There is nothing in the world that cannot easily be made to look good or bad by redescription, says Richard Rorty. Just as “any fool thing can be made to seem rational by being set in an appropriate context, surrounded by a set of beliefs and desires with which it coheres.” The enterprise of Bunny … Read more
An election should be a perfect occasion to debate the institutional reforms needed so that a society may enhance its capacity to respond to crises. We need not always think of reforms on a constitutional scale; we must also think of them as urgent practical adjustments needed to cope with new situations. Abundant examples of … Read more
If you come from a family of teachers, as I do, chances are that you may soon find yourself sharing the same podium with a relative. Once or twice in the past, I have shared audiences with my younger brother Ambo, a diocesan priest who teaches philosophy. But to speak on the same platform with … Read more
Like many of the ordinary folk who attended its birth twelve years ago, I have trouble summoning enough spirit to celebrate another Edsa anniversary. Edsa was about a people mustering collective will and courage to bring down a dictatorship by a direct manifestation of its power. That power drew its force from nothing more than … Read more
The title is from a lovely book on the sociology of intimacy by Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim (Frankfurt am Main, 1990). The thesis of the book is that as modernity frees us from the shackles of traditional obligations, it also means that henceforth, we have to work harder in making relationships work. Freedom is … Read more
It was funny, and it was amusing. But it was also, according to one thoughtful viewer who watched the Public Life episode with the “other” presidentiables, painfully sad. My guests that evening were four gentlemen who had filed certificates of candidacy for the presidency, but who will likely be declared “nuisance candidates” by the Comelec. … Read more
Her husband, a taxi driver, was missing for more than a week. They had been arguing the night before he disappeared, and she recalls having said something that might have hurt him, something about the family earnings no longer being enough for their needs. Previous to this, he had also been feeling bad about having … Read more
Sunday last week found me on a fast ferry to Bataan. Like most natives of Central Luzon, I am totally unaccustomed to approaching Bataan from the sea. It was therefore exhilarating to discover that the boat trip from Manila to Limay takes only an hour, whereas it normally takes at least 3 hours by land. … Read more
Crisis, say the Chinese, is both danger and opportunity. One must accurately read the danger, and seize the opportunity to do something extraordinary. In the last few months, many thoughtful Filipinos have asked whether the present national situation is a time of crisis. I am one of those who believe that a crisis is upon … Read more
President Ramos said something very disturbing at his last Ulat sa Bayan speech. He would make more trips abroad, he said in pique, defying calls that in a time of crisis he must lead in conserving precious foreign exchange. He tried to soften this verbal tantrum by adding that he would also travel as often … Read more