KAPWA: A CORE CONCEPT IN FILIPINO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY*

VIRGILIO G. ENRIQUEZ

The task of identifying key concepts for understanding a people's

way of life, social psychology, mind, personality or behaviour is
a most difficult one. To begin with, it is merely assumed that
such concepts already exist or can be made to exist through a
process of concept formulation. The present paper does not aim
to formulate a theoretical construct which might be useful for
understanding the Fi 1 i pi no mind but instead proposes to identify
an existing, meaningful, and lexicalized concept in the Filipino
national language which might provide a key to understanding
Filipino psychology.

The Local Language as a Source of Concept

Language is not merely a too 1 for communication. One need not

agree with the Sa pi r-Whorf hypothesis to be con vi need of the
clear connection between language and culture. Given this, one

*Paper read at "Key Concepts of Soc I a I Psycho I ogy in As I a" - The 20th Annua I
Conference of the Japanese Society of Social Psychology, September 1979,
International Christian University, Tokyo, Japan; also appeared In Philippine
Social Sciences and Humanities Review KLII (1-4), January-December 1978.