Teaching Philosophy in times of barbarism

Abstract

We live in times of barbarity. This mark on contemporary times presents itself as a fundamental object of attention for the teaching of philosophy in high school, which is the focus of this article. To achieve this objective, this article considered the contribution of the philosopher Marildo Menegat, who views barbarity in capitalist society as excessive civilization, a consequence of an advance of productive forces with a tendency to become forces of destruction. According to Menegat, everything we understand as civilization has never existed without its opposite: barbarism. It also considers the reflections of Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez, for whom philosophy helps us to critically examine the assumptions and beliefs that conceal or disguise the situation of the human being in the world, especially in the face of the threat to the species posed by technological development or by the subordination of this technology to the interests of Capital. This work confirms the intensification of the exploitation of the working class as an expression of barbarism, which, through the accumulation of contradictions and an organized confrontation with Capital, engenders a revolutionary solution. The accumulation of contradictions, however, also engenders incessant transformations (revolution of production), typical of bourgeois society, which present themselves as partial solutions to some of the modern problems in the form of the old new that will supposedly overcome backwardness. This bet presents itself, once again, as an ideological element. Through historical-dialectical materialism, this scenario was analyzed from the perspectives of the philosophers cited with a view to the critical interpretation of the contemporary world, in order to reflect on the role of philosophy teaching in fostering critical thinking within the school environment.