Social Ethics Society

The Commission on Higher Education has endorsed the 9th Social Ethics Society Conference to be held at Cor Jesu College in Digos, Davao del Sur, this October 28-30, 2019. This year's theme: "Environmental Philosophy, Climate Justice and Global Sustainability." The keynote speaker is Dr. Daniel Mishori from Tel Aviv University. The invited plenary speakers are Dr. Marlon Lofredo of St. Paul University, Dr. Al Quillope of Notre Dame of Marbel, Fr. Dexter Veloso of the St. Francis Xavier College Seminary, and Dr. Napoleon Mabaquiao of De La Salle University.

1. "Science and Religion: The Challenge of Climate Change"     - Victor Aguilan (Silliman University) 2. "Theorizing Mamanuan Diaspora: From Vanishing Mediator to Performative Indigeneity"       - Jan Grecil Kahambing (Leyte Normal University) 3. "Taoism and Environmental Awareness"     - Sheldon Ives Agaton (Eastern Visayas State University) 4. "Technological Domination and Emancipation at the Heart of Being Human: The Dialectic of Humans and Technology"     - Menelito Mansueto (Colegio de San Juan de Letran) 5. "Biomimicry: A Philosophy of Environmental Sustainability" -       - Briaflo de Padua (University of Santo Thomas) 6. "The Resurgence of Authoritarianism in the 2016 Presidential Elections and the Need to Deepen Philippine Democracy"      - Benjiemen Labastin (La Salle University - Ozamiz) 7. "The Ecosophy of Paciencia Milan and Marlito Bande: Visayas State University Rainforestation Champio

Mindanao, an island of awe-inspiring beauty and colorful history, did not have a philosophical association before the birth of the Social Ethics Society. Philosophy teachers, however, were either affiliated with the Philosophical Association of the Philippines or the Philosophical Association of the Visayas and Mindanao. The society, or SES for short, germinated from the vision of the late Dr. Romulo Bautista, who taught at Ateneo de Davao University, and Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc, who was then fresh from his studies abroad. The latter was chair of the philosophy department at the Ateneo de Davao University when he first encountered the former, whose teachings have been mostly associated with the philosophy of Marx. Dr. Maboloc, on the other hand, admired the political theory of Rawls. His background in applied ethics helped define the nature of Mindanao's first and only philosophical association. Many of the pioneering members of the SES were master’s students of the tw