Plato goes to school - Archive ouverte HAL Accéder directement au contenu
Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2019

Plato goes to school

Résumé

How can we convey humanist values to children without falling into a form of moralism or democratic catechism? How can we enable these future citizens a genuine appropriation of values such as freedom, equality and fraternity? The philosophical practices that have been developing for 40 years in primary and secondary schools of the world are perhaps one of the answers to these questions. When, in 2015, in France, the government announced that secular morale will be taught in schools, the reactions were very vivid. The word “moral” brings up, in our collective subconscious, old images of strict teachers and hermetic maxims, recited at the blackboard. As we claimed in a tribune published in the newspaper Libération: “The intentions are, admittedly, commendable: in order to face a complex world, where multiples crises are accumulated (financial, educational, cultural, and semantical), where the values of a democratic education are more and more threatened by the contradictory values of liberal economy (fraternity vs competition, literature vs bling-bling, reality vs reality tv), it is necessary that the ministry of Education reaffirm, with strength and pride, its filiation with the ideals of the Age of Enlightenment. But the rote learning of moral maxims, or the technical knowledge of the democratic machinery, through civics education, will not allow children to truly assimilate humanist values. It is only the patient et rigorous learning of critical thinking, of deliberation, of listening, of empathy and of democratic debate will enable us to win this bet” (2012, online). The new curriculum regarding moral and civics education reinforces, precisely, these reflective and democratic dimensions of pedagogical practices, and prescribes, notably, the implementation of philosophical discussions from literature. This philosophy of secular moral education is not specific to France, as in Belgium and in Luxemburg, new courses of civics instruction, or of “Philosophy and citizenship” prescribe, also, philosophical workshops. The aim of these practices is to rely on the child’s word (and not the teacher’s) to learn to think for oneself and to think together. They aim, also, to develop the abilities necessary to the exercise of citizenship: analysing, criticizing, arguing, problematizing, decentring oneself, grasping public good, listening, confronting one’s point of view, debating, synthesizing (Tozzi, 2012; Loeffel, 2009). The moral and civics education curriculum, in France, also prescribes clearly the implementation of discussions from literary medium: “- Activities of philosophical discussions around situations that bring into play personal and collective values, choices, or imaginary situations. -Thoughts about general interest and personal interest from stories that set in scene heroes from literature, history or mythology” (Eduscol, en ligne) This article aims to analyse the universal power of reflection that is contained by these myths. We will draw on an action research that was lead in nine primary school classes in France, Monaco and Benin. This action research was initiated in 2014 and developed in the context of the UNESCO/University of Nantes Chair dedicated to “Philosophical practices with children: an educational basis for intercultural dialog and social transformation”. We will show how the myth of Gyges, presented by Plato, enables very young children to think all the complexity of our relation to the law and to moral judgment. The discovery of these questions through literature allows us to avoid moralism – fiction being, following Paul Ricoeur’s words, a “wide laboratory” where humans can experience the limits of good and evil” (1990: 4). This article builds, thus, a link between theoretical reflections and the hermeneutic function of stories and concrete experiences in classrooms. We will bring to light, specifically, the philosophemes that are recurrent in the 9 classes. The philosophy workshops enable us to bring alive the secular ideal of fraternity: beyond our particular differences (cultural, economic, social), we are united by the bond of Reason: we ask ourselves the same questions, we invent the same stories to guide us in our search for meaning, we develop the same ideas to give us direction in the world.
Fichier non déposé

Dates et versions

hal-03188259 , version 1 (01-04-2021)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-03188259 , version 1

Citer

Edwige Chirouter. Plato goes to school. ICPIC Biennal international Conference. Philosophy with chilren and the citizen-agent, Jul 2019, BOGOTA, Colombia. ⟨hal-03188259⟩
26 Consultations
0 Téléchargements

Partager

Gmail Facebook X LinkedIn More