Rizals Intellectual Legacies in the Indolence of the Filipinos

Leann Margarette Mendiola

Problems for Study

1. 2. 3. 4. Why must we study the question of indolence among the Filipinos? Why do you think the word indolence is much misused? Why do you think indolence among Filipinos should not be considered the cause of their backwardness? Why is it good to study the causes of indolence before proposing a remedy for it? How does climate affect individuals? Explain the object of man in living. What is meant by indolence is fostered and magnified? Do you agree with Rizal that the problem of indolence must be thoroughly studied? Why? Why was indolence among Filipinos not a hereditary one? Why should we be interested in knowing the forces which contributed to indolence? How did wars contribute to indolence among the Filipinos? How did the piratical attacks contribute to indolence among the Filipinos? How did the attitude of the friars contribute to indolence among the Filipinos? How does man lose interest in work?

5. 6. 7. 8.
9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14.

15. Explain why a person who is not free is not responsible for his action. 16. How did lessening encouragement to labor foster indolence among the Filipinos? 17. What is your opinion on the rules governing the permission to use firearms? 18. How did the miserly return for one's labor foster indolence? 19. How was "conflict of interests" harmful to the administration of the government? 20. Are the difficulties mentioned by Rizal similar to difficulties encountered today? Why? 21. Explain how trading with China was harmful to the people. 22. How was dislike for manual labor influenced by the rulers? 23. Was the attitude of the Filipinos on work good? Why? 24. How did gambling foster indolence among the Filipinos? 25. How did fiestas foster indolence among the Filipinos? 26. How did curtailment of individual liberty foster indolence? 27. How did the apathy of the government foster indolence among the Filipinos? 28. Explain how the ownership of the big estates by the friars fostered indolence among the Filipinos. 29. How did lack of moral support foster indolence? 30. How did deprivation of human dignity foster indolence?

31. Explain why lack of respect for human dignity is harmful. 32. Why did the Filipinos have the right to protest the deprivation of their human rights? 33. Explain why people and government are correlated and complementary. 34. Explain why indolence is a corollary derived from lack of stimulus and vitality. 35. How did the feeling of inferiority foster indolence among the Filipinos? 36. Explain how placing hopes on miracles was partly harmful to the Filipinos. 37. How did the vicious dressing of the intelligence and will foster indolence? 38. Why must the spirit of the Filipinos be free and their intelligence respected? 39. How did lack of an ideal for a good worker foster indolence among the Filipinos? 40. How did lack of national sentiment foster indolence among the Filipinos? 41. How did lack of national sentiment lead to the appointment of competent officials? 42. Explain why it was useless to solve the problem of indolence if there was no profound study of its causes. 43. Explain why good education and liberty can bring progress to the Filipinos.

Summary of Chapter 1: Admitting the Existence of Indolence

Rizal admits that indolence does exist among the Filipinos, but it cannot be attributed to the troubles and backwardness of the country; rather it is the effect of the backwardness and troubles experienced by the country. Past writings on indolence revolve only on either denying or affirming, and never studying its causes in depth. One must study the causes of indolence, Rizal says, before curing it. He therefore enumerates the causes of indolence and elaborates on the circumstances that have led to it.
The hot climate, he points out, is a reasonable predisposition for indolence.

Filipinos cannot be compared to Europeans, who live in cold countries and who must exert much more effort at work. An hour's work under the Philippine sun, he says, is equivalent to a day's work in temperate regions.

Why must we study the question of indolence among the Filipinos?

Not only by the government employees who hold it responsible for their own stupidities, not only by the friars who consider it necessary to make themselves irreplaceable, but also by serious and disinterested persons

We can only serve our country by telling her the truth, however bitter it be, as a categorical and artificial denial cannot destroy a real and positive fact, despite the brilliance of the arguments, as a mere assertion is not enough to create an impossible thing.
There is no redemption unless based solidly on virtue.

Why do you think the word indolence is much misused?

the sense of little love for work, lack of activity, etc. In Medieval Age, and even in many Catholic countries of our times, whatever superstitious folk cannot understand, or men because of malice refuse to confess, is attributed to the devil; In the Philippines, one's own and another's shortcomings, the stupidities of some, and the crimes of others are attributed to indolence. The devil is blamed for everything that cannot understand. Whom we have a lot of serious and disinterest person some act Bad Faith, through levity , judgments, ignorance from the past or the other cause or reflect Human Characteristics.

Why do you think indolence among Filipinos should not be considered the cause of their backwardness?
The Filipino is the most active in the world will doubtless not repudiate that there work and struggles against the climate & Nature and against men. The Indolence is the effect of backwardness and troubles of experience by the country. The hot climate is reasonable predisposition for indolence

Why is it good to study the causes of indolence before proposing a remedy for it?
those who have dealt with the subject of indolence have been satisfied with denying or affirming it; we don't know anyone who has studied its causes. However, those who admit its existence and exaggerate it more or less have not failed to prescribe remedies taken here and there, from Java and other Dutch colonies, like the quack who, having seen a fever cured with a dozen sardines, prescribed this fish for every rise in temperature he observed on his patients.

How does climate affect individuals?

A warm climate require of individual quiet and rest as cold incites to labor and action, they work for themselves to get rich with hope of future, free and respected.

A man can live any climate. Kill the European in hot country is the abuse of Liquors; they attempt to live by or according to the nature of his own country under the sky and sun.

Explain the object of man in living

We find then the tendency to indolence very natural and we have to admit it and bless it because we cannot alter natural laws, and because without it the race would have disappeared. Man is not a brute, he is not a machine. His aim is not merely to produce despite the claim of some white Christians who wish to make of the colored Christian a kind of motive power somewhat more intelligent and less costly than steam. His purpose is not to satisfy the passions of another man. His object is to seek happiness for himself and his fellow men by following the road towards progress and perfection.

What is meant by indolence is fostered and magnified?

The evil is not that a more or less latent indolence exist, but that it is fostered and magnified. Among men, as well as among nations, there exist not only aptitudes but also tendencies toward good and evil. To foster the good ones and aid them, as well as correct the bad ones and repress them would be the duty of society or of governments, if less noble thoughts did not absorb their attention. The evil is that indolence in the Philippines is a magnified indolence, a snow-ball indolence, if we may be permitted the expression, an evil which increases in direct proportion to the square of the periods of time, an effect of misgovernment and backwardness, as we said an not a cause of them.

Summary of Chapter 2: Indolence of Chronic Illness

Rizal says that an illness will worsen if the wrong treatment is given. The same applies to indolence. People, however, should not lose hope in fighting indolence. Even before the Spaniards arrived, Rizal argues, the early Filipinos were already carrying out trade within provinces and with other neighboring countries; they were also engaged in agriculture and mining; some natives even spoke Spanish. All this disproves the notion that Filipinos are by nature indolent. Rizal ends by asking what then would have caused Filipinos to forget their past.

Do you agree with Rizal that the problem of indolence must be thoroughly studied? Why? When the condition of the patient is examined after a long chronic illness, the
question may arise whether the weakening of the fibers and the debility of the organs are responsible for the persistence of the malady or its continuation is the effect of the poor treatment. The attending physician attributes the failure of his skill to the poor constitution of the patient, to the climate, to his surroundings, etc. On the other hand, the patient will attribute the aggravation of his illness to the method of treatment followed. Only the common men, the curious ones, will shake their heads unable to reach a decision. Something like this happens to the Philippine question. Instead of physician, read Philippines; instead of malady, indolence. While the patient breathes, we should not lose hope, and however late we may be, never is a conscientious study superfluous, at least, if she dies, the cause of death will be known. We are not trying to put all the blame on the physician and still less on the patient.

As we have already mentioned, if the predisposition due to the climate - a just and natural predisposition - did not exist, the race would disappear, a victim of excessive work in a tropical country.

Why was indolence among Filipinos not a hereditary one?

It is important to note that indolence in the Philippines is a chronic malady, but not a hereditary one. Truth is, before the Spaniards arrived on these lands, the natives were industriously conducting business with China, Japan, Arabia, Malaysia, and other countries in the Middle East. The reasons for this said indolence were clearly stated in the essay, and were not based only on presumptions, but were grounded on fact taken from history. Filipinos long before the Spanish conquest was open already for trade and commerce for its neighboring country, say for instance the record shows that China often comes to the Philippines to trade with their ceramics ware and utensils, Filipinos in return barter their produce like silk, gold, pearls and cotton. The Spaniards discovered the island of Samar and Cebu and recognized their custom and culture, the Filipinos are industrious the way they tilled their farms to a beautiful and bounty produce. Accordingly, the Filipinos, in spite of the climate, in spite of their few needs (they were less then than now), were not the indolent creatures of our time, and, as we shall see later on, their ethics and their mode of life were not what is now complacently attributed to them.

Why should we be interested in knowing the forces which contributed to indolence?

How then and in what way was that active and enterprising heathen Indio of ancient times converted into the lazy and indolent Christian, as our contemporary writer's say? Historians of nowadays quote the Filipinos, today are lazy, indolent and easy going because of the attitude the Spanish invaders instill in the mind of the native when they embrace the religion of Christianity, the friars obliged the native to pray and offer their life in serving the church and the government, the people lose interest in their farms the cultivate their rice, corn and etc. What forces contribute to awaken from its lethargy this terrible predisposition? How did the Filipino people so devoted to their customs as to border on habit, abandon their former industry, their trade, their sea-faring, etc. to the point of forgetting completely their past?

Summary of Chapter 3: Wars, Insurrections, Expeditions and Invasion

Rizal enumerates several reasons that may have caused the Filipinos' cultural and economic decadence.

The frequent wars, insurrections, and invasions have brought disorder to the communities. Chaos has been widespread, and destruction rampant.
Many Filipinos have also been sent abroad to fight wars for Spain or for expeditions. Thus, the population has decreased in number. Due to forced labor, many men have been sent to shipyards to construct vessels. Meanwhile, natives who have had enough of abuse have gone to the mountains. As a result, the farms have been neglected. The so-called indolence of Filipinos definitely has deeply rooted causes.

Factors that contributed to the Indolence of the Filipinos

Wars Piratical Attacks Attitude of friars

Man lose interest of work

Man works for a purpose; remove the purpose and you reduce him to inaction,

 Filipinos, according to Rizal, are not responsible for their misfortunes, as they are not their own masters. The Spanish government has not encouraged labor and trade, which ceased after the government treated the country's neighboring trade partners with great suspicion. Trade has declined, furthermore, because of pirate attacks and the many restrictions imposed by the government, which gives no aid for crops and farmers. This and the abuse suffered under encomenderos have caused many to abandon the fields. Businesses are monopolized by many government officials, red tape and bribery operate on a wide scale, rampant gambling is tolerated by the government. This situation is compounded by the Church's wrong doctrine which holds that the rich will not go to heaven, thus engendering a wrong attitude towards work. There has also been discrimination in education against natives. These are some of the main reasons that Rizal cites as causing the deterioration of values among the Filipinos.

Chapter 5: Limited Training and Education

According to Rizal, all the causes of indolence can be reduced to two factors. The first factor is the limited training and education Filipino natives receive. Segregated from Spaniards, Filipinos do not receive the same opportunities that are available to the foreigners. They are taught to be inferior. The second factor is the lack of a national sentiment of unity among them. Because Filipinos think they are inferior, they submit to the foreign culture and do everything to imitate it. The solution, according to Rizal, would be education and liberty.