Rizal

• The Rizal Law, Republic Act 1425, was authored by Senators Claro M. Recto and Dr. Jose P Laurel Sr. in 1956 during the presidency of Ramon Magsaysay
• The Rizal Law aimed to include in the curricula of all schools courses on the life, works, and writings of Rizal
• The Rizal Law faced opposition from some senators and the Catholic Institution, leading to compromises in its wording
• The implementation of the Rizal Law saw different approaches in schools over the years, from offering Rizal as a three-unit course to integrating it with other subjects
• The selection of the national hero, Jose Rizal, was based on criteria such as being Filipino, dead, having ardent love for one's country, and being honored after death by public worship
• Jose Rizal was chosen as the national hero due to his contributions to the Propaganda Campaign, his book Noli Me Tangere, and his peaceful approach to reforms
• Rizal was honored with various titles and acclamations, and his death led to the declaration of Rizal Day on December 30
• Imperialism in the 18th and 19th centuries involved nations extending control beyond their territories, leading to colonization for economic, political, and religious reasons
• Nationalism, a feeling of oneness by a group of people with common traditions and goals, was influenced by struggles for freedom like the American and French Revolutions
• American Commodore Matthew C. Perry re-opened Japan to the world after a 214-year seclusion under the Shogunate (1639-1853), ending Japan’s isolation
• The Revolt of and Spain’s loss of her Latin American Colonies (1800-1825) included countries like Argentina, Guatemala, Bolivia, Honduras, Chile, Nicaragua, Colombia, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Peru, Ecuador, Uruguay, El Salvador, and Venezuela
• Germany, under Otto Von Bismarck, known as “the Iron Chancellor”, defeated France in the Franco-Prussian war on February 17, 1872
• The Industrial Revolution brought changes from hand work to machine work, domestic system to factory system, and positive effects like hastening manufacturing, establishment of factories, and improvements in transportation and communication
• Negative effects of the Industrial Revolution included disputes between labor and capital, ruin of domestic production systems, exploitation of the working class, employment of child or woman laborers, and concentration of wealth in the hands of a few capitalists
• Responses to the problems brought by the Industrial Revolution included the adoption of the laissez-faire policy, proposals for gradual and peaceful reforms by early socialists, advocacy of revolutionary communism by Marx, and the Catholic Church advocating Christian principles to protect workers' rights
• Advances in science during this time included systematized experimentation, funding for research, significant improvements in chemistry, physics, and medical science, leading to longer life spans
• Modern philosophy at the end of the 18th and 19th centuries gave rise to contemporary philosophy characterized by political and religious outlooks, with thinkers like John Locke, Rousseau, Hegel, Charles Darwin, Hobbes, Bakunin, Marx, and Edmund Burke influencing political ideologies
• Liberalism is a political ideology founded on ideas of liberty and equality, supporting views like constitutionalism, liberal democracy, human rights, capitalism, and free exercise of religion
• Liberalism emerged in the Age of Enlightenment, rejecting foundational assumptions like nobility, absolute monarchy, and the Divine Right of Kings
• John Locke, an early liberal thinker, used natural rights and the social contract to argue for the rule of law over absolutism, emphasizing consent of the governed and individual rights to life, liberty, and property
• Jean Jacques Rousseau believed in the inherent goodness of man, emphasizing that government legitimacy comes from the people's consent and advocating for civil disobedience when the government breaks its covenant
• Utilitarian Liberalism, led by John Stuart Mill, focuses on promoting actions that provide the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people, emphasizing moral actions over economics
• Social Darwinist Liberalism justifies social policies using concepts like the struggle for existence and survival of the fittest, believing some are born to rule while others serve
• Anarchism rejects all forms of government, advocating for functioning communities without a state apparatus, often calling for revolution to create a new society
• Communism advocates for common ownership of property and production, aiming for profits to benefit the general good, with Karl Marx arguing that government reflects underlying economic forces
• Labor, seen by Marx as a source of contentment and expression, can lead to alienation when it becomes an object outside the worker, hindering self-expression and self-actualization
• Hegel and Marx advocated the destruction of something old to create something new with certainty that the new set-up will be better than before
• As progress takes place, conflicts are inevitable, and advancement is in leaps and bounds, surging forward according to Hegel and Marx
• Engels, along with Marx, predicted tragic economic crises as the result of a revolution and the ultimate success of the proletariat
• Greek classical thoughts on materialism postulate that the world is made up of matter, motion, and empty space, and the human mind is the by-product of the behavior of matter
• Marx refutes the existence of God and any other supernatural spirits based on the premise that the world is made up of matter and motion
• Marx's guiding principle of production is “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs"
• Marx believes that once there is freedom to answer one’s calling and freedom of expression in one’s work, man will no longer denounce work as drudgery
• Marx points out the necessity of revolution to change the socio-economic and political structure
• Bakunin and Kropotkin believe that revolution would immediately destroy the state, while Marx argues that the state will wither away, giving way to a stable, harmonious, property-less, classless, and stateless society
• Deism is often referred to as “the new theology” of the enlightened philosophers, advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the Universe
• Deists believed that God made the universe to work by natural laws and then left it alone, staying out of people’s daily lives
• Voltaire accepted the teachings of deism and advocated for religious tolerance
• Humanism, which began in 14th century Italy, emphasizes an interest in people and teaches to live a full life and welcome new experiences
• Humanists wanted people to have a better life in this world, rather than waiting for the next