Teaching and Learning

The Program Curriculum

The Curriculum of the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy Program was revised in September 2017. It was thoroughly planned and designed to train students to become critical, creative, and reflective to various fields of discipline. The program empowers students to engage in issues, problems and questions as advanced not only by contemporary intellectuals, but also by society in general. Stemming from theoretical and practical virtues, the program surveys Eastern and Western histories of philosophy: ancient, medieval, modern, post-modern and the contemporary periods of thinking.

Central to the program is the study of Humanities (as CHED-prescribed curriculum mandated) – studia Humanitatis – focusing on intersections of humanistic education on aesthetic, moral and cultural foundations. It upholds the praxis of these foundations hence, strengthening the commitment to deliver a quality philosophy education.

The program is also designed to articulate related fields and disciplines which provide varied frameworks and methods to express a holistic type of education. Also deemed vital to social sciences and humanities, the program offers allied disciplinal electives such as history, religion, literary criticism, arts, music, cultural studies and human sciences. The program is supervised by faculty members trained in extensive philosophy research education.

Program Outcomes

● Graduates with full capacity for academic and practical application of the theoretical studies and critical analyses instilled by the program.

● Graduates have excellent communication skills as manifested by their understanding not only of the subject matter in its totality but also evident in the manner they carry out reasonable life decisions and create good human interactions.

● Graduates are committed to achieve excellence for the success of the learning process by being cognizant of how reasoning must be exhibited in their relationship with others in the society.

● Graduates use the potent power of correct reasoning and proper thinking by formulating good advocacies for the development of communities.

● Graduates maintain a high literacy in the technologies used in the present social setting and, at the same time, can adapt to any given situation with regard to technical equipment and facilities.

● Graduates never cease to improve their knowledge of the ever-changing development in the study philosophy and logic in the world by pursuing graduate studies or joining workshops, conferences, and debate-oriented programs.

● Graduates are capable of leading any responsibility given to them with exemplary organizational skills.

● Graduates have a strong sense of ethical conduct manifested in their personal and professional attitude and set of values as guided by their reason.

● Graduates are rooted to a nationalist perspective in the manner they analyze issues concerning the Philippine setting in general while exhibiting world-class caliber in response to the demands of the global scenario.

The program curriculum was developed based on the curricular development guidelines released by the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs. The revision was initiated by the Vice-President for Academic Affairs who headed the University Curriculum Evaluation Committee (UCEC), membered by the deans and chairpersons of the different colleges. In the case of the branches and campuses, the memorandum will be issued by the Vice President for Branches and Campuses and members are the directors of the branches and campuses. Although the 2011 curriculum was strongly based on the employability rate of its graduates, in the full implementation of the K to 12 program which commanded for the transfer the former tertiary general education subjects to the senior high school, and because the CHED had released the new policies and guidelines for the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy program, a major revision in the program curriculum was prioritized to follow the suggested of CHED Memorandum no. 26, series of 2017, entitled policies, standards, and Guidelines for the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy Program and CHED Memorandum no. 20, series of 2013, entitled General Education Curriculum: Holistic Understandings, Intellectual and Civic Competencies

The suggested revisions were discussed with students, parents, alumni, faculty members, administrative employees and the PUP community. The Department also initiated dialogue with the industry where the program was related. Then, these revisions were presented to the Curriculum Planning and Development Office of the University composed of all deans, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, and the Chief Registrar. The result of the presentation became the go signal for the Department to submit the revised curriculum to the CHED’s Technical Panel for appropriate evaluation and action.

On December 11, 2017, the curriculum of the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy was approved by the Board of Regents at its 159th regular meeting held at CHED’s conference room in Quezon City.

The program’s curriculum is congruent with the national development thrusts of pursuing a rapid and sustainable economic growth and development, improving the quality of life of the Filipino, empowering the poor and marginalized and enhancing our social cohesion as a nation. With these thrusts, the program aims to develop students who are globally competitive and able to develop and improve the quality of their lives through employment.

To parallel the curriculum with the vision and mission of the university as well as with the goals of the academic unit, the Department of Philosophy, under the College of Arts and Letters, is one with the president in achieving an epistemic community through pursuing academic excellence, producing research, promoting transparency while advocating academic freedom, engaging in extension and outreach program and inculcating values to protect and care for physical plant, facilities and other resources.

Syllabus Revision on August 02, 2018

Methods of Teaching

The Faculty members of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy use different teaching methodologies and essential resources for teaching and learning. They also use technology and integrate it in traditional classroom settings. In fact, the majority of the faculty members are using a blended learning method of teaching, which is a combination of offline and online delivery modes. Learning Management Systems such as Schoology, Blackboard and Google Classroom are being utilized as essential tools for teaching and assessing the students.

Creative Story telling during the World Literature class of Prof. Loida Parambita

Seminar class on Research Methodology

Thought Experiment during Ethics Class of Prof. Jalaine Malabanan

The Department also ensures that the assessments of the academic performance of the students are appropriate, relevant, and promote Higher Order Thinking Skills. Faculty members also secure their rubrics for different types of assessment and their rubrics were discussed to their students. The rubrics are reviewed by the Department Chairperson and the college Dean. Table of Specifications is also one of the fundamental requirements in assessing the students, thus, the faculty members of the department always prepare their Table of Specifications, approved by the Department Chairperson, prior to the assessment of the students – midterm and final examination.

As the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we, educators, teach our students, the Department of Humanities and Philosophy is always prepared to deliver quality instruction through different platforms – online synchronous and asynchronous, and through our developed modules. Some of the faculty members are also conducting Focused Group Discussion with some students who have a hard time in a specific topic / subject matter.

The Department of Humanities and Philosophy, in partnership with the Research Center for Humanities and Philosophy, aims to foster the culture of research among its students by conducting relevant seminars and workshops that will enhance their knowledge and skills. The students, and their official student organization – Societas Philosophiae, have actively initiated various projects, and they engaged in various local and national conferences and seminars in philosophy.

Annual Writing writeshop of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy (September 2018)

Philosophy students attended the Philosophy Symposium

The Faculty of the Department

Out of its 41 faculty members, 17 of them are regular or permanent, one (1) is in temporary status, and 23 are part-timers.

All regular faculty members are master’s degree holders. Eight (8) of them are currently pursuing PhD. level programs. While 3 of them are PhD degree holder.

All part time and temporary faculty members are bachelor’s degree holders. Almost 2/3 of them are currently taking master’s degree. Three (3) are already candidates, and also three of them are master’s degree holders. One of them is a PhD. degree holder

Out of its 41 faculty members, 5 are Associate Professors, 6 are Associate Professors, and 30 are Instructors.

Faculty Trainings and Seminars

The Faculty Department of Humanities and Philosophy have attended various trainings and workshops to enhance their knowledge, and pedagogies in teaching different courses/subjects – Major philosophy courses and General Education Courses.

The Faculty of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy attended ATENEO – CHED Training in Ethics on May 28 – June 02 2018.

The Faculty of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy UST – CHED Intensive Training for Philosophy Educators on June 17 – 19 2019.

During the height of the pandemic, the Department of Humanities and Philosophy held a series of webinars and online lectures.

On 25-28 April 2020, "Flattening the Curve, Raising the Line: Discoursing the Pandemic Phenomenon" was held. On July, the department launched a webinar series "Pagtuturo at Pagsasaalang-alang: Teaching Philosophy and the Humanities in Senior High School"

Faculty Evaluation

To ensure the quality of education that is imparted to our students, the Department evaluates its faculty every semester. According to the evaluations, the faculty members received high ratings from both the supervisor and student evaluation. The graphs below present the data from the evaluations made from A.Y. 2016-2017 until 2019-2020.

The Facilities and Learning Environment

The Facilities are essential in the teaching and learning process. The university realizes that the facilities have a great impact on the teaching and learning process, as well as on the development of the students holistically. Thus, the university continuously exerts its effort to provide and maintain the facilities that are designed in accordance to their very purpose and may support the system.

Room West 609 – Room of the AB Philosophy Program

Bulwagang Bonifacio – NALLRC PUP Main

The university recognizes the needs and demands of improving the support system required in ensuring the students’ holistic development, in making PUP truly student-centered and pro-active of change. Hence, as a departure from the conventional classroom-sheltered learning, the university’s central task of delivering formal academic programs is complemented with non-academic, out of-classroom student services, activities and engagements. These include the provision and continuing development of student centers and convergence spaces that give opportunities for students of the different disciplines to converge, interact, socialize, engage in exchanges and conduct life and learning events. They are led, supervised and/or coordinated by the Office of the Student Services and University Center for Culture and the Arts under the stewardship of the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs and Services.

The newly built PUP Research Center

PUP has existing student spaces that serve as venues of out-of-classroom activities, both for general use of any college and/or student organization and for college-specific use (refer to the next pages for details). It is among the plans of the Office of Vice President for Student Affairs and Services to spearhead a more integrative, associative, and student propelled development and usage of the existing and future physical spaces, especially by the different colleges and/or disciplines situated in a contiguous geographical location or those groups and individuals with related interests. This development direction is seen as a way to promote higher levels of socialization, project collaboration, discourses, and exchanges of ideas and experiences between and among disciplines as well as complement efforts in generation of resources and optimize the use of limited resources for more enriching engagements of wider sections of the PUP studentry.

The development and effective management of these physical facilities or student centers, are viewed as an endless task, a work-in-progress done collaboratively and never in isolation from the PUP system. Much has yet to be achieved in the OVPSAS plans toward improving and expanding the existing student centers. Limited as they may be, those out-of-classroom spaces are serving as student’s converging sites and venues for organizational, cultural, informal group interactions and individual activities which support the goals of upholding academic disciplinal integrity and redefining academic freedom.

PUP Freedom Park

This open space beside the PUP Obelisk welcomes anyone that enters the PUP Main campus through the main gate. It is a venue for varied functions of the university, colleges, student organizations and informal groups. As its name implies, the space is available for any occasion or mass gatherings subject to the policies and guidelines of its availability and use. Examples of events regularly held here are the flag raising ceremonies, Christmas and observance of PUP founding anniversary, programs for special national and local events, college weeks/months, concerts, shows, and rallies, and other mass gatherings of students with social, cultural and political contents. The shady areas and benches at the park periphery also provide resting or meeting areas for small groups of students.

The Student Center

The Charlie Del Rosario Building also referred to by students as the Unyon ng Mag-aaral is a two-storey building meant for student services-related offices and accredited student organizations. It is located near the end of the West Wing of the PUP Main building. The first floor is the cubicles which serve as the information hub of the organizations including the Sentral na Konseho ng Mag-aaral. This facility also has open spaces where student organizations use as a workshop area as needed. The second-floor houses offices under the Office of the Student Services such as the Guidance, Counselling and Testing Services, Student Affairs Services and the OSS Director’s Office.

The Tanghalan ng PUP

This culture and arts facility is located inside the PUP College of Communication Campus along Anonas Street, approximately 1 kilometer from the main campus. It has a theatre that can accommodate 350 people. The balcony areas and the hallways serve as mini galleries with ready mounting stands for anyone who wished to display his/her visual artwork like paintings, drawings and photographs. At the second floor are the offices of the different cultural organizations. The building’s roof deck serves as spaces for more intimate art gatherings and performances.

The Tanghalang PUP Complex facilities also function as laboratories and practicum venues of students taking Stage Management, Stage Design, play productions, communication, and other courses related to arts and culture. The students are able to immerse or at least get exposed to the actual arts and culture training and production processes of the groups under the University Center of Culture and Arts such as the Bagong Himig Serenata (chorale), PUPIL Photo Club, Harana String Company, Buklod Sining (for visual arts), Sining Lahi PolyRepertory, PUPiCons, Maharlika Dance Artists, and the PolySound Band.

The Students of the Program

The Societas Philosophiae is an accredited academic organization of students taking up AB Philosophy in Polytechnic University of the Philippines. The organization envisions itself to be a center for student empowerment through the recognition of their potentials in both academic and non-academic competitiveness by building the interest of every member in different fields, enhancing their skills in reading and understanding, developing their social awareness and making things happen; that is the structure in PUP regulations and Philippine Constitution, respect student rights, beliefs, dignities and capabilities.

Student Awards and Recognition

True to the Department’s mission and Societas Philosophiae’s Constitution and By-laws, the students of the Philosophy program establish themselves as exemplary in both academic and non-academic fields. This displays the diversity of students’ skills and interests, of which ultimately express student excellence and competency.

Best Practices

To extend the Department of Humanities and Philosophy’s academic mission, Societas Philosophiae ensures students’ engagement in co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, both in institutional and national level. Also, these activities – through conferences, paper presentations and socio-civic engagements – provide the avenue for the students to excel intellectually and socially. In sum, Societas Philosophiae supports the Department’s aim to provide quality philosophical education and experience.

The Department of Humanities and Philosophy and Societas Philosophiae encouraged students to attend and present their papers to the annual DLSU Undergraduate Philosophy Conference. The yearly participation of the student body inspired students to hone their writing and speaking skills in philosophy.

After the 3^rd Annual Undergraduate Philosophy Conference 2018, the students of PUP philosophy have been honored to include their works in the DLSU Philosophy Senior Research Publication. The said publication includes research articles from various philosophy enthusiast, researcher, and students around the country. The book can be accessed via the National Library or DLSU Library.

On February 2018, Societas Philosophiae, in cooperation with the Department of Humanities and Philosophy, conducted “Prometheus: Courage for Mandkind” a three-day celebration of the department's 25th anniversary held at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. This three-day event consists of discussions from the faculty, culminating to the first national philosophy conference in the history of the Department on the third day . The said event was accredited by the Commission on Higher Education (CHED).

A national symposium in Celebration of the 2018 World Philosophy Day, organized by the PUP Research Center for Philosophy and Humanities and Societas Philosophiae. UNESCO recognized the students' participation on World Philosophy Day 2018.

Several philosophy students were also recognized as members of College of Arts and Letters debate team – the champion of the 2019’s university wide inter-collegiate debate competition after clinching the Finals for a back to back championship against College of Accountancy and Finance, September 27, 2019 at the PUP Recto Hall. This team has two members from the Department of Philosophy and the Humanities: Dowayne Christopher Rivera (AB Philosophy 2-1) and Drixter Austin Ortiz (AB Philosophy 1-1) who bagged the Grand Finals Best Speaker and the overall best speaker awards of the tournament.

The officers of Societas Philosophiae lead the student body of AB Philosophy.

Joshua Marcial, Societas Philosophiae President (2017-2019)

· Luzon Intervarsity X, Quarter Finalist, University of the Philippines, Los Baños.· PUP University Wide Debate Competition, Champion, PUP Manila.· Special Citations Quarter Finalist- Ateneo Business Ethics Debate 2016, 2018 CAL Recognition Day· Special Citations, Grand Finalist, 1st Extractive Industry Invitational Debates, awarded during the 2018 CAL Recognition Day· Grand Finalist, 1st Extractive Industry Invitational Debates

Prof. Jayson Jimenez, University of Tazmania and Atty. Janzl Ong, Admitted to the Bar. Two notable alumni of the Philosophy Program of the Department.

An event featuring Dr. Zosimo E. Lee, a renowned Professor from the University of the Philippines, Diliman and a fellow at Harvard University.

Despite the challenges brought by the COVID 19 pandemic, the organization continues to organize online forums, lectures and seminars, featuring the alumni and lecturers from inside and outside the university.

Our Students Outside the Academe

Societes Philosophiae awarded as the Best Student Organization during the 2018 CAL Recognition Day

As the students of philosophy continues the practice of interdisciplinary studies, the students also participated a numerous event flourishing themselves, having awareness of the socio-political issues, contemporary studies, as well as environmental aspects.

In partnership with DENR. Institute of environmental studies The Societas Philosophiae leads the pup students for the Annual coastal cleanup drive/ tree planting. The event aims to conduct a research study on coastal waters to implement a proper environmental policies and waste management).

UP Philosophical Society in partnership with PUP Societas Philosophiae launched an event “In Vino Veritas 2017” with the theme "Truth & Power" held on September 21st, 2017. The event was situated at the University of the Philippines Diliman. The said event was a gathering of various Philosophical organization, Philosophy Professors, and the like.

Students' Population

While the population of the students from 2014 of over a hundred and fifty had an increase in 2015 of over thirty, the decrease in enrollees in 2016-2017 was due to the implementation of the K12. Opportunely, the slow growth of the enrollees ensues beginning 2018 and is anticipated to raise in the coming years.

Tracer Studies

The tracer study seeks to monitor and evaluate long term impact of the program to its graduates, shows that the highlight of the different sectors of the recent occupation of the graduates are the following: (1) Education, (2) Administrative, (3) Legal, (4) Business Process Outsourcing and (5) Finance. To an extent, the study shows that the Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy has contributed in the relevant skills needed in the aforementioned sectors, especially in Education where greater number of graduates are currently employed.

List of Graduates who Responded

Some Notable Alumni of the Department

Atty. Janzl B. Ong, alumnus of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy Batch 2015, passed the 2019 Bar Examinations

Prof. Jayson Jimenez, faculty and an alumnus of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy, received a Faculty Fellowship Grant (with Memorandum of Agreement in the left).

Christine C. Aquende, Archie C. Arevalo, and Princess Bucala, alumni of the Department of Humanities and Philosophy who passed the Licensure Examination for Teachers in September 2017. They took their oath as Professional Teachers on December 30, 2017.

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