Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy

Volume 10, No. 1, July 2025, 1-5

Editorial

The Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied

Philosophy now gears up towards Global
Standardization of Philosophical Research

Menelito P. Mansueto, M.A.

Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology
Email: menelito.mansueto@g.msuiit.edu.ph

The Social Ethics Society Journal of Applied Philosophy

maintains its commitment to deliver top-caliber scholarly research on
Applied Ethics and Applied Philosophy, as well as critical and
innovative studies that tackle the core subjects of Philosophy, such as
Metaphysics, Epistemology, and Logic. The SES Board of Editors is
now preparing the journal to bring out the best of its potential as it
transitions to be on par with international standards and global
recognition. Though wary of potential hegemony in the competition of
standardizations in academia, the SES Journal is now gearing towards
global standardization of philosophical research as it embraces the
necessity for institutional recognition, such as journal indexing and
accreditations that help and benefit its authors. The journal is
currently indexed in The Philosopher’s Index and will continually
aspire for more recognition from top global caliber educational
organizations.
The SES Journal Regular Issue, Volume 10, Number 1 brings out
the brilliance and the best of our Filipino scholars, young and old, but
mostly from the energetic younger generation of Philosophy scholars
today in the country and abroad, the voices of today’s generation and
of the future. These authors are the potential faces of the future of
philosophical research in the Philippines and abroad. One article is
submitted from Kolkata, India, a stark evidence of the journal’s
international reach. This current issue is a consolidated journal issue,

© 2025 MANSUETO
ISSN: 2546-1885
2 Mansueto

as some of the submissions were originally intended for a special

issue. This Volume 10 is being divided into two releases due to the
magnanimity of the submissions. Issue number 2 will follow soon. The
articles in this volume have the following subject areas as their
dominant themes: Continental Philosophy, Philosophy of Technology,
Philosophy of Education, Social and Political Philosophy, Metaphysics
and Artificial Intelligence, Critical Philosophy and Public Policy, and, of
course, the undying Philippine Democracy.
To begin with, there are two featured articles in this issue
number 1. The first featured article in this issue is Anton Heinrich
Rennesland’s “Comparative Views on Technology of Heidegger and
Daoism (with allusions to TCM 中医)” which was a paper that was
presented as a plenary lecture during the Social Ethics Society
Conference last February 2024 in the beautiful municipality of
Bansalan, Davao del Sur. In this work, Rennesland tackles the
necessity to approach technology based on the dual lenses of the East
and the West, using Daoism and Heidegger. Rennesland also discusses
Classical/ Traditional Chinese Medicine zhōng yī 中医 as a case point
of comparison and in understanding technology from the viewpoint of
Daoism and indigenous practice/knowledge.
The second featured article is authored by the courageous
philosophy graduate students of the Ateneo de Davao University.
Adelbert Escollada, Karl Christianne Exala, Ardionne Frosvene
Fuentes, Zandee Jaquias, and James Patrick Pabonita dared this brave
assessment on the latest move of the Department of Education and the
House Committee on Basic Education and Culture (Edcom II). Their
essay entitled “On the Proposed Removal of Ethics in the GE
Curriculum: A Moral Exposition against a Structural Injustice”
courageously pointed out the lapses and shortcomings of the proposal
to remove the Ethics course in the tertiary curriculum.
The succeeding four articles in this issue are devoted to
educational ideas, most specifically, their takes on the emergence of
the K-to-12 educational structure, as well as the improvement of the
teaching and the professional practice of Ethics and Philosophy, both
in the classroom and its effects to the practitioners’ public lives and its
impact to the entire human societies. Arvin Burbano and Jonathan
Florendo’s “hooksian Democratic Pedagogy for a Democratic Country:
A Critique of the Current K-12 Program,” our third article, utilizes the
 Editorial: Volume 10, July 2025 3

educational ideas of bell hooks in suggesting key points for

improvement in the current K-12 program.
Ian Anthony Davatos’s “The Public (Ir)Relevance of Philosophy,”
our fourth article, is a very powerful discourse that could impact and
alter the practice and conduct of Philosophy in the country, as well as
improve the hierarchical value of Philosophy teachers in the academe.
The power of Davatos’ arguments in this essay is quite stirring and
moving. The article highlights the necessary elements of how and what
it takes to become a relevant and functionary public philosopher.
The fifth article, Percival Paras’ “Other-Oriented Teaching
Philosophy in the Lens of Derridean Deconstruction,” is another timely
critique of our classroom pedagogy and teaching methods. Through
the lens of the philosophy of deconstruction proposed by Jacques
Derrida, Paras critiques the traditional teacher-centered approach to
teaching, in favor of the student-centered approach through the notion
of “the Other.” Paras’s arguments are a must-read critical piece on the
strategies of the classroom.
Our sixth article in this issue, Lj Zaphan B. Lamboloto’s
“Revisiting the K-12 Program: A Freirean Critique” is a very timely
article in these very critical times of CHED and DepEd’s restructuring
to a more (in)efficient college and Senior High School curriculum.
The seventh article, Barada Laxmi Panda and Sanjit Barman’s
“Reassessing the Self: Defending Rawls’ Unencumbered Self against
Sandel’s Critique,” highlights Rawls’s account of moral personhood in
the “original position” that provides a multi-faceted conceptions of the
good, a clarificatory analysis addressing criticisms from the
communitarian camp, and its importance in the debates on
contemporary liberalism, pluralism, and the principles of a fair and
just society. Christian Hipolao’s “The Encumbered Radical
Democracy,” the eighth article in this issue, contemplates on the
encumbered aspect of radical democracy, based on the moral and
political philosophies of John Rawls, Michael Sandel, Charles Douglas
Lummis, and Will Kymlicka.
The ninth article, Francis Bernard Caguioa’s “An Unwanted
Divorce Law in the Philippines: Ethical Arguments Against Divorce,”
provides a quite compelling discourse against the implementation of
the divorce law in the Philippines. Caguioa looks at the Filipino
cultural identity as the key to a strong and sustainable marital
relationship.
4 Mansueto

Arnel A. Morte’s “How does the Epistemic Ethics of Voting relate

to Civic Obligation in the Democratic Philippines?” is our tenth article
in this issue. Dr. Morte addresses in this essay the complicated nature
of the country’s electoral system and stresses the importance of our
political and moral obligation toward our fellow citizens. The
collective responsibility and the sense of mutual concern in the
practice of electing the best candidates in the democratic exercise of
the national election affect not just the individual but the whole
country, Morte argues. Morte utilizes the concept of entre nous by the
philosopher Charles Taylor to make sense of the complicated
landscape of Philippine politics.
The eleventh article, Roseannette G. Paler’s “Exposing the
Filipino ‘Matapobre’ Hospitality Mindset: A Reversal of the
Internalized Poverty Stigma through the Lens of Amartya Sen’s
Capability Approach” offers a unique reading of Amartya Sen’s
“capability theory” as applied to a long-standing Filipino culture of
hospitality. In this article, Paler critiques the Filipino concept of
hospitality as it tends to become selective towards equals or “lesser
beings.”
The twelfth and the last article, but not the least, is Joseph
Martin M. Jose’s “Recasting Technological Determinism,” which argues
about the problematic consequences and disadvantages of the
mutually exclusivist view of technology and human relations, against
the continuum view. The paper tackles the disparity between human
and technological autonomy and agency.
The Philippines and the world are compounded with a myriad of
issues, such as conflict and wars, and utter corruption and
senselessness, that our philosophers in this volume have attempted to
solve. This is a very rich and enlightening collection. This volume
presents a bountiful harvest of the Social Ethics Society Journal of
Applied Philosophy, a volume that includes submissions from fresh
college graduates, graduate students, as well as from seasoned
scholars in the discipline. The journal would continue to thank the
valuable time and effort of our local and international community of
anonymous peer reviewers. Our boundless gratitude for your humble
dedication, scholarship, and service to the journal and the entire
community of readers, philosophers, and students. On behalf of our
Editor-in-Chief, Dr. Ian Clark Parcon, and the Board of Editors of the
Social Ethics Society, together with its members and affiliates, would
 Editorial: Volume 10, July 2025 5

like to thank everyone to the committed atmosphere of philosophical

inquiry, for the greater glory of God, and service to the whole Filipino
nation as well as the entire global scholarly community. May peace,
love, and respect prevail and reign on earth! Namaste!