Brazil’s Interesting Experiment: Studying Philosophy important for “Exercise of Citizenship”

Last updated on: February 8, 2012 at 4:55 pm by Desh Kapoor

Brazil’s Interesting Experiment: Studying Philosophy important for “Exercise of Citizenship” 2012-02-08T16:55:20-06:00 Desh Kapoor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Plato: Western Philosopher

Brazil has a strange law, where the Brazilian teenagers have to study philosophy because it is necessary for the exercise of citizenship. It is by far one of the most important experiment in preparing an entire society for deliberate and intelligent democratic engagement.

Generally countries these day and populations don’t like the Government mandated curriculum impacts. But sometimes, certain things can help. Philosophy is intangible and something that doesn’t give “monetary value” to a student in his/her career and life. Then, how is the study of Philosophy going to help in the exercise of one’s “citizenship”?

Unfortunately in today’s world, where our attention and our “scholarship” is directly dictated by the continuous stream of fast disappearing (into archives) updates – news and personal – it is important for any society to have people who can deliberate and investigate the foundational concepts of fairness, justice and democracy.

If any society has to safeguard the principles, then its citizens need to understand them.

Interestingly, the dictatorship which ruled Brazil from 1964 to 1985 eliminated philosophy from the curriculum and replaced it with Moral and Civic Education. That is enough to know the significance and the utility of “Morals”.

Between the ideologies of the Dictators, the Theology of the religious and the Reason of the Philosophers – there is always a battle. Two ideologies – of the Dictator/Ideologue and the Religious, have a battle. Both of these independently have a battle with the Philosophers – who would like to announce their independence from both.

How does one make sense? Here is an interesting discussion on one instance of this dichotomy.

I assured the students that until the nineteenth century hardly any philosopher was an atheist. Plato’s Euthyphro—with its argument about the relationship between ethics and the will of the gods—gets us into a lively discussion.

I asked them, “Do moral norms depend on God’s will? Would it be fine to murder an innocent child if God says so?” The students found the idea outrageous.

“But doesn’t God order Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?” I asked. There was a moment of confusion.

“But Abraham also holds God responsible when he wants to destroy Sodom and Gomorra,” one student replied. That can be interpreted as an independent norm of justice, I admitted.

I pressed on. “But if God must submit to objective moral norms, do we still need the Bible for moral guidance?”
Another student doubted that reason can replace the Bible: “Reason even justifies killing an innocent child if that’s the only way to save a thousand lives.”

We assumed for the moment that reason is indeed unable to ground absolute moral norms. “But how can we act on the authority of the Bible if there are so many different interpretations of it?” I asked. A third student intervened: “Can’t each interpretation be right in its own time and place?” I reminded them of Salvador’s Museum of Modern Art, which they visited on a class excursion. It is located in a beautifully restored casa grande—a colonial plantation owner’s mansion—with adjacent slave dormitories—senzala. “You remember the private chapel? Going to mass and having slaves obviously wasn’t a contradiction back then.” Most students have slaves among their ancestors. So they were reluctant to concede that an interpretation of the Bible allowing slavery is valid. “Is, then, reason the arbiter between competing interpretations?” I asked.

Education

Philosophy

Politics

Previous Post

February 8, 2012

How Western Classical Music is being kept alive by Far East

Next Post

February 8, 2012 Indians and Chinese Discriminated against in College Admissions in name of "Promoting Diversity"

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Aarti Achievement and Leadership AfPak Africa Annual and Year-end Asia Audio Australia Behavioural Sciences Bhagwad Gita Bhagwad Gita Blogging Blogs Business Business Intelligence Business Strategy Cannes Careers Chanakya China Conservation Corruption Creative Daily Links Desh Poems Development & Welfare Devotional Audio Devotional Songs Drama Earth Economics Education Entertainment Environment Europe Everyday Quotes Featured Articles Featured Songs Finance Flickr Pictures Food Geo-Political Global Warming Globalization Health & Medicine Hinduism Historic History Humour India Indian Culture Indian music Indian Weddings Israel Issues Legal Link Love Minorities Misc Motivation and Personal Development Movie Lists Movie Reviews Movies Mumbai terror attacks Natural Disasters Nature News Outsourcing Pakistan Parenting Personal Philosophy Poetry Politics Poverty Quotes Recipe Regular Blog Post Relationships Religion Religious/Spiritual Audio Sciences Showcase Slideshow South Asia Special Stories Spiritual Quotes Spirituality Sports Stories Strategy Technology Technology Terrorism Travel Uncategorized US Video Women Women_s Rights Worship Yoga

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 June 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 September 2014 August 2014 January 2014 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What does Paul say in Colossians has been nailed to the cross?

Select your answer to see how you score.

The old covenant Our sins The written code with its regulations Satan's authority