Pilosopo

What is a pilosopo?

An article I read lamented that the Philippines is the only country where the word philosopher is considered an insult. Being called a Philosopher or a pilosopo is synonymous to being “a smart aleck--someone who engages in meticulous and abstract reasoning, thereby incurring the ire of other Filipinos. The statement “Namimilosopo ka na naman” is a huge slap in the face. It’s a way of shutting down reasoned discourse, instead of attempting to refute the logic in question.”

This choice of words shows the low regard that Filipino society has for critical thinking and challenging of the status quo. It’s a society where anti-intellectualism is a virtue, and where too much careful thinking is a sign of weirdness and unacceptable behavior. Socrates would not be proud.

This is not untrue. When one answers back, he/she is pilosopo.  In everyday use, we usually associate being a pilosopo to playing or punning with words. Being sarcastic is also being pilosopo. The word pilosopo carry many meanings most of them negative.

Some have concluded, including the article I have read, that the negative connotation of the word pilosopo is an indication of the Filipinos “low regard for critical thinking” and the Filipinos “anti-intellectualism.”

A rather harsh picture of the Filipinos—anti intellectual and intolerant which is understandable but may not   necessarily be correct.

Filipinos are conscious of social protocols which places values on seniority whether by age or by blood. Filipinos also place high value on propriety which is why ours in not an abstract philosophy but a practical and relational philosophy—a philosophy of life than of being. Apart from calling someone an ate or a kuya because he/she is older by age. We use ka, aling, mamang and other honorific to address the elders.  We also have honorifics for in-laws and even in-laws's in-laws.We have a very strict family protocol that trickles down to the third to fifth generations that comes with its   own peculiar, unspoken and traditional rules on rank and privileges. Hence it is considered irreverent to argue with someone older than you are.  This philosophy of relationship puts the highest value on respect and relationship than on argumentation when faced with situations.

An example of this is the Filipino parents’ rule of not allowing their children to answer back. This has been the classic situation among my children. When caught committing house rules infractions and confronted by their parents, a child naturally answers and reasons back, but when the child do this, his or her parents berate him/her for speaking. The child is confused what to do, he/she is being asked yet when he answers or reason he/she is accused of being a pilosopo—disrespectful.

Though this may seem confusing at first and it may seem that the child is discouraged into using his/her reason, but actually what is inculcated in the child is that what is required is remorse and not reasoning.  

   

Filipinos do not discourage argumentation or reasoning, they just place them below respect and propriety.  It is not all about being right it is all about being in the right and this kind of thinking erpresents a rather unique philosophy which may not be rational using the western model, but is appropriately a working philosophy developed in the social context of Filipino relationships. 

According to Gripaldo, the word pilosopo means two things: a sophist (or philosophist) or a philosopher. If you are argumentative, you are a pilosopo (a sophist) but if you are wise, you are a pilosopo (philosopher). Pilosopo (sophist) is pejorative while a pilosopo (philosopher) carries the positive connotation of pilosopo.

The way pilosopo is used in daily discourse, the connotation it carries is that of a sophist. Sohpist are paid Greek teachers who are known for their argumentative skills. One sophist boasts that he could make a square a circle and a circle a square simply by arguing. They are looked upon as mercenaries for they collect tuition for their lessons.

In general, a philosopher is someone who “seeks answer to the questions of life.” A philosopher is someone who asks questions and tries to seek answers to these questions using his/her intellect. In the academe, a pilosopo denotes a proper philosopher. These are the people who have formal studies of philosophy and engages in academic philosophical discourses.