If the Outsider's eyes are sympathetic, we discover a dimension of our society that we ignore becuase we are used to it. Lukas Kaelin, a Swiss philosopher, taught at the Philosophy Department of the Ateneo de Manila University in 2006-2008. Interested in the affairs of his host country, he decided to write his observations on the relationship between the family, civil society and the state. For indeed we should be concerned that entrenched dynasties tend to inhibit the Philippine state's freedom to act at all levels, from the national to the regional to the local. Kaelin's framework is relatively new in the Philippines: Hegelian thought. Misinterpreted in the past as too abstract, Hegel's thought is now enjoying a significant rediscovery worldwide for its profound analysis of still relevant themes, such as the relationship between the family and the state, or the distinction between the private and the public spheres.
—Fernando N. Zialcita, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Ateneo de Manila University
Published in 2012.