A narrative approach to the teaching of philosophy at the introductory level offers to traditional aged college students, eighteen to twenty one years old, an accessible entrée to philosophical ideas. For many students in the introductory course, this single philosophy course will be their only exposure to philosophy. Through specific reference to three Platonic dialogs and Descartes Meditations it is argued that the presentation of philosophical discipline by way of personal narrative allows an approach that is true to the spirit of the ideas as well as attractive to students at this stage of life. Reference to the settings of these philosophical works and a detailed analysis of the horse trainer analogies in the Platonic dialogs demonstrates the usefulness of this approach. It is further argued that any complete philosophical system will be similarly approachable in this way.

The frame of reference of this paper is, university teaching in prisons and the question of this paper is what teaching philosophy there really means. In my experience, it consists of transmitting philosophy as an exercise of thought between the participants of which –teacher and student- occurs an experience of freedom. It is about the paradoxical encounter between these two subjects, who are polarized by unavoidable tensions: political, epistemological, esthetic, existential. If this paradoxical dimension of philosophy is not perceived and we take for granted that it can and must be taught, we run the risk of abandoning it. Added to these tensions, there are others which are inherent to contexts of imprisonment, where the public University has been building an inclusive space- concrete end symbolic-within the marginalization of prison confinement. The students “deprived of their freedom” are the ones who declare they feel free when they approach philosophy, while inhabiting prison environment. This paradox confirms the above mentioned: tension is a condition for the possibility of philosophy, because, far from limiting it, it is its own life. The transmission of philosophy always needs an emancipating teacher; but if they teach in prisons, they should be free both from intellectual and moral superiority feelings or attitudes. This requirement – maybe the most difficult- is sine qua non, if we want philosophy to have an emancipating effect within prison confinement.

We are currently developing a short, online ethics course that attempts to teach students why (otherwise) well-intentioned people act unethically and what students can do to decrease the likelihood that they will find themselves in the middle of an ethical crisis in the future. Most of the well-known case studies in professional ethics textbooks concern ethical failures that do not involve difficult ethical choices. When our students read these case studies (e.g., Enron and Challenger), it is not difficult for them to determine what went wrong or what the players in the cases ought to have done. And students don’t need to read Kant or Mill to make these determinations. Importantly, the agents who acted wrongly usually seem to be ethical people. Rarely do cases involve moral monsters. In a similar vein, most cases of research misconduct (fabrication, falsification and plagiarism) are cut-and-dry, and most of our students who plagiarize did not enroll in the course intending to plagiarize. Rather, something went wrong. Professional ethics classes neglect to address an important practical question: Why do (otherwise) well-intentioned people find themselves in the middle of ethical crises and how can our students decrease the likelihood that they will find themselves in an ethical crisis in the future? We are developing a course that answers this question. Our course is built around the findings of John Dorris and other situationists. After teaching our students about situationism, we teach them a two-level theory of cognition that may help them avoid acting unethically.

This paper describes and discusses the philosophical underpinnings of teaching business philosophy. Management textbooks and curricula are dominated by a “managerialistic” logic or ideology according to which rational planning, prediction and control is the basis of managerial power and legitimacy. Critics have made clear that this conception of rationality is reductionist. But the critique often dismisses rationality altogether as the failed project of the Enlightenment. My paper will argue that rationality should be seriously engaged with in management education, but that such a serious engagement will illuminate business rationality as a multi-faceted concept. Thus, teachers of Business Philosophy should not be in the “trade” of promoting managerialism, neither in the “trade” of diminishing it. Rather, illuminating business rationality as a multi-faceted concept, allows us to teach Business Philosophy in a theoretical fruitful and ethically engaged manner that challenges us to see rationality as a form of activity or labor.

Inasmuch as the mind of modern man is affected by a lot of factors which in their own turn are connected with new tendencies of the world development, the system of factors could be used to impersonate some constructs of modern way of thinking of growing generation. The transitions to new ideals of man is contemporaneous with the formation of new paradigms of thinking, so the development of contemporary life, respectively, is followed by man’s changing identity. It seems that education of multi-dimensional man is one of the most important perspectives for the 21st century. On the other hand, the changing process of cultural education and globalization as well as iincreasing climate changes and the intense development of digital technologies cause new challenges for teaching content. The creatively oriented curriculum appears to meet the needs of 21st century learners, offering opportunities for education of multi-dimensional man. The author is convinced that the education of understanding a multi-dimensional man should be able to foster good traditions of cultural continuity, cultural dialogue with the past, cultural awareness as well as be able to increase the senses of responsibility, respect and other associated features.

John Stuart Mill argued that we should treat every person’s happiness as of equal importance, being strictly impartial. My students react negatively to this, understandable insisting that they rightly love their own family and friends more than others. It is one reason they resist Mill’s utilitarianism. In this paper I explore how to teach the idea of loving your neighbor as yourself as a continually transcending ideal, citing sacred texts from world religions as well as Mill and Kant.

Beginning with Plato’s cave and Aristotle’s tower thought experiments represent a very old and often intriguing genre of philosophical writing. On the other side, neurophysiologic research on brain learning theories shows clearly that learning processes are more intense and more sustainable, if they engage the individual in autonomous activities. In this contribution the author who was member of a commission to plan, introduce and organize a school subject called “Practical Philosophy” in all types of secondary schools in NRW (Germany), suggests thought experiments as a method of stimulating critical and autonomous philosophical thinking. This is not only meant as a preparation of earnest philosophical studies, but can help to develop an attitude in order to enrich philosophical cultures of thinking and arguing as well.

Starting from Kant’s well-known dictum which has become a topos in the professional didactic of teaching philosophy the author presents on the one hand the underlying approach to philosophy which is not limited to one particular philosophical school or to school in general, but, inspired by everyday life, focuses on the conditio humana. On the other hand, she delineates the underlying concept of teaching and learning as having dialogue character, as a process guided by reason and argument, which is related both to the topic under discussion and to the persons involved. This approach is developed in Socratic-centered professional didactics which derive their inspiration from the conversation tradition of L. Nelson and G. Heckmann. The paradigm of this form of dialogue is developed in the constitutive elements of the market place in its fourfold universality, building upon the experience of the subject, the anti-dogmatic character in content and method, the self-assurance of reason as the court of appeal and above all maieutics, which dispenses with competitive behavior in discussion and establishes a sympathetic and tolerant culture of debate; the manner of substantiation by means of the “Regressive Method of Abstraction” is in every way as specific as consensus about the truth of a sentence formulated by the group – the ideal ever to be pursued. These constitutive elements are analysed individually with a view to making use of the Socratic dialogue approach in schools, the aim being to underline the opportunities they offer young people to learn what fruitful and unambiguous philosophizing means.

This article argues that a social constructivist approach to teaching critical reasoning is reductionist because it sees knowledge construction predominantly as a rational process of critical reflection. Research in adult education and theories of learning indicates that social constructivism fails educational practices. These studies suggest that this is the result of focusing too narrowly on cognitive knowledge. However, I argue that, while the impact of socio-cultural realities and political power structures on epistemological paradigms and educational practices cannot be ignored, social constructivism falls short of taking into account embodied everyday experiences that form the vital context within which sense-making takes place. The article challenges social constructivism in maintaining that teaching and learning critical reasoning is a fully embodied process, inseparable from the experiential life-world of the learner that co-emerges with the complex structures of the environment. Following an enactivist approach, I propose a revisiting of the current social constructivist teaching paradigm so as to reconsider the question of how we learn things and to understand the process whereby meanings are created not only rationally, but also across multidimensional contexts and complex situations in which learners operate and of which they form an integral part.

The PRINCONSER (Being Conservation Principle its acronym in Spanish = Principio de Conservación del Ser) method has been developed based on the need for conservation of human beings and human society as a whole. It is a philosophical method that seeks to integrate both philosophy and science. Both philosophy and science are human knowledge. The PRINCONSER method has ontological, epistemological, axiological and philosophical anthropology foundations. Applications of this method are related to its foundations: The ontological foundation has application in philosophy. The epistemological foundation has application in science. The axiological foundation has application in education and culture of behaviour. And philosophical anthropology has application in human sciences. Today humanity follows the way of self-destruction. The first problem is the breach on the three levels of human organization: individual, society, humanity. These three levels of disintegration are a reflection of human knowledge disintegration. Therefore, to address the global problems of the twenty-first century, we need to integrate human knowledge in a philosophical system. The fundamental instrument for the integration of human knowledge is the philosophical method.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the arguments in favor of philosophical education in the dimension of the political, namely, the significance of teaching philosophy for the sake of modern liberal and democratic state. The main reference points are the ideas of Jurgen Habermas and Martha Nussbaum, as representatives of different philosophical traditions and attentive observers of modern societies, who (indirectly or directly) discussed these issues. Firstly, the concern expressed by Habermas with regard to the processes observed in western societies causing the instrumental rationality to take over the lifeworld is being presented. Secondly, more specific issue, is being discussed - an issue described in the works of Nussbaum, concerning connections between teaching curricula and requirements of citizenship. The last part of the paper presents arguments in favor of a thesis that inclusion of philosophy courses in educational programs is of fundamental significance for preserving crucial values of modern liberal democratic states.

Le professeur Kant affirme que la philosophie ne peut être apprise. Comment comprendre ce paradoxe qui sonne comme un défi à tout enseignement de la philosophie? On croit souvent y répondre au moyen de la distinction entre apprendre la philosophie et apprendre à philosopher mise en oeuvre par Kant lui-même mais doit-elle être comprise comme une opposition disjonctive? Et sur quoi au juste porte la réfutation qu’en donne Hegel? Faut-il l’entendre comme un entier refus de l’affirmation kantienne ou comme une critique de la pédagogie qui s’en réclamerait? A partir de l’examen des textes, on montrera sur quoi Kant et Hegel se distinguent et sur quoi ils s’accordent, et on cherchera à déterminer ce qu’est apprendre en éclairant le rapport qui unit le maître et l’élève dans l’acte d’enseignement.

L’intention qui anime cette recherche est de comprendre la nature et les conditions d’apparition de l’étonnement philosophique vécu par les élèves des cours de philosophie au pré-universitaire. Ce travail vise à approfondir une réflexion sur les fondements de l’enseignement de la philosophie au pré-universitaire. L’intuition accompagnant cette intention avance qu’à l’origine de l’apprentissage du philosopher se trouve l’expérience de l’étonnement.

El tema de la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de la filosofía se plantea a tenor de las siguientes preguntas: ¿es necesaria la enseñanza de la filosofía?, ¿hacen falta herramientas de análisis, crítica y reflexión para la configuración de las sociedades democráticas de hoy? Estudios actuales de la UNESCO dan una idea acerca del estado de la enseñanza de la filosofía en el mundo, al tiempo que permiten analizar las posibilidades educativas de la filosofía como instancia indispensable para la configuración de ciudadanos formados, más allá de la pura información, al servicio de la cual, hoy en día, se encuentran tecnologías como Internet; repositorio ingente de datos. Enseñar filosofía por un lado y aprender a filosofar por otro sitúan a los actores en la perspectiva de lo propiamente humano; el análisis, la crítica y la reflexión frente a las más diversas problemáticas, esto parece haber sido la filosofía en el pasado y esto mismo parece mantenerla viva en el presente en la certeza de que existirá, mientras haya necesidad de individuos que como seres humanos requieran de formación, además de la elemental y simple información.

The understanding and reflection about the theory of the Critique of the Pure Reason generated intellectual tensions in regard to the rigor and precision of the structure of the theory. The effort was in depth and of conceptual precision. The knowledge of the experience or empirical knowledge, is also called, a posteriori knowledge. This concept was deepened in the sense that the experience doesn’t originate all knowledge. The kind of knowledge that is absolutely independent of all experience is called a priori. In regard to judgments another difference was introduced: analytic and synthetic.

Практика преподавания логики позволяет выделить комплекс проблем, связанных с определением ее возможностей и границ в рамках развития науки в целом. Вопрос обоснования логики - это вопрос о природе логического. Какой наукой она является теоретической или эмпирической, имеет ли она собственный базис? Можно ли оценивать законы мышления как абсолютно объективные или необходимо включение субъекта познавательной деятельности в обоснование логических систем? Классическое понимание проблемы правильности и истинности сегодня также является недостаточным. Современная познавательная ситуация требует разработки и преподавания логики не только как теории рассуждений, а прежде всего как основы познавательных сеток, которые позволяют человеку конструировать новые теоретические модели мира. Такое понимание места и роли классической логики в системе современного знания позволяет установить связь между собственными проблемами логики и теми вопросами, которые представляют особый интерес для современной науки.

Με δεδομένη τη δύσκολη κατάσταση του μαθήματος της φιλοσοφίας στη δευτεροβάθμια εκπαίδευση, παρουσιάζεται μια πρόταση διδασκαλίας φιλοσοφικά αποδεκτή και παιδαγωγικά νόμιμη, εφόσον, αφενός, δεν προδίδει την ουσία της φιλοσοφίας ως «δημιουργικής ελευθερίας του φιλοσοφείν» και, αφετέρου, εμπνέεται από τα σύγχρονα δεδομένα της παιδαγωγικής επιστήμης. Διάλογος και πολυφωνία, στο πλαίσιο διερευνητικών και συνεργατικών διαδικασιών μάθησης, με την υιοθέτηση ενός νέου τύπου (πολυ)γραμματισμού (multiliteracy) και τη χρήση των δυνατοτήτων που παρέχει η τεχνολογία, σε συνδυασμό με την ερμηνευτική προσέγγιση φιλοσοφικών κειμένων, μπορούν να υπηρετήσουν αποτελεσματικά τους βασικούς στόχους της φιλοσοφικής στοιχείωσης (προβληματοποίηση, εννοιοποίηση, επιχειρηματολογία), ανανεώνοντας συγχρόνως το ενδιαφέρον των εκπαιδευτικών και καθιστώντας το μάθημα ελκυστικό για τους μαθητές.

Στην παρούσα ανακοίνωση θα επικεντρωθούμε στο θέμα της χρήσης ψηφιακών εργαλείων στη διδακτική πρακτική της φιλοσοφίας στη Δευτεροβάθμια Εκπαίδευση στη θεωρητική θεμελίωσή της. Η φιλοσοφία και η διδασκαλία της με τη χρήση ψηφιακών εργαλείων σε πολλές περιπτώσεις θεωρούνταν ασύμβατες. Ωστόσο, όπως συμβαίνει και σε κάθε άλλο γνωστικό αντικείμενο, η διδασκαλία της φιλοσοφίας μπορεί να συνδυαστεί με τις τεχνολογίες της πληροφορίας και της επικοινωνίας1. Άλλωστε η διδακτική προσέγγιση των μαθημάτων στη σημερινή εκπαιδευτική πραγματικότητα έχει τροποποιηθεί, ακολουθώντας τις εξελίξεις μίας εποχής αδιαμφισβήτητα τεχνολογικής.