Pakikipagkapwa–Tao and Bayanihan Spirit in Community Pantries: Paul Ricoeur on Filipinos as Responsible Human Beings

Religion and Social Communication 21, no. 1 (2023)

Author

Christian U. Solis

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the lives of Filipinos, especially the poor. While waiting for what the government can do for its constituents, the Filipinos acted on charity toward one’s neighbors. The rise of community pantries has been helping the poor and the needy through these challenging times. The paper defined pakikipagkapwa–tao2 and bayanihan spirit3 as the motivation behind the community pantry movement. Such virtue is both personal and social. This paper employs Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy of capable human being specifically on man’s capacity to be responsible. It aims to bring to the fore the values of pakikipagkapwa–tao and bayanihan spirit as expressions of Filipino’s strong sense of responsibility. It also employs a phenomenological-descriptive method to go back to Filipino’s lived experiences of community pantries during the pandemic. This paper aims: (1) to present the Filipino’s lived experiences during the pandemic and appropriate Paul Ricoeur’s philosophy of capable human being; (2) to prove that the values of pakikipagkapwa–tao and bayanihan spirit are expressions of Filipino’s strong sense of responsibility; and (3) to demonstrate that Filipino’s sense of responsibility finds expression in Paul Ricoeur’s capable human being as responsible self.  

Keywords

Pakikipagkapwa–tao, bayanihan spirit, community pantries, capacity to be responsible 

PAGES 165-189

Submitted: February 17, 2023; Accepted: April 5, 2023; Published: May 30, 2023