Dr.Jeffry Ocay on Maboloc's Radical Democracy book: "They can hardly contend..."

By Dr. Jeffry Ocay

The trajectory of Prof. Christopher Ryan Maboloc’s book is largely towards presenting a highly nuanced interpretation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s approach to politics as a concrete instantiation of what the famous Belgian political theorist Chantal Mouffe calls “radical politics” (or radical democracy). This is indeed a brave attempt given the highly controversial nature of the issue. In fact, Prof. Maboloc’s take on Duterte’s brand of politics as radical has drawn harsh criticism from mainstream scholars and activists alike. While I do not necessarily agree with some of the salient points of the book considering that I have my own biases not to mention that I am also prone to be overcame by my own incompetence,

I should not miss to highlight the fact that Prof. Maboloc offers a fresh look at contemporary Philippine politics through the lens of Mouffe’s notion of radical politics. I must also say that Prof. Maboloc elegantly framed his arguments to the point that if readers bracket their biases, they can hardly contend with the former’s take on Duterte’s brand of politics. Given therefore the perspicacity of Prof. Maboloc’s intention to offer a fresh look at contemporary politics not to mention its quality that is on a par with the international standard, I can’t wait to see this book in press.

- Dr. Jeffry Ocay is a Professor at the Graduate School, Eastern Visayas State University, in Tacloban City. He holds a doctorate in Philosophy from Macquarie University in Australia.

Thomas Pogge to mentor AdDU prof in ASAP Global Justice Fellowship at Yale

Professor Thomas Pogge of Yale University will be the mentor of Dr. Christopher Ryan Maboloc in the ASAP Global Justice Program Fellowship at Yale University. Prof. Pogge is the author of World Poverty and Human Rights. Dr. Maboloc will write his research on structural issues in Muslim Mindanao using the perspectives of Iris Marion Young and Thomas Pogge. ASAP is an acronym for Academics Stand Against Poverty. According to its website, it utilizes "scholarship to influence policy and public attitudes to poverty. Established in 2010, (ASAP) is a non-partisan, independent global organization aiming to eradicate severe poverty worldwide." It is based in New Haven, Connecticut. It is under the Global Justice Program at Yale. Fourteen scholars around the world were chosen for the ASAP Program. Pogge is the most prominent scholar on global justice. He proposed the global difference principle as a critique to John Rawls's A Theory of Justice. Rawls was Pogge's adviser at H

Ethics in Contemporary Philippine Society released

ETHICS IN CONTEMPORARY PHILIPPINE SOCIETY. Edited by CRB Maboloc, PhD, Foreword by Darryl Macer, PhD, with an introduction by Daniel Mishori, PhD. WORD FROM GLOBAL SCHOLARS “This book is a timely contribution to practical ethics. It deals with challenging moral problems like environmental hazards and climate change, justice, democracy and violence, and relates these burning issues to the present state of the Filipino society. At the same time the book is firmly anchored in moral theory. It is written in a clear and accessible style and serves as an excellent educational resource.” Dr. Göran Collste Professor Emeritus of Applied Ethics Linköping University, Sweden “This is a highly original approach to teaching applied ethics. Focusing as it does on issues that are part of the lives of the students and written by local scholars, it cannot help but be engaging. I very much enjoyed reading it and am sure that the students will gain not just theoretical ethical knowledge

Doing Philosophy in the Philippines: My take

First, a distinction must be made between Filipino philosophy and Filipinos doing philosophy. It's not the case that to be a Filipino philosopher, one must be writing Filipino philosophy. A Filipino scholar can be considered a philosopher even if what he or she writes is about Kant or Hegel. What Filipino philosophy means is another matter. For now, I prefer that we simply do philosophy or that we philosophize. We must also distinguish philosophizing in terms of its formal character and in terms of what ordinary folks do. To me, the manner that I was raised by my father elicited so many questions in my mind and I believe that many among us who are into the business of thinking, also experience the same, e.g. whether you are loved, what's the meaning of life, or if there is really a god. Of course, there's nothing original about those questions. But the point is, I just want to emphasize, not all get to ask about those things because perhaps life for other people is comfor

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