Foreword

Abstract

To those who are saying that academics have lost their utility for they have settled in the ivory towers of their universities: detached from reality; chained in the paralysis of inaction; and empty of purpose: Behold, I say to you: a nation that has no thinkers is like a man without a soul; action without an epistemological grounding is like a flower devoid of fragrance! Let them be reminded that all actions start as ideas; explicated, criticized, and crystallized through discourses of man. In the same manner, let them be refreshed that even the most fundamental rights that they enjoy; rights that serve as springboards of their very actions towards ‘social emancipation’, are founded on abstract and general nuances like conceptions of justice, equality, freedom, and harmony.

Indeed, it is today, more than ever; when the very notion of ‘truth’ is questioned and the possibility of dialogue belittled; when values and ideas have been subordinated to material considerations, scholars are called to take a stand. This stand takes the form of clarifying nuances, expressing concepts, and opening possible avenues for genuine dialogue. As Jose Rizal aptly stated in Filipinas dentro de Cien Anos (The Philippines A Century Hence) referring to the significance of scholars in liberating the nation from the bondages of colonialism: “This class whose number is increasing progressively is in constant communication with the rest of the island, and if today it constitutes the brain of the country (cerebro del pais), within a few years it will constitute its entire nervous system and demonstrate its existence in all its acts.”