This paper puts forward Wabi-Sabi aesthetics as one possible philosophical anchor for museum exhibits that focus less on beauty as perfection and more on beauty that reveals the imperfect nature of life and serves as a guide to joyful living. There is a growing trend in contemporary museums to feature not the usual paintings and sculptures, but crafts traditionally looked upon as objects for the hobbyist, not the artist. The mixed reactions from the art world show that this new practice (...) requires a philosophy of beauty that, to begin with, did not look for the beautiful in that which is perfect as inspired by the Platonic ideals. The philosophy of Wabi-Sabis founded on the metaphysics of Buddhism, is here offered as one such foundation, questioning the idea of beauty and art, and blurring the distinctions between art and lift, as well as between art and crafts. (shrink)

Contrary to Austin's view that a fanciful use of language, like poetry, does not carry illocutionary acts and is therefore "parasitic," the author follows through C. Carroll Hollis' work in showing that poets use illocutionary acts in a certain way that may be studied meaningfully, thereby making a speech act a form of literary criticism. She does this by applying the categories of speech acts in her study of some of the love poems of a Filipino poet, Dr. Elynia Mabanglo. (...) In the end, she shows that even though the poet does not use language in what Austin refers to as the "normal" sense, the mimetic character of certain poetry does allow the use and fulfillment of illocutionary acts. (shrink)

French philosopher Helene Cixous stressed the importance of feminine writing. She believes that women should take part in sharing their experiences from their own novel points-of-view. We discuss that while pregnancy is an experience unique to women, it has been misappropriated by patriarchal structures throughout the years. The pregnancy bump, which is more than just evidence of the uterus stretching to accommodate the fetus, is a symbol of a woman's triumphs and struggles all throughout conception, pregnancy, and childbirth. We show (...) that women have already gone beyond the bump and challenged existing patriarchal systems through different means, as Cixous has enjoined women to do. With this, it is asserted that the philosophy of pregnancy be reconceived as well, in order to escape existing boundaries that constrict the discourse to ethical issues of rape, abortion, and medical interventions, making it face issues that surround women's experience of pregnancy, as well as deeper meanings the pregnant body itself represents. (shrink)

Prompted by Heidegger’s search for great art in the modern times, this paper looks into crafts as answering the philosopher’s frustrated call. Using Soetsu Yanagi’s idea of a “religion of beauty,” which turns to the ordinary as beautiful, it suggests that crafts—carefully made by hand while considering its affinity with nature and the human body that uses it—is a way of being, the way Heidegger described the way of “dwelling poetically.”.

The philosophical musings in this article are inspired by Laura Esquivel’s multimedia novel, The Law of Love, set in a world of high-end technological gadgets in the 23rd century where people are aware that their lives are governed by the law of karma. The reflections try to show that although sophisticated technology might be able to help in tracking one’s spiritual growth in many ways, in the long run it will only hamper the true evolution of the soul.