User:Artchil
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Artchil C. Daug (1980- ) History instructor, amateur historian, existentialist philosopher, former Marxist ideologue, and a Filipino revolutionary that continues to promote the idea of the creation of a "New Filipino". Known by his students for his unconventional treatment in the teaching of The Life and Works of Dr. Jose Rizal (Filipino national hero and martyr), this young nationalist teacher combines philosophy (especially moral philosophy), political economy, and political science in the teaching of history.
[edit] Early Days (1980-2001)
Bart, his not known nickname, was born in Iligan City, Philippines on December 21, 1980. He spent his elementary years in Sacred Heart Grade School in the same city and graduated with lowly honors on March, 1994. The honor he received from the school was simply by the fact that he had been an outstanding student in the early days of his elementary years. A brief period in gangsterism led him to distracted schooling until he finished almost tenth of his class.
Given a chance in high school to redeem his past glories, he eventaully performed well at La Salle Academy in Iligan City. However, inconsistency in his mental capability almost led to another scholastic disaster. In his third year at high school (1997), he was influenced highly by the La Salle brothers to consider a life in the seminary but computer addiction eventually prevented it from happening.
High school life introduced him to two key ideas that would define his life later own. Atheism was first introduced to him through one of his influential teacher, the late Charles Sulit. Communism, however, came by accident when he began to scour the library for answers to his distubing question: Does God exist? At this moment though, everything was softened on the explanations of St. Thomas Aquinas. He graduated high school in 1998 with no honors received except his Perfect Attendance for Four Years Award.
College started miserably. He entered Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Techonology after a few months from graduating high school. Passioned by his dream to revolutionize the computer industry, the young capitalist dreamer took Bachelor of Science Major in Computer Engineering. But history repeated. After suffering from mainy failures, including a semester with only one subject passed, he finally realized that a change of paradigm was inevitable.
In the summer of 2001, greatly affected by his many failures and his rising enthusiasm to philosophy (which was influenced by his two professors, Prof. Omar Bataluna and Prof. Eliseo Monstrales), the young idealist gradually shifted from the capitalist dream to a socialist one. He studied Marxism-Leninism.
[edit] The Marxist Days (2001-2003)
After finishing The Manifesto of the Communist Party by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and The Essence of Religion by Ludwig Feuerbach, Artchil proceeded with Engels' Socialisme Utopique et Socialisme Scientifique and Vladimir Lenin's State and Revolution. The transformation made him an atheist and a communist ideologue. By this time, history became the sole source of philosophy and after devouring Plato, Aristotle, Kant, Descartes, Marx, and Lenin, Bart shifted to Bachelor of Arts Major in History on June, 2001. Much to the surprise of many of his former friends.
After writing critical essays on the philosophy of reality, the existence of God, and the logic of nature, he applied Marxist materialism and dialectics to almost all his historical interpretation. Together with his "colleagues", Orlan Kevin Escalona and Gregg Jones Galgo, the trio attempted to form a study circle that would encourage free thinking and hopefully begin a Marxist circle. It failed.
The "young marxist" continued to fathom the limits of historical materialism and the extent of dialectics. From 2001 to the early months of 2003, he was sometimes called "The Young Marx". But by this time, his passion for Marxism began to wane. First, the ideology was impractical in its utopian goals; and second, the influence of another German philsopher began to crawl in his ideas--Friedrich Nietzsche.
[edit] The Existentialist (2003-present)
Before graduating in 2004, Bart had been influenced by Nietzsche's Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo. A philosophy of existence began to develop, which he considers far beyond the dogmatic designs of Marxism-Leninism. He began to formulate doctrines based on the existentialist philosophers and eventually did away with Communism. "Men cannot and will not be made equal!" He said.
It is unimaginable for someone who once considered that there is only one nation of proletariats, to finally preach a nationalistic ideology based on the simple logic of Social-Darwinism. He presently teaches history based on his own theory of existence and even shocked some of his students when in 2004, he declared: "I want you to start an intellectual revolution never before seen in this country!" Whether the revolution will be possible in his lifetime or not, the young philosopher hopes that the days of interpreting the world will be over, because the whole point of it all is to actually change it.
