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| credits to UP STS Department |
The
public forum on February 10 was on the history of Medieval Science, dissent and
cultural change discussed by Dr. Jovi Miroy. It was explained how science
developed throughout history with it first starting out heavily philosophical.
During the medieval times science was sought as something to help understand
human experience and nature (as a creation of God and in itself), therefore
having the right to claim dominion over nature. These could be done through
observation, experimentation and tests, though quite different from those from
which we have today. Its main focus was basically on change, which was
systematic in nature. Moreover, there was judgment about matters that are
universal and necessary concerning God and nature. Even before there have been
skeptics of science; and the various approaches to logic clashed, and the one
which was deemed more rational was the one that included both propositions.
There was no one truth, but there were a number of approaches to logic.
Therefore it could be said that there was dissent regarding medieval science as
people tried to understand the same truth differently through reasoning; in other
words, truth was set apart from authority. Simply dissenting does not connote
cultural change though, there first needs to be a shift in consciousness in
order to have observable changes in behavior.
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| credits to Quora.com |
It was
an interesting lecture in that it was explained that throughout history (and
even into the future) there would always be room for varying ideas and opinions,
which we believe connotes freedom of thinking and expression. In this way, there
will always be a struggle for truth. In other words, we have the power to
change consciousness through our search for the truth, and therefore change the way in which the system works. A striking thought reiterated throughout the
lecture was how “change” never really starts through changing one’s behavior,
but one had to change the way hoe one thinks first. This basically means that
we have to understand our “transformation” before we can “be” it. We think this
means that the action is just as strong as the mind; but we still believe that
it is important to have concrete steps in order to have results. Dr. Miroy also
said that here in the Philippines, there seems to be no sign of cultural
change. To some level, this may be true since there does not
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| credits to Wikimedia Commons |
seem to be a
change in the consciousness of the Filipino; we still operate like colonized
peoples, a slave to poverty and ignorance. On the other hand, many citizens
(and we can proudly say that a quite a lot UP students) have opened their eyes
to reality and see the world as they define it on their own terms. In addition
to this, they do not merely dissent but also understand the change that they
want to take place, and take concrete steps for the said change. This being
said we agree that, yes, it is important to change the way one thinks first,
but we should not disregard the necessary and concrete steps for change. Another
interesting topic was how the speaker said how the kind of question we ask ourselves
would ultimately have a difference on the outcome of our goals.We believe this
emphasizes his other main point of “thinking before change” because it shows
how powerful the way in which we think would ultimately affect our behavior; what
we concentrate on is what would drive us to change
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| credits to Lazerhorse.org |
Let
us say a certain number of students listened to the public forum on cultural
dissent: they listened to one speaker and one lecture; but the thing is, they
will all interpret these information differently. As we all write reaction
papers and blogs, each student would struggle to explain the truths taught to
us in various ways. This is the beauty of learning; we are free to understand
everything in our own terms; as the speaker called it: there are various approaches
to logic. Sure this would lead to possible dissent and opposing views, but this
struggle will pay off in the end as we have a deeper understanding of
consciousness therefore leading to change in our society.
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