THE TEACHING OF PHILOSOPHY AS A PRACTICE FOR PROMOTING SELF-AWARENESS
Abstract
Philosophy education can go beyond the transmission of historical and conceptual content by fostering critical reflection on the self, others, and the world. This article aims to analyze how Philosophy education can constitute a practice for promoting self-knowledge in educational contexts. It is a theoretical-analytical essay of a qualitative nature, developed through the critical articulation of philosophical and educational contributions related to self-knowledge and Philosophy education. Self-knowledge is understood as a reflective, temporal, relational, and existential process involving the interpretation of one’s experiences, choices, and relationships. It is argued that Philosophy education can foster this process when philosophical concepts, problems, and practices function as mediations for the critical examination of beliefs, experiences, and relationships with others. Practices such as dialogue, autobiographical writing, analysis of experiences, and confrontation of perspectives may contribute to this purpose when articulated with problematization, argumentation, and conceptual elaboration. It is concluded that Philosophy’s potential to promote self-knowledge depends on the pedagogical conditions under which philosophical experience is developed and should not be understood as an automatic effect of its presence in the curriculum.