In Defense of Hiya as a Filipino Virtue

Asian Philosophy 26 (1):66-78 (2016)
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Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Filipino concept of hiya, often translated as ‘shame’ or ‘embarrassment’, has often received ambivalent or negative interpretations. In this article I make an important distinction between two kinds of hiya: the hiya that is suffered as shame or embarrassment and the hiya that is an active and sacrificial self-control of one’s individual wants for the sake of other people. I borrow and reappropriate this distinction from Aquinas’ virtue ethics. This distinction not only leads to a more positive appraisal of hiya, it also leads to a new understanding of associated concepts that are often confused with hiya such as amor propio, pakikisama and the infamous ‘crab mentality’. Defending hiya as a virtue is part of an even wider philosophical project, the move from ‘Filipino values’ to a ‘Filipino virtue ethics’, which I already introduced in a previous article in this journal

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Jerry Reyes
University of Texas at El Paso

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References found in this work

Summa Theologiae (1265-1273).Thomas Aquinas - 1911 - Edited by John Mortensen & Enrique Alarcón.
Elements of Filipino Philosophy.Leonardo N. Mercado - 1974 - Tacloban City, Philippines : Divine Word University Publications.

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