Philosophy and Education: From Elitism to Democracy Essay -- Philosoph

Philosophy and Education From Elitism to DemocracyABSTRACT From its first appearance in Hesperian culture, philosophy has been considered able to build up reality, to educate people, and to disclose truth. Plato proposed philosophers as governors in life-long pursuit of philosophic learning. Socrates was the idealistic paradigm of an educating philosopher he tried to kindle up human minds so that they could be aware of themselves and of the world, criticizing customs and prejudices in a logically consistent perspective. A critical and dialogic approachnot by mere chance defined as Socraticto problems has been considered until now the most profitable method of teaching. Socrates is a pioneer in discussing the question of a philosophical (paideia), as he defined his method maieutic. He was not an authoritarian teacher, but a sparring partner in the process of self-education. Moreover, he considered himself as the most learned and, at the same time, the wisest in Greece, just becau se he was conscious of his ignorance. Therefore, he understood for the first time in our cultural tradition that knowledge is an endless process rather than a product, within marked bounds. From its first appearance in western culture, philosophy has been considered able to build up reality, to educate men and to disclose truth. Plato proposed philosophers as governors and a lifelong philosophical paideia nevertheless, yet before him, philopophy and kalokagaqia were in a close relation, as Parmenides and Heraclitus show. Particularly Socrates is the ideal paradigm of an educating philosopher he tried to wake up human minds, so that they could be aware of themselves and of the world, criticizing tradition and prejudices in a logically consis... ...use free government agency self-governing.BibliographyCalogero G., Filosofia del dialogo, Milano, 1962Dewey J., How we Think, Boston,1933Dewey J., Knowing and the Known, Boston, 1949Dewey J., Logic The Theory of Inquiry, New York, 1938De wey J., Reconstruction in Philosophy, New York,1920Dewey J., The Sources of a Science of Education, New York, 1929Fornaca R., La pedagogia filosofica del 900, Milano, 1989Kant I., Der Streit der Facultten, in AK. A., Bd.VII, Berlin, 1907L Thn Khi, Lducationcultures et societs, Paris, 1991Piaget J., Sagesse et illusions de la philosophie , Paris, 1965Sartre J.P., Lexistentialisme est un humanisme, Paris, 1946Veca S., Il ruolo della filosofia nella didattica e nella formazione, in La didattica della filosofia nelluniversit e nella scuola secondaria superiore, Padova, 1996.