by Alan S. Cajes, PhD
I was asked to share my thoughts to some
philosophy students and enthusiasts about my lived experiences with philosophy as a field of
study. That brief discussion led me to reflect more about my lifelong companion
that opened for me a box of ideas from the most profound thinkers of the human
race. The result is this write up.
This paper is for lay people who don’t plan
to enter the religious life, but are planning to, or are now studying,
philosophy as a major for their undergraduate or college degree. The goal is to
share my humble and limited experiences with the hope that they could pick up some
lessons that will guide them in decision making. I also offer a suggestion on
how to improve the teaching of philosophy in our country.
Sometime in 1986 in a high school named after
a saint, in a municipality named after a tree, in a province named after its
sinkholes, in a country named after a colonizer, I was reading a book that
discussed “defense mechanisms” or what Sigmund Freud called the “ego defenses”.
These automatic defensive actions are psychological ways by which a person unconsciously
deals with anxiety. Denial is an
example. Smokers and drinkers who are influenced by some great writers will use
denial as a defense strategy in response to the prevailing knowledge about the
bad effects of cigarettes and alcohol.
While reading the book and realizing what I
have understood, I felt so happy, a feeling that is best captured in Leonardo
da Vinci’s statement – “the noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.” That
feeling on cloud nine inspired me to choose psychology as a field of
specialization when I took the University of the Philippines College Admission
Test. I was accepted by the state university and was assigned at the campus in Cebu
City which is now less than two hours away from my home province by fast craft (overnight trip in 1986 by boat). I enrolled,
but eventually went home due to homesickness and other reasons.
By the time I enrolled at the state
university, I was accepted by the Society of the Divine Word as a seminarian at a campus in Cebu City.
When I decided not to pursue my undergraduate study at the state university, I
went to the seminary for an advice. I was told to take up philosophy in a
non-seminary school and come back when I am ready to pursue the vocation. I
enrolled at Holy Name University (formerly Divine Word College) and earned a
Bachelor of Arts degree major in philosophy. My rationalization or defense
mechanism went something like this: since psychology is a child of philosophy,
then it would give me greater happiness if I study the mother of all sciences. Thus
my decision to take up philosophy as a major area of study for my undergraduate
degree was guided mainly, but not solely, by a desire to learn and understand,
aptly represented by Plato’s description of philosophy as the highest form of
inquiry.
Desire to understand is a lofty aim, but
there were factors that made me question my decision to study philosophy. This
is not to say that I am disappointed by the decision to study philosophy. Several
years after graduating from college, I completed a master of arts major in
philosophy and then a doctorate that used phenomenology and hermeneutics as
research methods. But there were factors that haunted me when I started facing
the realities of life after school – earning a living and surviving.
The first factor has something to do with
communicating what I know to some people who equate philosophy with being a “pilosopo”
which, in our street language, means sarcasm. This type of people think that
you are trained to shoot down every statement or proposition using complex, difficult
to grasp, but useless concepts and rules of thinking. If you happen to apply
for a job and your potential boss belongs to this type, you are lucky to get an
interview.
The second factor is about the qualification
standards of positions in the public and private sectors. Aside from religious
life and teaching philosophy, other jobs hardly recognize philosophy as a relevant field of study. When
I got accepted as a news correspondent of a national daily and as a writer for a senator, the key factors, I was told, were my experience as a school
and community journalist, as well as my writing skills. The decision to hire me
had nothing to do with my philosophy diploma. These were also the reasons why I got accepted
to work in a public research and training institution where I have spent more
than two decades.
There is no denying that my study of philosophy
brought me so much joy and contentment. However, the realities of life led me
to face the painful truth: that a philosophy degree is a liability unless you
are a religious or a tenured philosophy teacher.
So how did an ordinary college graduate of
philosophy survive the concrete jungle of a megacity? The short answer is I didn’t. What made me survive were competencies that I have gained along the way as an active participant of the student movement and civil society. But the lessons I gained from my study of philosophy made me live a life that
is more than I could hope for. The key strategies that worked well with me are “challenge
yourself” and “re-invent yourself”.
“Challenge yourself” is a concept that I
borrowed from Arnold Toynbee’s theory of challenge and response. After studying
nearly all civilizations of the world as reflected in his 12-volume A Study of History, he saw a pattern in
the rise and fall of civilizations. Those civilizations that survived were able
to provide appropriate responses to the challenges they faced. Those that disappeared
exactly did the opposite.
In my case, I applied this theory by charting
long-term objectives and setting the required standards for achieving them. For
instance, my first strategic objective was to earn a master’s degree in
philosophy. Although it was possible for me to pursue another field of study, I
chose philosophy because I wanted to develop an expertise in a field that left
me with some unanswered questions. I
needed to have some closure or a clear understanding about philosophical issues
that continuously haunted me. Recall that I decided to study this field
because of the joy of understanding. Thus it was a burden to carry loads of
questions that yearn for answers. It is right to say that a lack or absence of
understanding can give you the exact opposite of the noblest pleasure.
To reach the goal that I set, I followed certain
standards for four years as a working student and while supporting my
siblings who were also in school. One of the standards was at least two hours of
dedicated reading and reflection time every day. This appears easy, but when
you combine the pressures of work, family, city lifestyle, and school at the same time, this
was nearly mission impossible for me. Yet I persevered since it was what I
wanted to do. I tried to ward off any distractions that came along the way.
Another standard that I still observe until
today is to perform the assigned tasks the best way I can. There is no room for
mediocrity, I always tell myself. That is why I challenge myself to implement the
activities and produce the deliverables and results effectively, efficiently, and
on time.
Goals and performance standards could spell
the difference between success and failure. When the goals and standards,
however, are no longer relevant given the circumstances that are always
changing, then it is time to take a look at the contingency measures. This is
what I did sometime in 2003. I applied for a doctoral scholarship
overseas in accordance to my stretched goal of earning a doctorate, but I was
presented with a middle-management level opportunity at work. After weighing
the options, I decided to change course and took the job. That decision served
me well in my career, although it also made me think of other possibilities if only I chose the other alternative.
The “challenge yourself” approach is
obviously applicable to everyone. What made it relevant for me was precisely the
disadvantage that I perceived when I was starting my career.
There is another approach that helped me a lot in converting the "liability" into an asset. I call this the “re-invent
yourself” strategy. This means looking for opportunities to learn new, or improve
upon your existing, knowledge, skill, attitude and behavior or what are
collectively called as competencies. Put differently, always look for an
opportunity to create a better version of yourself.
I have seen how others have employed this
strategy to their advantage. I have friends and previous classmates who studied
philosophy and are now successful priests, teachers and lawyers. But I would
like to focus my attention to ordinary individuals like me who studied philosophy
and pursued a different type of career.
To advance in your career, it is important
that you challenge yourself by getting higher education. In the public sector,
a supervisory position requires a master’s degree. Or that you take up relevant
management and technical training programs because some positions require
minimum number of hours of relevant training.
This implies that you have to
fully appreciate the qualification standards of the position you want to
qualify for and that you have a clear idea of the direction of your career. If you
are a researcher now, and you want to be involved in teaching, then you have to
learn new competencies, such as public speaking, adult-learning techniques, etc., and
improve on what you have now.
Confidence and competence are important, but
the most important of all is character. What does it profit a man or a woman if
he or she has a doctorate from the top universities of the world and relevant years
of training and experience, but works alone because no one could bear the
weight of his or her ego?
In reinventing yourself, you need to
challenge yourself. Learn new things and better ways of doing things. But
develop expertise or depth. While you spread your wings to acquire new
competencies, soar high to gain expertise in one or few areas of
specializations.
Thus, be a generalist, but have some specializations. This way,
you are prepared for the challenges and opportunities that will come along your
way. Remember that fate favors those who are ready, or those who are destined
to be.
A degree in philosophy is a liability when
you face factors that I encountered. When you convert that liability into an
asset, you can see possibilities that will allow you to apply philosophy in
your job, not just in your personal life.
A good example of this is project management.
In general, government agencies and local government units implement projects
that are funded by the government through aid or loan. Not a few projects fail
because they are badly designed. This means for instance that the problem that
the project is trying to address is not clearly identified.
Problem identification
and designing are phases in the project cycle that require a lot of critical
thinking. This is an area in which philosophy graduates can excel. Other areas
include leadership development, strategic planning, coaching and
mentoring, evaluation studies, training management, and risk management, among others.
Which leads me to a suggestion on how to
improve the way philosophy is being taught so that it can be made more responsive
and relevant to ordinary human experience. The suggestion is to introduce
applied philosophy courses, such as critical thinking in project management, philosophy of leadership, and philosophy of management. These courses will not just prepare
lay philosophy students for post-college life, but may also encourage lay
people to take up philosophy as an area of study.
If this strategy works, then
perhaps we can make philosophy attractive to people who do not plan to enter religious
life or study philosophy for its own sake. By creating a critical mass of
philosophers in this country, akin to the concept of planetary consciousness by
Paul Ricoeur, we can help build a citizenry that will jealously defend human
rights, decency, accountability in governance, and environmental integrity. This will then contribute in shaping a better future.
