Xiao Talks: Reason, Enlightenment, and Love as the Foundation of Imagining the Filipino Nation
Addressing the members and guests of the Humanist Alliance Philippines, Inc. (HAPI) 2017 Asian Humanist Conference, "Game Changers," 10 June 2017 at the Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros, Manila. This is the very first time the "Imahe/Nasyon" Lecture was ever delivered. Abstract: REASON, ENLIGHTENMENT, AND LOVE AS THE FOUNDATION OF IMAGINING THE FILIPINO NATION Xiao Chua Prof. Van Ybiernas told me once that the Spaniards, with only a few hundred troops, couldn't have effectively conquered the Philippines. Therefore, the Spaniards didn't conquer us as much with force but with an idea. To brainwash us to submit to colonialism, the Spaniards used religion in brainwashing the natives to follow everything the Spaniards are saying. With the rise of the Ilustrado class in the third century of Spanish Colonialism (19th century, the enlightenment philosophy--of reason over religion, of science over superstition--was learned by them in the Western schools. To destroy the idea of colonialism, they have to create a new idea--the idea that we are a Nation, with our own identity which the Propagandists exhibited in their studies on Philippine history and culture. The Katipunan will continue with the national project by adding Filipino elements to the imagined Inang Bayan. The propagandists and the Katipunan, the founding fathers and mothers, gave birth to the Nation invoking--Katuwiran (Reason), Kaliwanagan (Enlightenment), Kapatiran (Brotherhood and sisterhood) and Pag-ibig (Love). Video Courtesy of Jing Dalagan (Writing Jing)
Addressing the members and guests of the Humanist Alliance Philippines, Inc. (HAPI) 2017 Asian Humanist Conference, "Game Changers," 10 June 2017 at the Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros, Manila. This is the very first time the "Imahe/Nasyon" Lecture was ever delivered. Abstract: REASON, ENLIGHTENMENT, AND LOVE AS THE FOUNDATION OF IMAGINING THE FILIPINO NATION Xiao Chua Prof. Van Ybiernas told me once that the Spaniards, with only a few hundred troops, couldn't have effectively conquered the Philippines. Therefore, the Spaniards didn't conquer us as much with force but with an idea. To brainwash us to submit to colonialism, the Spaniards used religion in brainwashing the natives to follow everything the Spaniards are saying. With the rise of the Ilustrado class in the third century of Spanish Colonialism (19th century, the enlightenment philosophy--of reason over religion, of science over superstition--was learned by them in the Western schools. To destroy the idea of colonialism, they have to create a new idea--the idea that we are a Nation, with our own identity which the Propagandists exhibited in their studies on Philippine history and culture. The Katipunan will continue with the national project by adding Filipino elements to the imagined Inang Bayan. The propagandists and the Katipunan, the founding fathers and mothers, gave birth to the Nation invoking--Katuwiran (Reason), Kaliwanagan (Enlightenment), Kapatiran (Brotherhood and sisterhood) and Pag-ibig (Love). Video Courtesy of Jing Dalagan (Writing Jing)