An Annotated Bibliography of Roque J. Ferriols, SJ

Abstract

Roque Jamias Ferriols, SJ, was born in the Philippine General Hospital on August 16, 1924, and grew up in North Sampaloc. After his education at San Beda Grade School and Ateneo High School at Padre Faura, he entered the Society of Jesus on May 30, 1941, his Jesuit formation proceeding against the backdrop of the Second World War. He earned his Bachelor of Arts from Sacred Heart College in Novaliches in 1947, and his Master of Arts the year after. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 19, 1954, and he completed his Licentiate in Sacred Theology at Woodstock College, Maryland, in 1955. He then pursued studies in philosophy at Fordham University, New York, graduating in 1959 having written a dissertation under the mentorship of the metaphysician W. Norris Clarke, SJ. Ferriols returned to the Philippines and taught at Berchmans College, Cebu, from 1959–62. In 1969, he was assigned to teach philosophy at Ateneo de Manila University. He founded the Department of Philosophy and continued to teach until his retirement in 2013. From 1972–75, Ferriols served as editor of Philippine Studies. For his contributions to Filipino philosophy, Ateneo de Manila University gave Ferriols the Tanglaw ng Lahi Award in 1989 and named him professor emeritus in 2006. Ferriols’s impact on Filipino philosophy was grounded in the classroom. Generations of Ateneans took his classes in Philosophy of the Human Person, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, Indian Philosophy, Metaphysics, Kierkegaard, Marcel, and the occasional seminar in Greek language. His most important writing flows from his teaching, and this fact allows us to discern a through-line in Ferriols’s bibliography.