Grace Poe and Her Philosophical Blunder

Philosophy is the study of basic and ultimate principles – and this has always been my working definition for it, and will continue to be my working definition for as long as I can still speak and stand inside the classroom.

I explain to my students that the goal of philosophy is to enlighten us on almost everything. It started with man’s sense of wonder. Hence, Philosophy is here to stay as long curiosity prowls inside our mind.

Enlighten us on what you might ask. Philosophy orients us with the basics, since it attempts to reveal the true nature of things – the whatness of everything. So what is a ballpen? What sets it apart from other writing tools?

Enough of my introduction. What is Grace Poe doing here in my article?

We all know that the lady Senator is a strong contender in next year’s presidential polls. With the memory of her late father still quite fresh in the minds of the Filipino masses, it is now or never for her as far as her political ambition is concerned.

Apart from this, the Filipinos wanted something new and fresh – a candidate whose morality and integrity are spotless so far. Something that compensates for her novice status in poltics.

Everything seemed to be a smooth ride for her, until a boulder rolled from nowhere and blocked her path – the issues on her citizenship and residency.

Now let me do some philosophy again.

Man has this penchant for advancing on a lot of things, at the expense of those that he badly needs to learn first. For example, we have been using the ballpen for a long time already but we cannot actually define it. My students would simply define it as a writing instrument. But pencil is a writing instrument too, right? So are they just the same?

Here are other examples to explain my point further. You go to your dermatologist for expensive skin treatments, but you forget to wash your face before going to bed. You have been to many places driving your own car, but you do not know how to change tires. You can bake a cake, but sadly you can’t perfect a cookie.

In the case of our presidential aspirant Grace Poe, she has already filed her certificate of candidacy and is all set for her presidential bid. But unfortunately, she has overlooked two very basic things, which are basic matters that she should have resolved early on – the issues on her citizenship and residency. In fact, several people have already questioned the legitimacy of her candidacy in the light of these two issues.

Now this is where Philosophy would come in as the study of basic and ultimate principles, as it is a discipline that encourages us to go back to the basic things, in order to be re-oriented with things that we should have knowledge of first – like the ballpen being a writing instrument that has a ballpoint (which a pencil does not possess).

So I guess at this juncture you already know the philosophical blunder that Grace Poe has committed. She has already traveled very far with her political ambition. But now, she is taking that u-turn slot in order to fix things that she and her camp may have failed to take note of.

They are going back to the basics I guess. And Philosophy would love this.