Philippine E-Journals

Jovito Carińo Muni: Paglalayag sa Pamimilosopiyang Filipino

Roland Theuas DS Pada

 

Abstract:

Muni is a Tagalog word connoting contemplation, reflection, speculation, and introspective wondering. It is an exploration of thoughts and a practice of letting ideas wander imaginatively. Jovito Cariño’s Muni: Paglalayag sa Pamimilosopiyang Filipino does exactly what its title suggest, it is a collection of essays exploring his philosophical thoughts on contemporary Filipino issues. The book features 10 essays written in Filipino with the English version of the foreword from Paolo Bolaños and Cariño’s essay “Re-thinking Filipino Philosophy with Gilles Deleuze.” Readers will find Cariño’s collection of essays refreshing as it moves beyond the usual problematisation of the concept of Filipino identity which we find in other authors such as Emerita Quito, Leonardo Mercado, Florentino Timbreza, and Rolando Gripaldo. The language of the essays was well balanced, on the one hand, Filipino readers will find the language relaxed, flowing, and in more instances than one humorous and witty. On the other hand, readers looking for a depth of content in philosophical scholarship will find themselves sated by the rigour observed in the documentation of Cariño’s essays. While his essays do not necessarily focus on the exposition of a specific philosopher or theory, Cariño extensively confers to philosophers from a wide variety of disciplines such as Thomas Aquinas, Theodor Adorno, Herbert Marcuse, Jürgen Habermas, Alasdair MacIntyre, Herbert Marcuse, just to name a few. The ideas that are bought to the table by these thinkers are not simply there to add a perspective to the issues that Cariño tackles in his essays. These ideas are also interrogated and expanded in the context of Filipino issues.