Extricating liberalism from the haze of anti-modernist and anti-European caricature, this book traces the role of liberal philosophy in the building of a new nation. It examines the role of toleration, rights, and mediation in the postcolony. Through the biographies of four Filipino scholar-bureaucrats—Camilo Osias, Salvador Araneta, Carlos P. Romulo, and Salvador P. Lopez—Lisandro E. Claudio argues that liberal thought served as the grammar of Filipino democracy in the 20th century. By looking at various articulations of liberalism in pedagogy, international affairs, economics, and literature, Claudio not only narrates an obscured history of the Philippine state, he also argues for a new liberalism rooted in the postcolonial experience, a timely intervention considering current developments in politics in Southeast Asia.
“In this compelling and important book, Lisandro Claudio documents the influence of liberal intellectuals in imagining—and building—the Filipino nation. This is a timely book—illiberalism and populism are on the rise worldwide. Will liberal democracy survive the current challenges? We don’t know, but Claudio makes us better equipped to grapple with this important question.”
– Sheila S. Coronel, Dean of Academic Affairs, Graduate School of Journalism, Columbia University