Scribd
Upload
230 views20 pages

Rizal From The Perspective of Filipino Intellectuals Rizal's Political Thought

This document discusses different perspectives on Jose Rizal from prominent Filipino intellectuals and patriots such as Claro M Recto, Jose Maria Sison, Amado V Hernandez, and Epifanio San Juan. It examines how they viewed Rizal's progression from a reformist to a revolutionary and attempted to reconcile perceived contradictions in his thinking. It also analyzes Rizal's own writings on individual freedom, political responsibility, and the relationship between the individual and society in the pursuit of moral perfection.

Uploaded by

Marie Elexis Revilleza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
230 views20 pages

Rizal From The Perspective of Filipino Intellectuals Rizal's Political Thought

This document discusses different perspectives on Jose Rizal from prominent Filipino intellectuals and patriots such as Claro M Recto, Jose Maria Sison, Amado V Hernandez, and Epifanio San Juan. It examines how they viewed Rizal's progression from a reformist to a revolutionary and attempted to reconcile perceived contradictions in his thinking. It also analyzes Rizal's own writings on individual freedom, political responsibility, and the relationship between the individual and society in the pursuit of moral perfection.

Uploaded by

Marie Elexis Revilleza
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 20

Rizal from the Perspective

of Other Filipino
Intellectuals and Patriots
PHILIPPINE INSTITUTIONS 10
2ND SEMESTER | 2016-2017

I. Claro M Recto
o 1958 Rizal Lecture
o Rizal as a realist (which in the context of the times could mean cautious
and therefore not yet prone to act)
o Bonifacio as an idealist (who saw the need to act against all odds)

II. Jose Maria Sison


o Struggle for National Democracy (1967)
oWhat made Rizal progressive and a radical of his own time was his ultimate
recognition that the liberties of the individual could only be realized if the
nation as a whole, particularly the masses, would be uplifted and enjoy more
freedom.

II. Jose Maria Sison


o Rizals novels explored the possibility of reform first (Ibarra) then the possibility
of the revolution (Simoun).
o Ibarra is frustrated in his reformist efforts but the other forces represented by
Elias are struggling to fight the oppressors.
o Pilosopo Tasyo: Change will ultimately come with the coming of fresh ideas
from abroad.

II. Jose Maria Sison


o In the second novel, the frustrated reformist Ibarra returns in the guise of
Simoun the jeweler what Sison calls the liberal reformer who becomes an
anarchist.
o Elias and Kabesang Tales as victims of feudal oppression
o Implications that Rizal wants to show:
Shortcomings of the reformism
Inadequacies of the anarchism

III. Amado V Hernandez


o Pursued the story of the jewels of Simoun in his novel Mga Ibong Mandaragit
o In this anti-imperialist novel, the character, Mando Plaridel, a socialist leader,
recovers Simouns jewels and uses the treasure to set up a school for workers
and revolutionaries.
o Hernandezs poems also allude to Rizals characters, as in Kung Tuyo na ang
Luha Mo, Aking Bayan and Katipunan.

III. Amado V Hernandez


Katulad mo ay si Huli, na aliping bayad-utang
Katulad mo ay si Sisa, binaliw ng kahirapan.

- Kung Tuyo na ang Luha Mo, Aking Bayan


Datiy Maria Clarang himala ng dilag
naging isang Sisang baliw at gulilat.
- Katipunan

IV. Epifanio San Juan


o His essays attempt to recuperate Rizal from his perceived apostasy and distaste
against the armed revolution.
o Our fatal error: we subscribe to an absolute belief, if not, veneration, as
regards Rizal. Either he is a reformist or he is a revolutionary.
o Imperialist trap: Making Rizal and Bonifacio clash against each other.

IV. Epifanio San Juan


The real message of [Renato] Constantino is to venerate Rizal but with a good
understanding of historical specificities, the social forces and power relations at play, and
the nature of ilustrados and principalia as an emergent class at that juncture of history
with all their contradictions and ambivalences.

- Epifanio San Juan

On Rizals Political Thought


PHILIPPINE INSTITUTIONS 10
2ND SEMESTER | 2016-2017

Aim of Rizals Theory


The prerequisite in achieving a moral perfection is the development and
instilment of a sense of moral dignity in his country.

I. On Individual and Society


o Individual as a moral being
Society as a system of moral relations
o Moral perfection is the ultimate goal or end of a human being.

I. On Individual and Society


1. Individuals by creation possessed certain intellectual and moral
potentialities or capabilities.
2. The potentialities of individuals had a natural tendency towards progress.
I view man as a masterpiece of creation, and perfect within the creations he was
created, to the extent that it would not be possible to deprive him of any of these
component conditions, whether moral or physical without disfiguring him or making him
unhappy.
- Rizal to Father Pastells, SJ

I. On Individual and Society


3. Attempts to stifle human beings potentialities disfigure them.
For a man to be responsible, it is necessary that he be the master of his actions and the
Filipinos are neither the master of their actions nor those of their thoughts.
-

Rizal, La Verdad Para Todos

o Activities of set of individuals can stifle mans natural inclination to


goodness.
o Moral perfection as a goal implies that we are not yet perfect.

II. On Freedom
o Individuals are said to be free if and only if they have reached that stage of
personal discipline, intellectual integrity, and moral uplift, which, combined
with love of country and a refusal to submit to tyranny, results in a
willingness to give their lives in defense of all these qualities.
o Rizals idea of freedom focuses on the individual level, not the political
level.
Internal (individualist) freedom: self-development
External (societal) freedom: self-determination

II. On Freedom
o Goals:
The need to develop the intellectual virtues, like love of study and of
what is just and noble
Cultivation of moral virtues like love of fellowmen, temperance, etc.,
and the possession of a sense of dignity that was both personal and
racial

II. On Freedom
o For Rizal, freedom does not entail political independence.
Criticism: Even if individuals achieve their fullest potentials, but the
country is not free at all, then how can they achieve total freedom?
Rizals Defense: No matter how free a country is, if no one fully
understands the true meaning of freedom, tyranny and moral
degradation will still be emerging.
o For Rizal, freedom is a REQUISITE for political independence.

II. On Freedom
o People have every right to be free.
o People learn and educate themselves in the process of struggling for
freedom and liberty. They attain highest potential only when they are
masters of their own destiny.
Colonialism is the only agency still trying to sell the idea that freedom is a diploma to
be granted by a superior people to an inferior one after the years of apprenticeship.
- Epifanio San Juan

III. On Political Responsibility


o Insofar as the Filipinos were not granted freedom under the Spanish rule, the
Spaniards could not blame them for all the ills the country faced during that
time.
He who does not act freely is not responsible for his actions.
- Rizal, Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos

o But insofar as the Filipinos were viewed as having duties to themselves and
their fellowmen, and having permitted themselves to arrive at a stage where
Spaniards were allowed to tyrannize over them, they were responsible.

III. On Political Responsibility


o To Rizal, people deserve a government that they permitted to rule.
[H]e loves tyranny who submits to it.
People and governments are correlated and complementarya fatuous government
could be an anomaly among righteous people, just a corrupt people cannot exist under
just rulers and wise laws. Like people, like government.
-

Rizal, Sobre la Indolencia de los Filipinos

An immoral government presupposes a demoralized people, a conscienceless, greedy,


and servile citizens in the settle parts, outlaws and brigands in the mountains. Like
master, like slave! Like government, like country.
- Rizal, El Filibusterismo

You might also like