Conference publications

Abstracts

XIII conference

Once more on the style of teaching philosophy

L.N. Krasnopol'skaya

building 7 AB, apartment 8 142290 Pushchino, Moscow Region, Russia

To teach what and how - this problem is debated long and much within the history of human thought. Today teaching philosophy for students and postgraduates differs in principle from teaching in any other field of knowledge but gets crowned with ordinary examinations (and, at present, faceless essays dragged out of Internet). It is mainly based on the scientistic interpretation of philosophy. The author of the present communication wouldn’t like to abolish this approach immediately but looks for additional ways for studying philosophy. These searches of the author, who gave a course of philosophy to postgraduates of Pushchino Research Center, students of a branch of Moscow State University, and schoolchildren of Pushchino town, resulted in writing “A book for work on the course of philosophy” and a program of a course of philosophy “World philosophy personal” (a new version of the latter: “Eternal partners of Mankind”).

The program is aimed to represent basic philosophic problems as personal events, which forms the background for understanding of concernment of philosophic problem sphere. It is important for introspection and self-determination of a human who wishes to be engaged in intellectual activity. In the mentioned course, cooperation of different kinds of mental activity of a person (religion, art, philosophy, science) is considered as a problem of their integrity in a personal creativity of thinkers belonging to different epochs. It gives to young scientists the guidelines for choice of moral position in science via comprehension of unity of Truth, Good and Beauty in culture.

Philosophy is not merely a system of knowledge, which can be learned by mechanistic transfer to somebody. An educational course of philosophy should be organized so as to allow somebody to find something interesting in this discipline himself. A teacher of philosophy shouldn’t be merely a bearer of ready-for-use truths, a person who has answers to all possible questions and has a right to be a rigorous judge of philosophic orientation and erudition of his students. A teacher is a person who has his own experience of comprehension of philosophy and feeling a need for share it with others. He continues this experience together with his pupils within the educational course. He has to see philosophic problems by eyes of his pupils. This methodic approach gives a possibility to strengthen a conception of philosophy as a peculiar way of human orientation in the world, to cultivate taste and warm feeling to philosophy. Desire for concern oneself with philosophy as an internal impulse is the only, which can justify the existence of philosophy in the culture. It is particularly important when there is just another reformation of philosophy in Russia.