The importance of the philosophy of education 

REVIEW ARTICLE

PEREIRA, Lucélia de Oliveira ^[1], SILVA, Cinthia Angélica da ^[2], PETZOLD, Poliane da Silva ^[3], RAVACHE, Rosana Lia ^[4]

PEREIRA, Lucélia de Oliveira. The importance of the philosophy of education. Revista Científica Multidisciplinar Núcleo do Conhecimento. Year 05, Ed. 01, Vol. 10, pp. 05-12. January 2020. ISSN: 2448-0959, Access link: https://www.nucleodoconhecimento.com.br/education/philosophy-of-education 

ABSTRACT

This article aims to analyze the importance of the philosophy of education, based on instructive foundations, which bring with them enveloping subjects, with intrinsic relations between them. In this bias, we will contextualize issues currently highlighted, referring to divergences based on the lack of an in-depth philosophical analysis on the educational system. The theme has a mutual relationship with the socially inserted historical and temporal context, as it involves countless discussions, if the current performance of Brazilian education is considered. The educational system often acts in a way that benefits the ruling class, operating as a way of alienating its “material”, not establishing itself in a homogeneous way in all social parameters of the country, because the lack of curricular and material basis ends up making it difficult. learning of those “less favored”. Thus, as an agent and product of society, since those who will form it will compose the structure of the society in which they live; the exposed, therefore, involves different issues, which discuss the relevance of the philosophy of education as a way to minimize the disparities that reverberate in the social environment.

Keywords: Philosophy, education, educational system.

INTRODUCTION

The Brazilian educational system has lived with divergences related to the resulting product in the political, social and economic spheres, resulting from the absence of philosophical analysis and correction of current failures, from an ethical perspective. The changes of the contemporary world in the political, social or economic spheres, have provoked an analysis of their function in social media and, in parallel, they have requested a new model of worker, capable of adapting to the constant changes of the capitalist market, thinking and instructing them. constantly. The school must take as a base new questions and exams regarding “unique scientific knowledge”, aiming at the formation of prepared citizens, both in private and public education, emphasizing the importance of public education that is ensured by the Constitution 1988.

This research aims to generate new and useful knowledge for science, in addition to intending to expand what we know about the importance of the philosophy of education. For this study, a definitive explanatory research was carried out, as a means to identify factors that determine or contribute to the occurrence of certain phenomena and thus obtain greater knowledge on a subject to be explained.

According to Gil (1999), the researcher must use scientific processes to solve problems. For him, research is the formal and systematic process of developing the scientific method, with which the concept that research means, in a very simple way, to seek answers to proposed questions. The fundamental objective of the research is to discover answers to problems through the use of scientific and philosophical procedures. Currently, philosophy is understood as a search for explanations and solutions, through the review and reassessment of results, it intends to get closer and closer to the truth, through methods that will provide control to successfully reach the results obtained (CERVO & BERVIAN , 1983).

The technique to be used in the research will be the semi-structured interview, which, according to GIL (1994, p. 113), “… is one of the most used data collection techniques (…) by researchers who [deal with problems human resources], (…) not only for data collection, but also with objectives aimed at diagnosis and guidance… ”. It was considered semi-structured because it contained open questions that still enabled other questions based on the answers obtained.

It will also be demonstrated that philosophy is extremely important in the teaching-learning process, as it develops criteria that go beyond the ability to think and act and how it is inserted in the context of society.

1. PRELIMINARY NOTIONS

Philosophy is a science that is constituted in the study of primordial problems referring to human existence, dealing with the cause, effects and properties of beings. Etymologically, the word philosophy comes from the unity of two Greek sentences: philos (love) and sophia (wisdom). In this bias, philosophy is translated as the love of knowledge. Furthermore, in addition to being a discipline, philosophy is inherent to man, not only as wisdom, but also as a natural sentence of being.

As in science or law, there is a discipline that deals with analyzes related to intrinsic issues of education called philosophy of education. In the sphere of rational philosophy, the scope of education is exposed as a discipline whose purpose is to clarify pedagogical theories and educational knowledge. In this context, the field addressed by the philosophy of education is formed by the knowledge and instruments essential to the clarification designated by the characteristics of that knowledge.

Briefly, the philosophy of education has as its primary objective to clarify educational knowledge, prioritizing pedagogical theories, through dialectical, logical and rhetorical analyzes. These, in the case of logic, are based on tools constituted to carry out verifications of statements that relate to the truth. These argumentative elements must be examined in order to obtain the understanding and the development of theories related to the educational field.

For a long time, philosophical reflections related to education were restricted to the training of young people and children. In recent decades, education on adult education has been analyzed, thus creating the term permanent education.

1.1 EDUCATION AS A TRANSFORMING AGENT AND PRODUCT OF CHANGE IN SOCIETY

Education establishes itself as a strong agent that proposes changes in society, and the mutual relationship that exists between them is noticeable. Faced with the transformations arising from the contemporary world, where the worker is required to have a new profile for work, man must have versatile and flexible skills, in addition to being able to think and learn constantly, in order to follow the dynamics of the market. In this way, education starts to have a primordial role in the improvement of knowledge and qualities, so that man can exercise his social part in a conscious and critical way. Thus, education must be articulated with the objective of forming citizens aware of their social rights and duties, as well as prepared to carry out their work in an ethical and committed manner.

Education, when analyzed in a historical context, is characterized differently in all places and time, being intrinsically linked to the human and social conception that emerges from the educational process. From these statements, it is concluded that education is, due to its objectives, origins and functions, a social process that is related to the economic, political and scientific bias of each society.

As Dermeval Saviani states:

The study of the historical roots of contemporary education shows us the close relationship between it and man’s awareness of himself, an awareness that changes from time to time, from place to place, according to an ideal model of man and society. (SAVIANI, 1991, p.55)

The educational process, therefore, should not be analyzed and understood in such a way as to fragment from the conception imposed for any place and time, since it must be understood as a social practice with historical relations. It is, therefore, a social phenomenon that adapts to each type of conception, cultural, that is, it is the current educational process that determines the objectives to be achieved according to the ideologies that dominate a given society.

Education develops from a paradigm, whose intention is to reproduce the political, economic and social aspects of a given society. In this perspective, taking as a basis the evolutionary progress of the capitalist system in different times, it is evident that the educational phenomenon has been used in order to ideologically structure the system, structuring the entire environment in order to provide productive elements and resources for capital development.

According to Capra:

The paradigm that is now receding has dominated our culture for several hundred years, during which it has shaped our modern Western society and significantly influenced the rest of the world. This paradigm consists of several entrenched ideas and values, among which the view of the universe as a mechanical system composed of elementary building blocks, the view of the human body as a machine, the view of life in society as a competitive struggle for existence, and the belief in unlimited material progress, to be obtained through economic and technological growth. (CAPRA, 1996, p.25).

Thus, philosophy is part of the context of the human capacity to think and generate a critical character that aims at building a constructive society and that seeks freedom of expression, building thinking beings from a problem that analyzes factors, without even a type of problem. prejudice, as a factor rooted in our society.

In some cases, the real capitalist functionalities were perceived, as well as how education would have been used for its progress, in different cases that promoted reactions on the part of individuals. Social instability predicts a modern knowledge, structured through a new scientific opinion that exposes a more diversified rationality.

Education is an agent that has a great impact on society; it is a consensual opinion that it promotes significant changes. With this, it is possible to affirm, that education must free itself from paradigms imposed by current social groups that act with the sole intention of strengthening and expanding their capital, even if for this purpose they use alienating educational tools to take individuals and make them dependents.

Similarly, education and society are interdependent in terms of progress; one will advance only as the other advances. Proponents of the educational revolution say that with greater access to knowledge and the availability of resources for this, the population would have more elements to make better decisions and critically recognize the reality that surrounds us.

1.2 THE IMPORTANCE OF A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF THE ETHICAL ROLE OF EDUCATION IN SOCIETY

In the contemporary world, it has become commonplace to talk about ethics. Associated with the branch of philosophy that investigates the moral values ​​that instruct human behavior in society. When the subject is mentioned, the questions related to living with the other are different, but a human being like everyone else. Ethics does not only deal with interest individually; collective, read in a way, focusing on how to treat a group’s predilections.

In the educational field, when it comes to ethics, teachers are soon expected to act in relation to their teachers. Ethics establishes general values, acting on the principles that guide action and design rules for the common good.

According to Morin

As Durkheim said magnificently, the objective of education is not to transmit ever more numerous knowledge to the student, but “to create in him an inner and profound state, a kind of polarity of spirit that guides in a definite sense, not during childhood, but all over the place. (MORIN, 2004.p.47).

Thus, education revolves around students. Although the school is not the only agent responsible for the moral and ethical education of citizens, it has a large part of the responsibility. Given the scenario of political, social and economic instability that Brazil faces today, it is common to encounter “cliché” moralistic discourses, suggesting what should be the behavior adopted by politicians, attributing to them several ethical behavioral rules. On the other hand, there is a lack of reflections that address the historical roots of these problems, and help in the possible solutions or that, at least, minimize these “deviations”, present in the foundations of the political culture of Brazil.

The philosophical analysis of the educational scope, plays an important role in the foundation of ethical conduct. In this context, it is essential to realize that “weaknesses” in moral attitudes are not limited to the actions of those who hold public office. It is common to come across permissive values ​​that attributed to the definition of “Brazilian way”, which covers unethical attitudes transforming them into virtues, related when in reality, they are to behaviors that contradict social rules, in order to establish privileges for some. The fact that these behaviors come to be considered as the skills of smart and intelligent people, reveals the fragility of Brazilian education, which has formed individuals unable to think of others as an equal. From this perspective, a large part of the ethical divergences in the scope of government policy, may have solutions in what constitutes the political and cultural basis of society: education.

This phenomenon of social instability that we witness today, reverberates through violence, hatred, prejudice and corruption, a warning that an in-depth philosophical analysis of the ethical role of education in society is urgently needed.

1.3 THE NEED FOR A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS OF EDUCATION FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A WIDE EDUCATIONAL PROJECT

To the detriment of the current challenges and changes in society, training is seen as necessary by citizens capable of understanding the environment in which they live, so that they recognize critically, divergences. However, Brazilian education has several weaknesses related to inclusive education, in which, quantitatively minority groups have privileges over the others in a homogeneous and wide way, preventing education from being established.

A foundation that portrays the degrading condition of Brazilian education well is the situation of public education at the national level. Brazil currently has about 20 million illiterates. At the same time, students who attend public institutions often have learning disabilities caused by the degrading curricular and structural condition of public education.

It is read, therefore, that it is paradoxical that a Democratic State, whose Constitution, clearly proposes the obligation of quality educational education, procrastinates, to a certain extent, a constitutionally provided right. Thus, it is extremely important that the philosophy of education rethink the inclusive spheres of this layer of society.

FINAL CONSIDERATIONS

It is concluded, therefore, that the philosophy of education is an extremely important discipline nowadays and its application is undoubtedly effective as a tool to deal with human issues, as well as its effects and causes.

We found that issues related to education cannot be articulated without the presence of philosophy. Since the beginnings of the formation of the social unit, both have been discussed and experienced as coherent subjects and included in the teaching perspective, with several ideas guided by the first philosophers and perpetuated in order to develop the student’s critical sense and make him able to exercise the argumentative sense and develop self-knowledge and reflection. It is necessary to understand philosophers and their propositions, so that a new understanding of reality is approached. This understanding of the real is paramount for the environment, because in society there is an assiduous search for those capable of making a difference. Thus, we can conceptualize the philosophy of education as being a set of ideas that defines what education is like and how important it is not only in the school context, but also for social life, making us capable of developing knowledge, thinking and knowledge skills. attitudes towards the facts that surround us and remain rooted in society. Therefore, philosophy seeks to form more critical citizens who know how to analyze the facts with the capacity to understand reality and who play their roles as agents of society, proposing solutions to the challenges found in a globalized and information-saturated world.

REFERENCES

BRASIL. Constituição (1988). Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil. Brasília, DF, Senado, 1998.

FERREIRA, Naura Syria Carapeto; AGUIAR, Márcia Ângela da Silva. (Orgs).  Gestão da Educação: Impasses, perspectivas e compromissos. 2 ed. São Paulo: Cortez, 2001

SAVIANI, D. Educação: do senso comum à consciência filosófica. 10 ed. São Paulo: Cortez: Autores Associados, 1991.

FRIGOTTO, G. Educação e a crise do capitalismo real. 3 ed. São Paulo: Cortez,1999.

SANTOS, Joelma Coelho; TEIXEIRA, Ranessa Lira; SOUZA, Nory Lana. Filosofia, Ética e Sociedade. Disponível em: < https://www.sabedoriapolitica.com.br/products/filosofia-etica-e-sociedade/>. Acesso em 09 jun. 2018.

NOVAKOSKI, Hermes José. A IMPORTÂNCIA DA FILOSOFIA NA EDUCAÇÃO. Disponível em: < https://www.recantodasletras.com.br/artigos-de-educacao/2434695>. Acesso em 09 jun. 2018.

SANTOS, Joelma Coelho; TEIXEIRA, Ranessa Lira; SOUZA, Nory Lana. Filosofia, Ética e Sociedade. Disponível em: < https://www.sabedoriapolitica.com.br/products/filosofia-etica-e-sociedade/>. Acesso em 09 jun. 2018.

WITTMANN, Lauro Carlos; KLIPLEL, Sandra Regina. A prática da gestão democrática no ambiente escolar. Curitiba: IBPEX, 2010. (Série Processos Educacionais).

^[1] Master’s Student of the Education Sciences Course at the Higher Education Institution UNIGRAM / Instituto Vanguarda Master’s Degree, postgraduate in Biological Sciences and Environment from the Matogrossense Institute of postgraduate studies – IMP and Graduate in Biological Sciences from the University of Mato Grosso-Unic .

^[2] Master’s Student of the Education Sciences Course at the Higher Education Institution UNIGRAM / Instituto Vanguarda Master’s Degree, postgraduate in Matogrossense Literature from the State University of Mato Grosso – Unemat and Graduate in Letters and postgraduate in Matogrossense Literature from the State University of Mato Grosso – Unemat.

^[3] Master’s student of the Education Sciences Course at the Higher Education Institution UNIGRAM / Instituto Vanguarda Master’s Degree, postgraduate in Environmental Education from Instituto Cotemar and Graduate in Biological Sciences from the University of Mato Grosso-Unic.

^[4] PhD in Human Geography, Master in Human Geography in the area of concentration Environment and Regional Development, specialist in the Third Sector and Public Policies at Universidade Cândido Mendes, Graduated in Social Communication with emphasis in Public Relations, at the Center for Higher Studies and Research, Rio de Janeiro January provided by the Ministry of Labor, Technician in Social Work graduated from the Professional School of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Submitted: December, 2019.

Approved: January, 2020.