By Emmanuel Sumayang

The Philosophy Department of Xavier University, in cooperation with the Ateneo Philosophy Club (APC), successfully held its Pre-Law Enrichment Program for this semester on September 16 at AVR7 with the theme “Valuing the Art of Philosophizing for the Future Lawyers."

Lawyer Antonio Gabriel M La Viña, dean of Ateneo de Manila University’s (AdMU) Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) served as the resource speaker on philosophy and law.

“Philosophy gives added value to law,” Laviña said, adding that law sometimes can be too technical yet philosophy has enabled him to go back to the fundamental principles of justice, morality, and law.

Spearheaded by APC moderator Paolo Galang and president Areiyne Hamac, the event was attended by XU College Arts and Sciences dean Dr Juliet Dalagan, XU Philosophy Dept chairperson Dr Jane Gallamaso, philosophy teachers and philosophy majors.

Cagayan de Oro-born La Viña graduated from the AdMU in 1980 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in philosophy. He served as a philosophy teacher at XU for three years after his graduation and is currently a professor at XU Law School. He attested to the advantage of taking philosophy as a pre-law course.

In his discussion, he shared that he was first attracted to taking up law because of the Greek story of Orestes and his trial in Athens. This was significant for him because Orestes was the defendant during the first trial that humanity ever organized, and was purely grounded on reason.

La Viña attended Yale Law School for his Master of Laws and Doctor of Juridical Science degrees. At Yale, he focused on international environmental law and policy, ultimately writing his dissertation on climate change.

The ASoG dean also shared stories by Chuang Tzu that inspired many aspiring young lawyers, concluding his talk with his reflections after many years of service. “In life, it is not winning that matters. What is important is living the mission. And there is no other mission of law but justice.”