The Problem of Indio Inferiority in Science: Rizal's Two Views

This article discusses chapter 13, "The Physics Class," of José Rizal's El filibusterismo and the problems posed there regarding racist notions of the incapacity (poco capacidad) of indios to imbibe scientific thought and reasoning. It is argued that Rizal attempted to dispel such conceptions by focusing his satirical polemic on the faulty system of education imposed by the Spanish friars on Filipinos. However, it seems that toward the end of his life Rizal eventually conceded that there was something to the idea of the "limited intelligence" of the indio.