Maria Aubrey B.

Villamor March 22, 2018

I-E Legal Philosophy

Concept of “Man” and “Society” of Rizal, Jacinto and Mabini: A Summary

“I view man as a masterpiece of creation, and perfect within the conditions under which he was created,
to the extent that it would not be possible to deprive him of any of those component conditions whether
moral or physical, without disfiguring him of making him unhappy.”

-Dr. Jose P. Rizal

According to Spirkin’s Dialectical Materialism, the problem of man cannot be solved

scientifically without a clear statement of the relationship between man and society, as seen in
the primary collectivity which is the family. It is this primary group that bears the major
responsibility to society. As mentioned by Mabini, a society is an association of men who gather
together for mutual help, in order that each may enjoy the greatest possible well-being, which
would not be possible if men were isolated. Hence, in order to fully understand and identify the
issues in the community as well as to provide for its remedies, one must first inculcate to his
mind such concepts of man and society from our beloved Filipino thinkers.

Rizal emphasized three general principles that would guide everyone to clearly show
the relationship between man and society. First, man by creation possessed certain intellectual
and moral potentialities. Second, these potentialities had a natural tendency towards progress,
progress meaning the full development or perfection of man’s intellectual and moral faculties.
Third, any attempt to repress man’s potentialities or his natural inclination to progress morally
disfigures him. Rizal’s theory can be summed up in such a manner that no corrupt government
could survive for long if the people themselves were not corrupt. This statement can be
supported based on his notion on freedom for which it pertains that if a man reached the stage
of personal discipline, integrity and moral uplift combined with a love of country and refusal to
submit to tyranny then, there is liberty. Ergo, Rizal was focused on presenting that corrupt
people will produce a corrupt government, and as a remedy in order to avoid this situation, the
people must be educated and instill to their minds and hearts the moral virtues for which these
will guide them to a better society.

The Brain of Katipunan, Jacinto, also postulated moral and political theories such as
freedom may be lost and equality may not be recognized when individuals deliberately
instigate discord among their fellowmen in order to perpetuate their self-interests and power.
He also reiterated that there is only “evil” in the society when a group of men used government
as a toll to further their own interests. Similar to Rizal’s ideology on the concept of man and
society, in order to eradicate this disease or toxic problem in the society, education must be
taken into consideration as a remedy for which people develop reason and that the state of
freedom will be recaptured. However, Jacinto did not desire to the nature in recapturing of
freedom. He was interested in the formation of a society with a definite governmental form in
which freedom could still be maintained. He also emphasized that men should develop civic
virtues which can be based on the Kartilla ng Katipunan. The Kartilla provides the concept of
what is just and noble and aims to develop among the Filipinos a greater sense of self-respect
and dignity and create a community where mutual aid and love would be a major bond among
members – Jacinto’s concept of man and society!
 Mabini developed the concept of the above-mentioned Filipino political thinkers and
provided logical conclusion for which he concluded that since God gave man his life, it was
both a right and duty to preserve it in accordance with one’s ability and natural strength
provided that the actions involved for its preservation were in accordance with what is
reasonable. Mabini wrote two articles namely the True Decalogue which asked the Filipinos to
develop virtues such as truthfulness, industry, love of God and of the country and for which it
aims to draw fundamental lines of political education since the function of politics was
primarily a moral one; and the Constitutional Program for the Philippine Republic which
presented a definite constitutional program for a future Republic. In Mabini’s “A Mis
Compatriotas”, he emphasized that men and society are complementary with one another in
which in order to erect the true edifice of our social regeneration, we must radically change not
only the institutions but also our way being and thinking (internal and external revolution) and
establish a moral government on more solid bases and adjure the vices we inherited from the
Spaniards.

Among these three Filipino political thinkers, there are two main points that they are in
common namely, their ideas were based on Rousseau’s ideology that people were what the
government made them and that man is born free, but in society he is reduced to servitude; and
the cure in order to eradicate these problems in the society and to preserve the life and liberty of
the Filipino people – EDUCATION. The moral rules provided by our Filipino leaders possess
intrinsic values because they were claimed to be ultimately based on God’s sanction. In this 21st
century, we cannot deny the fact that we are still in the struggle of independence. As mentioned
by Salonga, we all continue to suffer the consequences of the continuing meddling of foreign
powers in our present national existence and that the dignity of the people, its identity, is at
stake. Ergo, we must not waste these ideas, the moral rules, the form of government and the
concept of man and society for Rizal, Jacinto, and Mabini offered their lives for the common
good of the future generation.