Naslov
Philosophy, philosophy instruction and philosophizing with Children in Croatia Joint Report to UNESCO

Autori
Zovko, Marie-Elise ; Ćurko, Bruno

Izvornik
UNESCO

Vrsta, podvrsta
Ostale vrste radova, izvještaj

Godina
2010

Ključne riječi
philosophy; philosophy teaching; philosophizing with children; humanities; dialogue; reflection; human rights; tolerance; diversity; Croatia; EU policy; Bologna Process; cultural heritage; philology; philanthropy; crisis of judgment; freedom of research

Sažetak
The importance of the study of philosophy, culture and humanity in their contemporary context has received insufficient attention in EU policy on Education and Training. Yet promotion of tolerance, cultural diversity, human rights' education, education for civil governance and sustainabilty, depend on permanent cultivation of our cultural heritage, the special task and calling of the humanities. The humanities are not sciences in the sense of natural and social sciences. Yet their study is equally indispensable to the achievement of our full humanity, to the promotion of human rights and social cohesion, the preservation of the natural environment, promotion of a just world order and to world peace.The global economic, political and environmental crises are above all expression of a crisis of judgment, something our educational systems have neglected to consider. In the demand for innovative thinking, the manner in which the creative imagination may best be encouraged to unfold – through cultivation of the complex phenomena of the arts, religion, culture and their study, interpretation and preservation by the humanities, has been pushed aside to make room for ever greater quantities of information – without regard for the need for an understanding and nurturing of criteria and the capacity to judge, compare and contrast, weigh and select, appreciate and affirm. The capacity for empathy and for individual and social communication which form the basis of our humanity and our human sociability are cultivated properly by the the humanities. Harmonisation of individual freedom and respect for the freedom of others, requires cultivation of moral feeling and education of reflective judgment. Such formation cannot be advanced by general rules or quantitative measures. Neither is the content to which reflective judgment refers to be found among the quantifiable empirical data of the natural and social sciences, nor can the rightness or soundness of judgment be assured by legal regulation. In the field of philosophy itself the neglect of "philology"is particularly acute. The conventional division of philosophy into "analytical" and "continental", their haphazard association with the division between "contemporary" philosophy and "history" of philosophy is accepted uncritically not only at faculties in Croatia, a stance which violates and undermines the principle of academic freedom and the integrity of research and of the researcher. "progress", whether with regard to technological advances, or to new knowledge gained by research in the natural and social sciences, has not rendered study of pre-modern works of philosophy superfluous or obsolete. The quality and content of reflection on philosophical problems related to the subject matter of the natural and social sciences from classic works from the history of philosophy remains in many cases unsurpassed and even unparalleled by more recent research in the field of philosophy in their ability to illuminate the results of that research and relate them to moral considerations and to the higher aims of our humanity. Philosophizing with children comes as a timely development in the field of philosophical research.With regard to need to reexamine the division of philosophy and the neglect or even repudiation of philosophy's cultural heritage among philosophers, as well as with regard to the preservation and promotion of the principle of freedom of research, philosophizing with children . Philosophizing with children, young people, students and members of the wider community comes as a timely development and has exercised a liberating influence on the field of philosophical research. The involvement of wider portions of the general population in philosophical reflection on issues as varied as virtue, goodness, beauty, happiness, identity, individuality, community, friendship, justice, knowledge, being, reality, permanence and change, space and time, finitude and death, eternity and God, has fostered renewed interest in the cultural heritage of philosophy as well as in new approaches to philosophical reflection and to philosophical dialogue, also through study and appreciation of works of music, literature, dance, visual and dramatic arts. In Croatia, two projects on philosophizing with children have emerged: Petit philosophy or Mala filozofija, Zadar, directed by Bruno Ćurko, and Project Stohrenschule, directed by Marie-Élise Zovko.Project Stohrenschule, directed by Marie-Élise Zovko of the Institute of Philosophy, Zagreb and Renate Kroschel, of Stohrenschule, Münstertal and Margarete-Ruckmich-Akademie, Freiburg. Project Stohrenschule is a program of philosophical activities and workshops for children and adults concerning topics like beauty, virtue, goodness, and the good life, happiness, friendship and justice, identity, individuality and community, knowledge, emotions, and reality, freedom and necessity, nature, culture, and art, permanence and change, space and time, life, finitude and death, God. The project forms an integral part of the research project: Platonism and Forms of Intelligence, directed by M.-É. Zovko. Members of the research project apply philosophical research on human values, existential questions, and epistemological and metaphysical problems as a basis for initiatives devoted to education for creative and critical thinking, participatory democracy, civil governance, cultural diversity, tolerance, peaceful conflict resolution, human rights and sustainability.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Filozofija

Napomena
On the basis of this report Prof. M.E.Zovko received a personal invitation to participate in the High-Level Regional Meeting on Teaching Philosophy in Europe and North America held in Milan, February 14-16, 2011 ; Prof. M.E. Zovko represented the Ministry of Science, Education and Sport of the Republic of Croatia at the Meeting.

POVEZANOST RADA