PHILOSOPHISING TOWARDS WISDOM ENTENDIDO COMO ALIMENTACIÓN DEL ÁRBOL DE LA VIDA QUE RESIDE EN NOSOTROS.

In this essay the author poses the hypothesis that the metaphor “to philosophise is to nurture the Tree of life in us” is a better metaphor than “to philosophise is to cease living” when it comes to conceptualizing what people might experience when philosophising the so called “Dialogos Way”. First, the author outlines different usages of the Tree of life metaphor. In line with reflective practice research methodology, she then explores how the metaphor corresponds to the Dialogos approach as a process- and wisdom oriented form of philosophical practice. Further, through original reflection, she narrates six examples from her experience as a philosophical practitioner. From this, six themes are extracted through critical reflection: aha-experience, peak-experience, heart-to-heart synchronization, life-guiding concepts, plateau experience and pluralism. The themes are then reflected upon theoretically and generally. Summing up, the participants seemed to have experienced forms of psychological growth rather than psychological suffering and “death” through participation in Dialogos dialogue series or workshops. The author concludes that even though the long term aim of philosophy might well be to cope with death, and even though philosophising might imply practicing “dying” through letting go of one`s more or less well founded opinions and stances, this might lead to a new “birth” and thus to psychological growth rather than psychological suffering and death, supporting the initial hypothesis.

HACIA UNA NUEVA PEDAGOGÍA EN LA EDUCACIÓN SUPERIOR.

In this essay the authors argue the need for a new pedagogy in Higher Education (HE). Our hypothesis is that the predominant focus today is on instrumental systems meant to measure the “quality” of education, subjecting the HE-teacher to goal management and frameworks that limit didactic possibilities. However, acting wisely and solving challenges across professions in an increasingly unpredictable world, requires attitudes, knowledge, skills and understanding that cannot unambiguously be defined in advance. Using a reflective practice and action inquiry research approach, the authors reflect upon experiences and research involving the Dialogos approach to philosophical practice, new research findings in pedagogy for the unforeseen and data from the completion of a PhD course for employees from four faculties in higher education. We argue that higher education should focus on open-ended and creative approaches to teaching that includes philosophical practices and reflective “samhandling” across disciplines. All higher education study programmes should to some extent train students for unforeseen events in life and society.

FILOSOFÍA PARA NIÑOS: UN RETO PARA LA EDUCACIÓN ÉTICA Y EN VALORES.

Esta investigación parte de la necesidad colombiana de desarrollar el pensamiento crítico, principalmente en niños de educación básica primaria, como respuesta a la creciente problemática de conflictos escolares dentro y fuera de las aulas. Esto puede ser atendido desde la implementación de Filosofía para Niños (FpN), porque a partir del análisis de situaciones cotidianas, algunas de ellas convertidas en anécdotas, el docente promueve habilidades de pensamiento que las argumentan y las pasan por el matiz de la crítica. Este proceso se puede articular con las innovaciones que pretende tanto la legislación colombiana, como la educación contemporánea, generando conciencia en el estudiante de soluciones por la vía concertada, llegando a acuerdos y conciliaciones que aborden el conflicto.

LA SABIDURÍA Y EL ARTE DE VIVIR EN OCTAVO CURSO. EXPERIENCIAS DE LOS MAESTROS DEL PROYECTO “PHILOSOPHIZING THE DIALOGOS WAY”.

This paper discusses teachers` self-reported experiences from participating in a Dialogos philosophizing project over five months, from the perspective of wisdom development. The project involved teachers from 13 upper secondary schools in a municipality in Scandinavia. They were given a course on philosophy and rhetoric over four workshops with five weeks in between. Moreover, they were themselves supposed to facilitate 20 philosophical dialogue sessions with their own 8th grade students during the project. The research methods used were participative observation and analysis of teachers` meta-reflection notes after the last workshop. The paper concludes with that the project did seem to enhance teachers`wisdom. According to the teachers, the students had also become much more reflected due to the project.

INVESTIGACIÓN DE PRÁCTICA REFLEXIONADA EN LA EDUCACIÓN DE MAESTROS.

In this essay the approach of reflective practice research, as introduced by the philosopher Anders Lindseth, is outlined and its relevance for teacher education is discussed. For that purpose, central theoretical as well as methodological aspects of this research approach are presented and further investigated. By means of illustrative case studies, examples are given on how this approach can be of use for teacher students in order to develop research competence, on the one hand. On the other, this essay examines how a teacher can reflect his or her own practice, in terms of self-studies, in order to learn from experience and to develop towards so-called phronesis (practical wisdom or prudence).

PRÁCTICA FILOSÓFICA CON ACCIONES CORPORALES

In this article I will provide some elements and perspectives regarding how it's possible to carry out philosophical practices through corporal actions. To understand this and to be able to do it out first, we must understand some general assumptions and principles around a broad understanding of philosophy and philosophical practice. After laying these foundations, I will focus on three great ways of performing corporal actions as part of the work that is done in philosophical practice. The first has to do with the sensory uptake of the other. In this way we enormously enrich the flow of elements that we use for working with others and the development of working hypotheses. A second type of corporal actions that we can incorporate into philosophical practice has to do with the performance of bodily actions by the practical philosopher. In this case, we use our action, gestures and expressions as a way of promoting, deepening and intensifying philosophical processes that are developed through dialogue or in any way. Lastly, a third way of including corporal actions in intersubjective philosophical interactions has to do with requesting the performance of specific corporal actions from others or performing them in conjunction with them. The variety of possibilities and achievable routes in this case is immense, but here we have an indisputable potential for philosophical work with others, which is built in principle from the grasp of circumstance and the philosophical process that is developing. In each case I will be considering a broad vision of philosophical practice that includes the work of philosophical counseling, philosophy for/with children, philosophical workshops and applied philosophy in organizations.

DIARIO FILOSÓFICO Y MARATÓN EN LÍNEA COMO FORMATOS CONTEMPORÁNEOS DE PRÁCTICA FILOSÓFICA: EL CUIDADO DEL YO EN EL MUNDO MODERNO.

The article presents two relatively new formats of philosophical practice: a philosophical diary and an online marathon. The authors of the article were developers of both formats; we have tested these forms at the university with a student audience and outside university. As a result of the study, we came to the conclusion that the philosophical diary can be an effective form of a person’s work with the self; along with the psychotherapeutic diary, this is a modern format of practice of care of the self. The online marathon is a format of group practice when you analyze and reflect on various existentials together with the facilitator of the marathon and other participants. Both formats fit into the Internet environment. The final result of our study was the formulation of an original method of philosophical practice, which we called philosophical meditations.

SOBRE LA URGENCIA DE LA FILOSOFÍA APLICADA EN LA EDUCACIÓN ACTUAL.

This essay is written based in a concern of ours that the dominant forms of teaching and learning in education today seem to be more in line with what Aristotle called techné and poiesis than with phronesis and praxis. The reason for that appears to be the aim-, skills- and competence-oriented approach in education as well as the quest for scientific “evidence based” practice. Using a reflective practice research approach, the authors take their point of departure in two concrete cases drawn from their lives as associate professors and researchers in teacher education. Some core themes are extracted from the cases and reflected upon critically and philosophically. Among those themes are, i.e., “reflecting freely and personally” vs. “adjusting to given frameworks and meeting required standards”. Other themes are “answering correctly and reaching predefined goals with the least effort” as opposed to “exploring possible answers”, “learning for its own sake” and “searching wisdom” on the other.