On The Questions That Matter: The Experience of Humanity

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

The Experience of Humanity

by Hazel Alino

2 July 2013
Discussed Text: Leovino Garcia, "The Promotion of Responsibility and Hope"

I’m sure every living person in this world has already heard of at least one story about the battle between the good and evil. Well if you haven’t heard of any, there’s this famous story about a wicked witch who tried to get rid of her beautiful step daughter but failed to do so. The fair and pure princess was saved from death by a kiss from her prince charming. And as usual, as all stories go, they live happily ever after and the good triumphs over the evil.

We were told that good will always prevail, that the wicked witch of a step mom was evil and jealous and selfish and nothing more. But not once did we ever try to consider stepping in the shoes of the evil witch.
In this world it is very easy for us to judge people based only on their actions without really digging deeper into the reality of their lives. People have different ways of viewing things. We have different ways of “seeing with our minds” which are called insights. But insight is not just seeing rather insight is an experience. Insight is way more than being an observer but having an insight means being an active participant in life. But what if our experiences in life were not that good and we turn out to be the bad guy, what does that say about us? If our experiences are good and we end up as the hero, are we better than the rest? In other words, what is the role of insight in our humanity?

The nature of insight tells us that we need to learn to see things which are essential. But it also tells us that we have to go somewhere from that point. Philosophy explains that to have an insight means to know something, then analyze it, dissect, realize then go back to reality. From what I learned in class, I can say that our insight guides our actions. Insight tells us what needs to be done and that there’s more to be done.

Our insight guides us. And I guess that is its role in our humanity. It helps us to make a choice on what to do with what life has given us whether it is a bad or good experience. And I guess when the evil step mom decided to get rid of her step daughter, she just chose to stay blind to all the other possibilities. But that does not mean she’s not human. Experience makes us human. An insight leads us to an experience. And we just have to remember that our wrong choices and mistakes are part of that experience.

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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.