 From what

I see, in the government, money speaks, controls and leads. In a sense, justice is only for

the poor and common, but all is free for the rich and powerful.

I know that we cannot fully cleanse the Philippines from corruption, the only thing we

can do is to understand it and try to create limitations to control its spread. Even if I say this,

I find it really difficult to understand what goes on in the minds of these corrupt officials.

When is enough for them? Is it when they suck our nation dry? When I think about it, this

scam really resonates with one of the 7 cardinal sins, which is Greed. These sins are

supposedly committed by every human being, some may be done more than the others,

nonetheless they are sins. I find it almost amazing on how they can cope with guilt or throw

it away fully, but I guess the greed is like the eye cover for the horses in the kalesa for them.

It blocks their view and makes them see one thing only and that is their direction. Only if

there is a selflessness test for officials, not the one with paper and pen, something like the

litmus paper test, but I know it is impossible. Perhaps their personal philosophy is to multiply

one’s money by any means necessary. This is only thing I can think of that can explain this

issue. I undoubtedly need more research and time to even grasp the top layer of this issue. I

really cannot fathom why and how can they do this scam for 10 years. The only way I can

think that we can lessen this is to have open information and show every detail to the whole

nation about their revolting acts, possibly by then they can feel humiliation and realize the

monster within them.

regular-jail 3 Benhur Luy admits getting P5M kickbacks from ‘pork’ deals. (2015, June 5). Retrieved February 29, 2016, from http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/696469/benhur-luy-admits-getting-p5m-kickbacks-from-pork-deals