Addressing Liberal Individualism through Filipino Virtue Ethics: A Framework for Values Education
摘要
Individualism promotes a view of humans as self-directed, autonomous, and separate from others. Alasdair MacIntyre’s After Virtue notes that liberal individualism has been the dominant ideology for the past two centuries, describing it as a social institution and an invention of the modern world. This social institution then creates the modern liberal society, which is emotivist, abstract, and egotist, which the contemporary culture has inherited today. An antidote of which is virtues. Filipinos hold a wide range of inherently Filipino virtues in the Philippines grounded on the pillars of loób (relational will) and kapwa (shared self). This collection of Filipino virtues is historically dedicated to strengthening and preserving human relationships. However, in the contemporary period, individualism has influenced the minds of younger Filipinos, who have viewed these virtues as toxic and unnecessary. Hence, the need to abandon its practice. Likewise, the continuity of learning and its importance in schools has not been evident. This study aims to answer the main problem: how can Filipino virtue ethics solve MacIntyre’s problem of liberal individualism? Thus, it further seeks to provide a framework for including Filipino virtues in the curriculum of values education in the Philippines.