“A humanistic approach to education and development is the common thread that weaves together the diversity of contributions into a rich tapestry on learning. The approach is grounded in a vision of development that is economically inclusive, socially just and environmentally sustainable. A vision that acknowledges the diversity of knowledge systems, worldviews and conceptions of well-being, while reaffirming a common core of universally shared values. It is a vision that promotes an integrated approach to learning, acknowledging the multiple personal, social, civic and economic purposes of education…” Stefania Giannini
Humanistic futures of learning. Perspectives from UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks. Published in 2020 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization,7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France. © UNESCO 2020. ISBN 978-92-3-100369-1. This publication is available in Open Access under the Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-SA 3.0 IGO) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/igo/). By using the content of this publication, the users accept to be bound by the terms of use of the UNESCO Open Access Repository (http://www.unesco.org/open-access/terms-use-ccbysa-en). (p. 51-53)
Infusing philosophy in education from early learning onwards.
Edwige Chirouter, UNESCO Chair on Practices of Philosophy with Children, University of Nantes, France.
The author argues that teaching philosophy from an early age will help develop values of empathy and open discourse, which in turn would help shape global citizens who are mindful and respectful of the diversity of opinions, ideas and ways of being in the world.
The tragic current events of terror attacks and the rise of populism have alerted all democratic public authorities to the need to educate future citizens from an early age about critical thinking, humanist values, equality between men and women and the need for a peaceful and respectful dialogue among all cultures. A democracy requires its citizens to practice openness, goodwill and independent thinking, qualities that can only be achieved through the building of critical and empathetic capacities. These capacities are developed and taught by the arts and humanities. More precisely, they are central to a certain practice of the humanities: philosophy. Not only does philosophy promote the transmission of content characteristic of a culture, but it also cultivates a collective intellectual practice that forms emotions through a diversity and intensity of experiences. The practice of philosophy with children aged 4 to 18 years – which has been in experimental development everywhere in the world for more than four decades – can address this need.
Abandoning philosophy in education cripples democratic society
The challenges of democratizing philosophy teachings are very closely linked to UNESCO’s objectives and values: too often reduced to secondary or university education, and hence to the elite, philosophy is nonetheless one of the essential drivers of democratic life. In 2007, the report entitled Philosophy: A School of Freedom, already highlighted UNESCO’s concern for the development of philosophy teaching from an early age: “The very mission of UNESCO, dedicated to serving the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity, is to embrace and promote knowledge as a whole. In an open, inclusive and pluralistic, knowledge-oriented society, philosophy has its rightful place. Its teaching alongside the other social and human sciences remains at the heart of our concerns” (Goucha, 2007).
In the same line of thinking, the philosopher Martha Nussbaum refers to the legacy of her peer John Dewey when she denounces in Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities a “silent crisis” of education, which is reflected in the fundamental transformation of Western school policies (and therefore philosophies) that abandon the humanities along with the need to form lucid citizens who can think critically. She posits that the education crisis aims to develop a technical vision of knowledge and skills that only serves to adapt the individual to social life and especially to a liberal economy. “Radical changes are occurring in what democratic societies teach the young, and these changes have not been well thought through. Thirsty for national profit, nations, and their systems of education, are heedlessly discarding skills that are needed to keep democracies alive. If this trend continues, nations all over the world will soon be producing generations of useful machines, rather than complete citizens who can think for themselves, criticize tradition, and understand the significance of another person’s sufferings and achievements. The future of the world’s democracies hangs in the balance” (Nussbaum, 2011).
What unites us is stronger than what divides us
Philosophy teaches students how to accept the necessary uncertainty inherent in life’s great metaphysical questions, where there is no one correct definitive answer. Faced with the questions of liberty, happiness, love or morality, we must be prepared to say to ourselves, “I don’t know”, “maybe”, “several ideas exist”. Children learn in philosophy workshops offered in schools, libraries, associations and cultural venues both to accept the uncertainty and to develop reference points, particularly through dialogue with others as well as through authors and their works. The absence of a single definitive answer does not mean that there are no ideas or convictions from which we can draw to shape our experience of the world in order to act. By participating regularly in research communities, children gradually understand that in philosophy, we should not be afraid of not knowing and that uncertainty is even necessary. Without lapsing into relativism, philosophy workshops make it possible to develop an interpretative stance on fundamental human questions.
There are initiatives in the works to help children develop these civic practices through research, teaching, training, the dissemination of educational tools in schools and society, and the international cooperation of stakeholders. One initiative is to coordinate and link the different teams and structures already working on this subject to consolidate cooperation between researchers and practitioners in the context of North-South relations. In addition to the training of facilitators and the development of research, the initiative also aims to engage children in dialogue in the context of North-South exchanges. Building on relationships among children from all over the world (e.g. France, Benin, Mali and Canada’s Quebec province), the idea is to raise awareness of a universal fraternity – both through the similarity of the questions they ask themselves as human beings as well as through the common use of stories (tales from all over the world) and reason (the common ideas developed in workshops). In this manner, it is hoped that introducing children to philosophy can help to put into action the secular ideal of fraternity that comes from the Enlightenment – i.e. what unites us (questions, reason, stories) is stronger than what divides us.
Dialogue, goodwill and collective reflection is needed to empathize with the Other
One of the most critical challenges of postmodernism is to consider and create an education that encompasses the person. Thus, an education that cultivates ethics and values as much as it develops knowledge and skills without ignoring imagination, emotions and relationships with the Other. To achieve this, it is important to continually combine critical thinking, creative thinking and vigilant thinking. The distinction made by the philosopher Hannah Arendt between ‘intelligence’ and ‘thought’ is particularly enlightening in this respect. She posits through her concept of ‘the banality of evil’, that pure rationality or encyclopaedic knowledge will in no way save us from barbarism. The sublime and inordinate faith of the philosophers of the Enlightenment that instruction can save the world from war and fanaticism was crushed by the Auschwitz scandal as it proved that cultivated, rational, intelligent people are not immune from committing acts of barbarism. According to her, learning to judge – allowing us to act justly in the world to make it a better place – must be based on the ability to understand the Other’s point of view. It is thus important when meeting the Other to attempt to understand his or her point of view and engage in sympathy. Well-founded judgment is only possible within a research community where dialogue, goodwill and collective reflection take place.
This ambitious learning process transcends academic disciplines and is embodied in the praxis of all philosophical practices with children. When pondering metaphysical questions where entertaining doubt along with the acceptance of one’s own vulnerability and of one’s ignorance is a prerequisite, children need to patiently learn how to construct ideas; propose counter-examples; detect the assumptions and consequences of preconceived opinions or ideas; decipher the coherencies and incoherencies of discourse; highlight value systems; and build bridges between their worldview and those of others. Ann Margaret Sharp suggests that the key to sound judgment requires each participant to build bridges between the various points of view, understand the feelings of those whose opinions and worldviews come from their context, empathize with them and care for their development, while remaining oneself and using one’s critical faculties (Sharp, 2014).
In this sense, the philosophical research community gives substance to what Arendt called “oases” – i.e. the creation of a time and space away from the busyness of the world where participants can take some distance and think together (Arendt, 1977). These spaces of joint construction of critical, creative and benevolent thinking are the key to a better world.
References
Arendt, H. 1977. The Life of the Mind. New York: Harcourt, Inc.
Chirouter, E. 2015. L’enfant, la littérature et la philosophie. [Children, literature and philosophy] Paris: L’Harmattan. (In French.)
Goucha, M. (ed). 2007. Philosophy: A School of Freedom. UNESCO report online. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000154173
Lipman, M. 1991. Thinking in Education. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nussbaum, M. 2010. Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press.
Sharp, A. M. 2014. Meeting the other: Making judgements in a classroom transformed into a community of Inquiry. In Grosjean M-P. (ed). Philosophy at the heart of education according to Matthew Lipman. Paris: Vrin.