Philosophy and Humanities

The precolonial inhabitants in the islands of Luzon, Philippines particularized certain places as sacred or holy such as rivers, waterfalls, caves, mountains, or rocks as place of worship. They believed that nature is the dwelling place of prehistoric deities called diwata. The shamans known as babaylan or catalonan have imposed the pilgrims on the specific time and season to visit the sacred place, pay homage to the deities, and offer gifts for atonement or as thanksgiving. When the Spanish missionaries penetrated the islands of Luzon many adherents to the precolonial nature worship were evangelized and baptized. Thus, the act of religious worship of indigenous beliefs and Catholic faith were amalgamated. This article will explore the flow of religious practices through fluvial processions where rivers is a sacred space that connect every devotee to the divine. Information were gathered through library/archival research, observations during fluvial processions, and interview with pilgrims and devotees. Today there are four fluvial processions in honor of the Mary, Star of the Seas. People in all walks of life flock and join the fluvial procession to express gratitude, ask favors, and seek healing and miracles for terminal illnesses.

The Cagsawa Ruins is a crucial structure of the old church standing 38 km from Mt. Mayon in the province of Bicol. The ruins has been the result of the eruption of Mt. Mayon last February 1, 1814. The remains have become a part of the province's rich history and culture declaring it as one of the national treasures of the Philippines. Preservation is implemented to maintain the part that has remained from centuries ago. But apparently, the material used for preserving this important structure lacks compatibility with the original materials incorporated in the structure. Portland cement has been an alternative for lime mortars through which, in nature, are synthetic and are known to be the source of premature deterioration of soft, historic bricks. This cultural heritage is of importance to the history and must be preserved to its rightful material. By means of petrographic and thermal analysis it was proved that the aggregate from the mortar gathered from Cagsawa came from minerals and marine organisms that the decomposition of the elements confirmed that there are organic compounds present.

The Cagsawa Ruins is a popular name of the former Franciscan missionary complex which was demolished and rebuilt-particularly the church and convent-in 1724 by Fray Francisco Blanco, OFM, to make it bigger and stronger. The place was devastated by a violent volcanic eruption on 1 February 1814, when thousands of people in the nearby towns of Camalig, Daraga and Budiao were killed by pyroclastic flows and lahar. Since the 1814 eruption of Mount Mayon, the Cagsawa Ruins have been left undisturbed. No archaeological activities had been made in the area. The entire plan and blueprint of the Franciscan missionary complex remained unknown to many after the devastating eruption of Mayon. Some parts of the stone structures are still visible, while others are submerged. This paper will share the preliminary results of archaeological investigation at the Cagsawa Ruins.

The lack of information about the correct ways of restoring historical masonry materials from cultural heritage structures tends to create more damage to the said structures. According to Cesare Brandi's theory of restoration, existing historical materials must be replaced with their equivalent. This paper presents the chemical composition of historical mortars acquired from church ruins of barangay Budiao, Daraga, Albay, Philippines. The historical mortar sample was characterized using petrographic analysis, sieve analysis, atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and infrared spectroscopy (IR). Petrographic analysis shows that the mortar sample is bounded by 90% organic material particularly coral and is held together by microcrystalline calcite (micrite) matrix that comprises of 10% of the total sample mortar composition. Sieve analysis shows a well-graded particle distribution. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) was also utilized to determine the %Ca for each sieve fraction using HCl for acid digestion. TGA thermograph shows the non-linear drop in weight between 740 o C and 850 o C, which corresponds to the degradation temperature of calcium carbonate or limestone. IR analysis shows essential characteristic peaks of CaCO 3 at 712 cm-1 , 874 cm-1 , and 1437 cm-1 .

For the most part, the philosophical discourse has been unfriendly with its treatment of the body as an entity. Generally, the body is seen as a mere object-a natural part of being a corporeal human being-that must be directed and controlled; wary of succumbing to bodily desires and pleasures instead of pursuing the higher pleasures of reason and the intellect. The dichotomy between the mind and the body, with the former being the superior one; is a core (if not the most powerful and influential) idea in Philosophy. However, this mind-body dichotomy becomes problematic— read from a feminist perspective— as the split has become correlated and paralleled with discourse on men and women. As the stereotype goes: men are seen as the rational ones while women are taken to be more in-touch with the physical and bodily aspects of existence. Just as intellect and rationality must always keep the body in check and under control; the parallel is that women, too, are controlled in so many aspects: in how they look, how they behave, and how they act.

This intertwining of women and the corporeal body as well as the theme of control and the struggle for autonomy are artistically tapped on and discussed by award-winning Korean author Han Kang in her 2015 novel translated by Deborah Smith; The Vegetarian; which is about Yeong-hye who, despite her family's refusal, adamantly chooses to be vegetarian— in an attempt to reclaim control not only of her body but also of her life. Her shift to vegetarianism is due to disturbing nightmares involving scenes of animal slaughter as well as her recollection of pets abusively treated by their owners and masters. This made Yeong-hye confront how controlled she has been as a person, as a woman; realizing that the only way to avoid the brutality humans inflict upon each other and upon animals is to become a plant. This drastic shift in Yeong-hye's mindset and lifestyle convinced everyone that she has become psychologically deranged, in need of intervention— may it be through forcefully feeding her meat or admitting her into a psychiatric ward. All throughout the novel tackles themes of control and the struggle of women for autonomy. Using The Vegetarian as source material, I attempt to do a philosophical review of the novel; reading through and reacting to how Han Kang presented the woman and the body not only as plot devices but also at the same time a battlefield and a weapon for women emancipation and empowerment.

As described by Jaeggi in Critique of Forms of Life, immanent criticism– as it shares with internal criticism– “criticizes its object based on standards that are already contained in this object itself”; however it differs from the latter insofar as coming from that internal critical standpoint, immanent criticism transcends this initial internal context, driving it beyond itself, transforming the current state of affairs as it resolve the contradictions and conflicts within its object, i.e., a form of life.

The discussion in this paper is an attempt to apply Jaeggi’s immanent critique on a micro-level practice focusing on the angel shot, a discreet distress signal used in public nightlife settings like clubs, bars, and pubs. While the angel shot is conceived in response to unwanted sexual attention– a commonplace crisis in the venues mentioned– it, at the same time, adds to the conflict perpetuated by how the nexus of practices in these nightlife venues is understood. By using immanent critique in dissecting the how's and why's of the angel shot, this paper aims to: (1) trace the origin of the angel shot as a practice highlighting how it is a solution to a problem, (2) show that the angel shot as a solution to the problem of harassment, assault, and other unwanted sexual attention is regressive, and (3) hopefully contribute to the transformation of the interpretive framework through which we understand and make sense of social interaction in public nightlife.