Sem. Rey John M.
Madali August 22, 2022
3rd Year Philosophy Rev. Fr. Billy Gregorio
How do I look beauty as a Filipino?
The perception of beauty in our concept as Filipino changes from time to time which is
sometimes dependent in our culture as well as the culture of others. We, Filipinos are very
appreciative even in a small things which makes us value the virtue of simplicity. Moreover,
everyone has their own concept of beauty or how they considered a particular artwork beautiful
or not. Further, others may see things beautiful because of the unity of colors, the festivity of the
artworks, etc. that satisfy their eyes. We appreciate beauty not only by the use of reason, but, also
we engage our feelings and emotions on seeing things as beautiful or not. We put meaning on it
and if we cannot relate on that particular things or artworks, we conclude that this is not
beautiful. Further, as a philosophy student undergone to study aesthetics, I have my own concept
of beauty but the most important and essential for me when looking things as beautiful is on how
that particular art catches my soul, prior to the technicalities, like the unity of colors, harmony,
balance and on how good the presentation is. Therefore, beauty in my own concept as a Filipino
is the quality of being pleasing, especially to look at, or someone or something that gives great
pleasure, especially when I look at it and its derivative beautiful, which means very attractive, or
very pleasant in my senses. We think metonymically because it is physically impossible to
activate all the knowledge that we have of a particular concept at once, so we tend to focus on a
noticeable aspect of that concept, and use this as a point of access to the whole concept and for
me that’s how art catches my soul.
Nowadays, as we have noticed, due to the civilization process, we tend to be enculturated
by other countries especially in the Western part. We have this attitude of “gaya- gaya nalang”
for what is seems to be beautiful in other places, then, it is also beautiful for us. There are many
factors that affects on how can we say that the art or thing is beautiful or not. First, the term
popularity of the thing in aesthetic sense, since it is popular and famous we can easily say that it
is beautiful because it is favored by all. Secondly, the artist, if the artist is popular we have a
tendency to apt and love his or her concept of beauty. Filipinos are not very strict when it comes
to art appreciation except for those who studied and masters of Art and if we can appreciate
easily those small things, how about those big things. Further, physical attractiveness is the
degree to which a person's physical features are considered aesthetically pleasing or
beautiful. Although physical attraction includes universal perceptions common to all
human cultures, it is also culturally and socially dependent. Similarly, beauty is what
seems satisfying and pleasurable to our senses especially when we look at it. Filipinos prefer the
attitude of saying “pwede na yan” instead of “pwedeng- pwede na”. The earlier speaks about the
simplicity of appreciating beauty of the Filipinos while the latter speaks more about the
uniqueness, the mastery, the balance, the combinations of colors or movements, the
synchronization, etc.
Beauty in some aspects speaks a lot in the outside or physical appearance of an artwork
or things. We give judgment based on what we see physically and not internally. We prefer to
choose people who are good looking without the full consideration of the beauty inside. In
summary, beauty is something relative, as what the famous axiom says “Beauty is in the eye of
the beholder”.
