Publications

Wittgenstein offers a method of engagement and participation that enables us to establish overlaps between the public and the private. One such overlap is social courage. The duty to help is not a matter of entitlement, but it is an obligation that comes from our sense of connection with others. Wittgenstein’s method of language-games enables us to extend this sense of connection even to strangers because it a ‘socially reflective mode of learning’ through which we are better able to take the perspective of others. Obligations do not just come from a system of codified rules, but from the sense of agency we acquire as a result of reflective engagement in different practices. Wittgenstein does not advance any substantive thesis, but the critical nature of his method offers a framework for understanding social courage without leading to the antagonism between altruism and rationality

Agsursurotayo nga AgIlokano: Ang aklat ay tungkol sa pag-aaral at pagtuturo ng gramatikang Ilokano. Naglalaman ito ng batayang kasanayan sa pananalita, pakikinig, pagbasa at pagsulat sa kolokyal na Ilokano. Hinati ito sa tatlong yunit na may 15 aralin, na naglalaman ng mga leksiyon na nakasentro sa mga pang-araw-araw na sitwasyon sa tunay na buhay ng isang mag-aaral. Ang mga aralin ay sumusunod sa estruktura ng wikang Ilokano tulad ng nasa Yunit I, isinabay ang pagtuturo ng mga panghalip at mga pangngalan; sa Yunit II naman ay nakapokus sa mga pang-uri, at sa Yunit II ay nakasentro sa pandiwa at pang-abay. Sa ganitong paraan, ang mga batayang kasanayan sa gramar ng bawat leksiyon ay paghahanda sa kasunod na leksiyon.

Co-authors Martin Loffelholz and Danilo Arana Arao say the book gives a practical explanation of how journalists should tackle issues pertinent to the region when reporting on Asean. (quoted from a book review published on May 6, 2011 in The Jakarta Globe, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/handbook-ajournalists-guide-to-penet...)

The College of Liberal Arts (later renamed College of Arts and Sciences) of the University of the Philippines was born a hundred years ago, and fulfilled its obligations as one institution until 1983, when it was split into three separate colleges--the College of Arts and Letters, the College of Science, and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. Although no longer one, the spirit of the College of Liberal Arts/College of Arts and Sciences lives on. This book looks into the highlights of the years when the college served as the cornerstone of UP. Times of glory and success, as well as difficulties and periods of duress, were part of the college's experience--but always it was a college of and by Filipinos.

Thermoset-based natural fiber-reinforced polymeric composites (NFRPs) are developed to allow for long-term CO₂ fixation. For long NFRPs (abaca and kenaf), better mechanical properties are achieved with orthophthalic-type unsaturated polyester by chemically-treating the fibers, increasing the fiber content, and applying cross-ply sheet stacking orientation. For bagasse NFRPs, mechanical strength is increased by creating hybrid NFRPs, with randomly-oriented chopped bagasse sandwiched between continuous sugarcane and abaca fibers. For the matrix, furan resin (polyfurfuryl alcohol)- a biosynthetic thermoset- is employed in lieu of common commercial resins to increase the NFRP’s carbon storage potential, the fiber-matrix adhesion in furan-based NFRPs is improved by applying acid fiber treatments. Finally, carbon storage potential is evaluated by performing mass and energy balance calculations and lifetime predictions based on thermogravimetric analysis. 

Michel Foucault gives an account of the shift from the sovereign or judicial, to the disciplinary mode of power in which individuals find themselves imbedded within networks of dependencies specified by "norms' that measure individual performance according to the principles of equivalency (solidarity) and difference ("ab-normality"). Individuals, therefore, must not understand themselves as finally ensnared or trapped by the specific distribution of power within which they find themselves. Under determinate conditions and according to precise strategies, they can always modify power's grip upon themselves. Foucault finds interesting prototypes for this in the ethical practices of ancient Greece that, in his view, satisfied the human desire for rules and form at the same time that they gave scope to the human impatience for liberty. Foucault turns to them in his late work, believing that they may have something to offer in place of modern moral philosophy.