PHILOSOPHIZE WITH BOYS AND GIRLS IN LATIN AMERICA: ONE EXAMPLE, A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, KNOWLEDGE AND MEANINGS

Abstract

Walter Kohan has traced a brief history of the philosophical work with boys and girls in Latin America. Author proceeds from the ideas of Matthew Lipman and Ann M. Sharp and represents the main principle, which is used by Simon Rodriguez, the researcher of education in Latin America: invent or be wrong. Th e article reveals the possible parameters of the alternatives that would make sense of the school philosophy. Ideas of philosophy, childhood and education are considered in the context of political values related to the search of Latin America’s place in the world of the globalization era. Th e author cites the experience of Laura, a professor of the National University of La Plata who brought the practice of philosophy with young boys and girls in school at the University. Th is example illustrates the ideas expressed in the article: what seems to be a disappointment by chance becomes a godsend, opportunities to rethink their own tasks and conditions of philosophical work with girls and boys. Finally, the author presents a practice that helps to make sense of this experience. Th e idea is to consolidate and explore the meaning of the invention for education, for the teachers of philosophy, one of the main tasks of which is to fi nd its place in the educational institutions.

Keywords:

invention, Simon Rodriguez, philosophy of girls and boys