Faculty of Arts and Letters

Queer when understood before referred to any person who, based on societal standards was strange in the general sense. It embodied both the oppressed and romantic ideal of a rebelone who was either far ahead of one's time or one who simply had been tired of the way the world turns for people. Queer when used in the then modern to post-modern context would refer nonconformity pertaining to one's sex or sexual orientation. In the world of modelling, androgyny had been and is now prevailing trend as the likes of Andrej Pejic had become to walk in magazines and runways wearing either women's underwear or a wedding gown. But nonconformity with one's sex or sexual orientation is not a trend. Like fashion, blockbuster movies would at times follow a particular trend but for film it is different. There are niches in film inasmuch as there are designers for the avant-garde and vintage. I do not know much about fashion except for aesthetics and Project Runway reruns and that already says a lot about my knowledge. With the life in the cinema, it is different. The niches in cinema are inspired by the audience it caters to or those it wishes to cater to. It's not even much about catering to the people; films take on a role when it represents them. Clothes make the man as far as a saying goes but for films, it is man that makes it work. The cinema has always been an avenue for change. One would go see a film like Titanic and think one is the king or queen of the god-damned world a minute before you get seasick on a crowded boat ride. One can also see a so-called "certified

This paper aims to trace the historical development of religious culture from pre-Hispanic to Hispanic era in the Philippines through the religious artifacts gathered in the National Museum. I argue that these religious artifacts that were once symbols of religiosity are now objects to suffice cultural curiosity.

How should one live?" This is the fundamental question that Aristotle tries to address: on how to live the best life possible. Thus, his ethical thought aims to answer this question. Aside from this, he also discussed the following: (1) happiness as the supreme good; (2) supreme good as an exercise of virtue and rationality; and (3) life in moderation.

Promoting gender equality and empowering women is a Millennium Development Goal set by the United Nations as a way to address gender-related issues that are prevalent in societies. To ensure the success of campaigns and movements related to the aforementioned concepts and to contribute towards development, it is important to clearly explain the said terminologies. This study used Feminist Rhetorical Criticism and Speech Act Theory to unveil the misconceptions, re-introduce the terms feminism and gender equality, identify the key terms used in the speech to correct such misconceptions, and understand the intended meanings attached to the context of the speech by Emma Watson during the launch of the HeForShe campaign of the UN. Watson mentioned in her speech that over the years, feminism has been equated with man-hating, and that gender equality is an issue that affects men and women alike. The misconceptions arose due to the Three Waves of Feminism during the late 19th century to the early 20th century. The speech was instrumental in proving five out of six feminist premises identified by Lois Tyson (2006). These feminist premises gave a clear view of what feminism and gender equality means as it was evidently framed in Watson’s speech.

La imagen es como nos ven los demás. Hasta las últimas décadas nos parecía menos importante nuestra imagen, estábamos más preocupados con la búsqueda de nuestro verdadero yo. Hoy tenemos una noción diferente de la imagen, tanto a nivel personal como a nivel corporativo, con la incorporación de los social media y las redes sociales online. Con el efecto de Facebook, hoy tenemos una impresión diferente, manipulada y más difícil de mantener. Todos somos famosos, tenemos seguidores en Twitter, abonados en YouTube y álbumes en Facebook. Hoy es más fácil entender Andy Warhol y simpatizar con él y con lo que solía decir: «Soy todo lo que mi álbum de recortes (scrapbook) dice que soy».

This paper aims to demonstrate the characteristics and direction of knowledge that David Hume legitimizes from his spatial and chronological standpoint by discussing how Hume projects a topology of reality. It is from the notion that one's surroundings affect very well the generation of ideas that Hume's view of space and time becomes significant. Hence, this discussion attempts to present a more coherent and specific organization of Humean empiricism by relating it to how he characterizes physical reality.

19th century German thinker Karl Marx is considerably one of the (if not the) most influential philosophers of his era and even beyond. His extensive works, which were written alongside his good friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels, has had a profound influence beyond the traditional limits of academic philosophy as it covers politics, economics, sociology and history. The adjective "Marxist" is still even used to modify various contemporary theoretical frameworks in understanding political, economic and cultural trends. This research paper is meant to give a relatively brief overview of the contributions that Marx (and, in part, Engels) had in understanding the world as it is from his philosophical perspective. In doing so, it is but apt to first present here-perhaps in homage to his own paradigm of presenting his thoughts-to locate Marx in the world that he belonged. After presenting briefly a biographical sketch, three major themes (or topics of significance) which defines Marxist philosophy (dialectical materialism, class struggle and socialist revolution) will be presented conservatively.

St. Thomas Aquinas is primarily a theologian, more than a philosopher. As a theologian, his primary "textbook" is the Bible. In fact, his job description as a university instructor is the title Magister in Sacra Pagina. However, for centuries, it is apparent that many scholars are far more interested in the philosophical expositions and Aristotelian commentaries of Aquinas rather than in his exegetical works. This present work is a brief exposition that will reiterate the primacy of the Sacred Scriptures in the theological worldview and projects of St. Thomas Aquinas, and speak of his contributions in biblical theology that would affirm the closeness and coherence of Sacred Scripture in relation to dogmatic theology and, most importantly, on Christian spirituality. Hence, this article will be divided into three parts. First, a historical survey of biblical theology up to the time of Aquinas and the current reservations of contemporary biblical theologians regarding the works of Aquinas. Second, Aquinas' theological background and project will be discussed so as to determine the Bible's authoritative primacy in his works. Third, Aquinas will be treated rightly as a Biblical Theologian in the university setting and subsequently the place of Sacred Scripture in his contribution to Catholic theology, both on doctrinal and ascetic dimensions.

This essay is a theological reflection that will demonstrate how the global ecological crisis is, in fact, a moral crisis in the light of St. Thomas Aquinas' theological treatises on the natural moral law and the common good. It will assert two fundamental theological assumptions: (1) that the created world, which God created and through which God makes himself known and can be known, is naturally governed by order so as to serve the common good for all other creatures, including man, and; (2) that man, as a microcosm, is divinely mandated to care for the planet, and is likewise morally responsible and accountable before God if he fails to true to this fundamental vocation. To demonstrate this, the present work will be divided into three main parts: First, the intersection between theology and ecology should be established as much as the planet-our "common home"-serves both a natural and supernatural revelatory function as far as the will of God is concerned. Secondly, it will briefly present pertinent data that would describe the current state of the planet and as well as the historical development of the said crisis. This will somehow include the pastoral teachings of the Church regarding the environment and the ecological crisis (i.e., Pope Francis' 2015 encyclical Laudato Si' and the pastoral letters of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines). Thirdly, the principles of Aquinas on the natural moral law and the common good will be presented so as to demonstrate that this crisis and its causal factors primarily and grossly violate the will of God.

Benedict de Spinoza has fashioned his philosophy in such a way
that its foundations are tightly knitted with each other, with definitions,
propositions, scholium, and corollary to support each arguments across his
Ethics. It was found in the third part of his book that the essence of man (and
things in general) is conatus or the endeavour of such to self-preservation (E3,
P6-7). With this in mind, how does it come to be under the notion of
suicide? This paper discusses conatus, suicide, and the possibility of such selfdestruction
under the light of Spinoza’s doctrine by first defining the concept
of each, discussing thoroughly the notion of suicide through both religious
and non-religious interpretations, and combining these two concepts to
prove that, according to the rational philosopher, suicide is nothing but an
external force that overpowers the endeavour of one’s will to self-preserve.

Predictions are presented from a field model for offshore compartment jet fires. The Constrained equilibrium method has been used to couple the calculation of combustion and radiative heat exchange. Soot formation is modelled by a one-equation approach. Radiation is computed with the Discrete Transfer Radiation Method (DTRM) and a published procedure for calculating the Planck mean emission and absorption coefficients of gas-soot mixtures is used to calculate the radiation properties. Comparisons are made with full-scale jet fire tests in a 135 m\entilation-controlled compartment. It is found that the model predicts the correct trend of field variables such as velocity, temperature, CQ, C 0 2 and OH. Soot predictions also show a reasonable distribution. For the two vertical lines within the compartment and at the vent where temperature measurements are available, the predictions are also in reasonably good agreement with the experimental data.

Using a newly created teacher evaluation instrument, Inter-rater Reliability (IRR) analyses were conducted on four teacher videos as a means to establish instrument reliability. Raters included 42 principals and assistant principals in a southern US school district. The videos used spanned the teacher quality spectrum and the IRR findings across these levels varied. Key findings suggest that while the overall IRR coefficient may be adequate to assess the validity of a classroom observation instrument, the overall coefficient may be unstable across the various teacher performance levels. Findings also strongly suggest that raters are much more likely to agree when they see high-quality teaching when compared to levels of agreement regarding lowquality teaching.