Posts
We must first learn to be.
I’ve very recently
learned with great satisfaction that all
parliamentary groups have, at last, submitted a request to the Spanish
Government in order for Philosophy to be given again the status it deserves
within the educational curriculum.
More than a century ago Francisco
Giner de los Rios brilliantly defined “education” as the ability to “master
one’s own life”, as the ability to behave according to one’s own personal
reflections rather than according to the dictates of somebody else. The
capacity of thinking and creating. If people are “educated” to this end, the world will enter a new era. Individuals
will be trained to be and to revolt. If
we continue to favour “competitiveness and gregarisation”, current imbalances,
sympathies and phobias, mass emotions, blind obstinacy and fanaticism will
become even greater, because individuals will be trained to have and to be submissive.
This splendid definition makes me think of
Julian Marias who, in his work entitled “Reflection
on a book of my own”, and 24 years after having completed it, explained the
personal reasons that led him to go more deeply into philosophy, and for that
purpose he quoted some verses by Goethe that Ortega y Gasset liked to repeat
very often: “I must confess that I am of the lineage of those/ who seek to move
from darkness to light”. In the epilogue of this book, Ortega y Gasset argued
that the everlasting aim of philosophy should be to “find out”. There is indeed
no better way to define the essence of philosophy than with the permanent
desire to find out -which according
to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language means the following: “Searching
for truth until we find it”.
In Article 1 of UNESCO’s Constitution
the aim of the educational process is defined with great accuracy as follows:
helping to train “free and responsible” individuals. Free individuals because,
once released from all bonds and burdens, they will be able to move in the
endless space of spirit. They will be free and, therefore, able to take action
based on their own reflections, without any dogmatic bond. And they will be responsible
because they shall not only take into account their own rights but also their
duties towards “others”, whether they are close or distant people, peers or
members of future generations...
Education goes beyond training,
beyond the acquisition of professional skills; it goes beyond knowledge and
information (especially beyond news released by the media, because news is by its
own nature focused on unusual, uncommon, extraordinary facts).
Therefore, philosophy and arts are
essential parts of this “core” education, beyond the mere transfer of techniques
and methods that should always be taught “in addition to” and not “instead
of”. José Saramago already warned us when he wrote: “Will we end having
100 technology and 0 thought?”
I remember that Juan Rof used to say
-I heard him speak many times in the Human Sciences Institute- that “individual
autonomy” is a prerequisite if you want to be “fully and unconditionally free”,
without any constraint that may hinder our human endeavour, by virtue of the
magistral formula of reflection and introspection... Individual autonomy can be
obtained thanks to Philosophy which, according to the Royal Academy of the
Spanish Language, “is the body of knowledge that
seeks to establish -in a rational way- the general principles governing both
our knowledge of reality and the meaning of human behaviour”.
There is no doubt: the transition
from mere subjects to full citizens requires more Philosophy and more arts.
Philosophy is a must if we want to be “free and responsible”, to fully exercise
the unique capacities of human beings: thinking, imagining, foreseeing,
innovating, creating! As recently stated by UNESCO Director-General, Audrey
Azoulay, Philosophy is the only discipline that will allow us “to transform
human societies”, to implement all the radical changes that the current
worldwide situation urgently needs. Today it is essential and most urgent to
promote Philosophy in all levels of education. “Philosophy creates the
intellectual conditions required by change, sustainable development and peace”,
as highlighted by the Director-General who called upon all Member States “to
take up this message, which resounds in the heart of UNESCO’s mandate”.
The unique capacity of human beings is creativity, the biological
excess represented by the capacity to invent, to create. To enable freedom of
action -which is the supreme gift of humanity- it is essential to awaken and
develop in children this enormous potential which is exclusively found in human
beings.
Apart from the freedom of expression, we need to have the capacity to
express ourselves, to find the right words to accurately convey our own
reflections. Words only exist if they are pronounced. This is an essential task of any education
which seeks to liberate human beings:
teach us how to think and how to
duly express ourselves. This is a corner stone, an unparalleled lesson that
will be useful during our whole life.
Finally, a consensus concerning the unquestionable
prominence of Philosophy has been reached. This can be an excellent point of
departure to further improve the educational process as a whole -which needs
today to get much better.
