On The Questions That Matter: totality

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Totality in the Demand of Reciprocity

by Bits Penaranda

Last Thursday we discussed in class how it was important to simply do good, to be of service to others and to go out to them even if we do not know them. Although this is ethical, things are easier said than done.

The reason why most of us do not simply do the good as much as we want to, is because there is a demand of reciprocity. Whether it is a stranger, a close friend, or a sibling, we still expect something out of the service that we do for them. For example, if we do a friend a favor, we expect that they will do the same when we need them. There is a demand for our service to be reciprocated.

The reason why is not as superficial as it seems to be. The reason is because when we act in service to the other, we give our effort and time. This service becomes an investment in the other. By doing this, we give a part of ourselves in the other, and when we do that, this is where I believe totality steps into place.

Because the other holds a part of us that we have given to them, we indirectly claim them to be ours. Until we get the recognition of our service, they are kept captive by our expectations. We believe that they owe us something that we deserve, and that is the recognition, the part of us (the service) that we have given to them in the first place that we want to be returned. By simply acknowledging our good deed, we already feel that that is enough of a service towards us, thus making us feel satisfied because we feel “complete” once more.
But that should not be the case. The fact that we did agree or decide to do the good in the first place, means we are willing to be of service to the other. There is consent. We have surrendered ourselves, and as we have learned in class today, by doing the good we are also saying “me here for you”. For doing the good with expectations of getting something back in return isn’t purely good. By being available for the other, there should be no conditions, no judgments, and no boundaries. For the other is the infinite, an infinite we cannot grasp, we cannot totalize. Therefore, reciprocity should not be demanded because we do not have the right to do so, and if we do end up feeling miserable after doing good, then the only one we can blame is ourselves.

About The Professor

Leovino Ma. Garcia, Ph. D. is a professor of the Department of Philosophy of Ateneo de Manila University. He finished his degree in humanities under the guidance and tutelage of Fr. Roque Ferriols, S.J., and eventually attained his doctorate degree in Philosophy in the Catholic University of Louvain. He was the dean of the School of Arts and Sciences from 1988 to 1994 as its first lay dean, and then became the dean once again, this time of the School of Humanities from 2001 to 2007. He is the second recipient of the Natividad Galang-Fajardo Lifetime Chair for the Humanities in 2011 and currently the President of the World Conference of Catholic Philosophers (COMIUCAP).

But most of all, he is a thinker, a life teacher, a lover of the arts, and, as he always claims to be, "the poor boy who knows the fields and rivers of the Cagayan valley," truly human in his own way.

These lectures delivered for the school year 2012-2013 are transcribed and summarized by Earl Allyson Valdez (AB Philosophy, Pre-Divinity Track 2010), once his student and now his teaching assistant.