The Philosophical Approach: To Dump or Not To Dump... No Pun Intended

An arrangement was made between the Philippine government and Japanese government. In exchange for economic concessions, Philippine environmental authorities allowed Japanese Medical Institutions to dump bio-medical waste matter inside the Philippines.

Studying socio-political ideas is a philosophical approach that focuses on understanding the meaning of the socio-political life of man as an individual and society as a collective. In both cases, man and society either give off or give away hints that support whatever meaning both entities put into its respective socio-political lives.

The utilitarian value is a good example of a socio-political idea that affects the dynamics within the relationship of man and society. Society's predisposition to protect the collective good often clashes with an individual's personal interest and vise versa. When the U.S. government was pushing for the right of law enforcement agencies to acquire wholesale privilege on wire-tapping; this was promoted as a means to protect the collective good. In principle, it argued that the safety of the general public is far more important than the right to privacy of a citizen.

Everyday, we are confronted with the same principle in varying forms. Family, as a basic unit of society, is often the micro-laboratory of conflicts that arises from the interaction of what is perceived to be the collective good and the welfare of an individual. When a son refuses to be a doctor and pursues writing as a calling, this choice may create animosity within a family who perceives that the son is the only hope of the family against the ravages of poverty. So, if you are the son, what will you do?

The son draws meaning of his socio-political life from his chosen vocation. Writing in this case, becomes the source of his existence. Take away the writing and he is just an empty shell. This biological shell is inhabited by an abstract concept called the soul. The soul determines self-consciousness that essentially defines existence. Both man and society exhibit consciousness in trying to assert existence. In the process, decisions are made in terms of what is right and what is moral.

The concept of good and evil is not applicable in this approach. There is no such thing as a good choice and an evil choice. To sidetrack to our discussion, religion then becomes an anomaly in this approach. Considering that its a domain that draws itself from purely metaphysical and abstract values that are often in the realm of the mysterious or enigmatic. So be assured that we will not include religious principles to our discussion.

When the Philippine government allowed the Japanese government to dump waste materials to its territory., it is not a question of what is good or what is evil. It is more of a function of what is right and what is moral. Looking at it as a pure economic exercise, it is the right thing to do. In exchange for these waste materials are economic benefits that the country badly needs in order to service the collective welfare. But, its negative effect to national pride to an individual's point of view is beyond economic rewards.

The dumping is not an environmental issue rather it is a historical issue. Japanese atrocities committed in WW2 complicate the dumping as an act of putting insult to injury. In a culture that was subject to countless colonial oppressions, this is a new form of oppression that attacks the inherent economic weakness of our nation. Whether we like it or not, this is a socio-political culture that sends its own people to work for foreign masters in exchange for monetary concessions. Unlike before, this time around, we are selling our dignity for a price.


When a father sends his daughter to Japan as a sex worker, we find this immoral. We say that the end does not justify the means. Whatever economic benefits the family will gain from the daughter do not validate the means from which it was achieved. What if a mother sends her daughter to Sweden as a doctor, do we find this immoral?

In Philippine rural areas, community health centers and hospitals badly need the services of young doctors in order to arrest the growing Health Crisis. So, when parents send their children who are young doctors to foreign countries, does this end justify the means?

The question of what is moral and what is right depends on the point of view of the individual or the collective in a given set of parameters. Parents sending doctors abroad for the sake of economic considerations is the right thing to do. But for rural communities, the act is immoral because doctors are running away from their social responsibility to serve the medical needs of their nation. The same holds true for the sex worker. Going abroad is the right thing to do. But, it is not moral for a community that values human dignity as a national pride. So, in this case, a doctor is no different from a sex worker. Both are willing to do what is right than what is moral.

Doing what is right is often within the boundaries of material needs and wants. While doing what is moral operates within the parameters of spiritual needs and wants. Thus, we often hear people say that when someone does the right thing, the human mind overcomes the human heart. And when someone does the moral thing, his heart overcomes the mind. This statement implies that the heart is illogical and the mind is the temple of logic. I find this analogy extremely flawed and highly romanticized. Both actions, in my opinion, are subject to the same requirements of logic and consistency. When you decide to subject yourself to a spiritual need, then, there should be provisions that support this decision. Or else the action that is said to be moral will be reduced to an enigmatic anomaly.

The soul, as the source of existence, exhibits duality in persona. It is an entity that is realized by a person's or a collective's material and spiritual needs and wants. Thus, the soul becomes the arena. Constantly determining the value of issues that it confronts as it tries to assert itself.

In our case study, the Philippine government as a collective finds it more important to do the right thing. This is supported by its material need to service its constituents no matter what. Thus, given a set of parameters, the end always justifies the means. On the other hand, for an individual, compromising a nation's dignity in exchange for financial rewards is equivalent to selling pride in the market place. Thus, the dumping becomes immoral.

Philosophical statements and questions are always geared towards confronting an individual's or a collective's duality with regards to spiritual and material needs and wants. When Christ said "man does not live on bread alone, as a socio-political thinker, he was not prescribing people to stop eating bread. I mean, that is not practical because bread was a staple food during those days. What he was asking the people then is to examine their priorities in life. Socio-political thinkers force people to think. Writers, on the other hand, remind people that socio-political thinkers are forcing them to think.

This approach is fascinating because it requires a writer to critically analyze and challenge ideas. In the process, a writer is compelled to explore his or her soul as it tries to determine what is perceived to be right or moral. In using this approach, we should be aware that it is our task as writers to transform abstract ideas into concrete events, characters, moments in time and space. Writing a material in this approach is like writing a thesis paper. We state the thesis of the paper and try to validate its logic and consistency. In the end, we might discover that the thesis is flawed and inaccurate or perhaps unravel an alternative that brings out new problems or solutions.