Epistemic Injustice and the Filipino Poor: Addressing the Misperception of Anti-Intellectualism Through Virtue Epistemology
Date of Award
5-1-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master in Philosophy
First Advisor
Maria Lovelyn C. Paclibar, PhD
Abstract
A survey of recent Philippine literature pertaining to anti-intellectualism readily shows the continual dispersion of newspapers and articles concerning the anti- intellectualism of the Filipino poor. This paper challenges the anti-intellectual attributions against the Filipino poor proceeding by way of conceptual analysis and integration of Roberts & Wood’s concept of “love of knowledge”, Wataru Kusaka’s analysis of rational behavior and discourse of the Filipino masses, and recent social science literature regarding Philippine anti-intellectualism, with the aim of disproving its objectivity. I argue that the misperception of anti-intellectualism among the Filipino poor is borne out of epistemic injustice, which in turn, obscures a kind of intellectualism among the poor that is expressed through the intellectual virtue of love of knowledge. Multiple layers of epistemic injustice distort people’s perception of marginalized social others, leading to the misperception of anti-intellectualism among the Filipino poor. To bring out the intellectualism of the Filipino poor, I propose the inclusion of the practices where love of knowledge finds it’s expression to the notion of intellectualism. I also show that the Filipino poor are capable of developing other intellectual virtues—humility, curiosity, and open-mindedness—despite the looming background of epistemic injustice. These intellectual virtues then open the possibility of epistemic resistance, which allows the Filipino poor to undermine and subvert oppressive normative structures and the inherited cognitive habits that maintain these structures. I then offer a possibility which allows for the recognition of the intellectualism of the Filipino poor in the context of education.
Recommended Citation
Kintanar, Ian Gabriel J., (2023). Epistemic Injustice and the Filipino Poor: Addressing the Misperception of Anti-Intellectualism Through Virtue Epistemology. Archīum.ATENEO.
https://archium.ateneo.edu/theses-dissertations/1058
