Dead Philosopher's Tour: notes #1

April 2nd 2018

*Original French version found below*

Dictionnaire de philosophie, under the direction of Jean-Pierre Zarader is a philosophical tool that I bought during a visit to the city of Québec on October 10th, 2015. With the help of over 90 specialists, teachers, researchers, and academics from all over France, this dictionary was created and has helped with either improving the conceptualization of my philosophical thought or improving the formulation of my philosophical questions. This work will be a starting point for my research before I depart for Europe at the end of June this year, where I will be traveling to over 12 different countries with the goal of exploring not only philosophy but also, and in my opinion, necessarily pedagogy. If philosophy can be defined as the love (philo) of knowledge (sophy) and that pedagogy as the art and science of teaching, then it seems to me that the artist-scientist (pedagogue) is necessarily linked to philosophy. Maybe I hold a certain bias, as it is very likely that I have made mistakes/will continue to make mistakes, however in February of 2015, I left a course on the Philosophy of Education with the following idea burned into my mind: that a good education in philosophy is a good philosophy of education.

I do not (think I) have a choice (this is determinism) but to ask the following questions and as a young professional, I must also determine the UTILITY of such inquiry: What is the structure of the connexion between philosopher and pedagogue? Why must one establish their own philosophy of education BEFORE receiving the responsibility of educating future generations? Can I be a philosopher and pedagogue or will the society that I never asked to be born into necessarily force me to specialize?

-Dasein the Philosopher

*Original French Version*

Dictionnaire de philosophie, sous la direction de Jean-Pierre Zarader est un outil philosophique que j'ai eu durant une visite à la ville de Québec, le 10 octobre 2015. Avec l'aide de plus de 90 spécialistes, enseignants, chercheurs et universitaires de toute la France, ce dictionnaire m'a aidée soit à mieux conceptualiser mes pensées philosophiques, soit à mieux formuler mes questions philosophiques. Cette œuvre va être une piste déclencheuse pour mes recherches avant que je quitte pour l'Europe en fin juin de cette année, où je vais voyager à plus de 12 pays, dans le but d’explorer non seulement la philosophie, mais aussi (et à mon avis, nécessairement la pédagogie). Si la philosophie peut être définie comme étant l'amour (philo) de la connaissance (sophie) et que la pédagogie comme l'art et la science de l'enseignement, il me semble que l'artiste-scientifique de l'apprentissage (le pédagogue) est nécessairement lié à la philosophie. Peut-être que je tiens un bais, car il est très probable que je vais faire/que j'ai déjà commis des fautes, mais en février 2015, j'ai fini avec l'idée suivante brulée dans mon cerveau après que j’ai suivi le cours de la Philosophie de l'éducation: qu’une bonne éducation en philosophie est une bonne philosophie d'éducation.

Je n'ai pas le choix (déterminisme) que de poser les questions suivantes et comme une jeune professionnelle, je dois aussi déterminer l'UTILITÉ de cette enquète: Quelle est la structure de la connexion entre philosophe et pédagogue? Pourquoi faut-il établir une philosophie d'éducation AVANT de recevoir la responsabilité de former les prochaines générations? Puis-je être philosophe et pédagogue où est-ce que la société dont je n'ai jamais demandé d'être née va me nécessiter de se spécialiser?

-Dasein le philosophe

Method: documenting the process of writing my next philosophy book. I have started going through my journals dating back from 2011-the present with the goal of extracting everything and anything that may have influenced my current philosophical thought. As an exercise to better understand myself and the reality that I never chose to be born into, I am combining this existential analysis with C.G Jung’s concept of circumambulation. In his book titled Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Carl Jung states that « there is no linear evolution; there is only circumambulation of the self. Uniform development exists, at most, at the beginning; later, everything points toward the center. This insight gave me stability, and gradually my inner peace returned». If I have properly understood this concept, it seems that Jung’s idea of the self is ever changing, in that new insights in the present can create new ways of interpreting one’s past and future. This constant flux found within the structure of an individual’s past and future-present remind me of Heidegger's Historicity of Dasein and of Heraclitus’ « everything is in constant flux ». For me to assume that my past has been and is set in stone, would be to limit that which I can become and that which I have always been. Furthermore, with the focus on becoming whole, instead of simply becoming Good, it seems that any important past event that still causes a negative emotional response only further highlights that I have not yet successfully integrated the lessons to be found in such emotionally charged events. The question then begs to be asked: what is the underlying origin of that presupposition that my future self-actualized Being requires the past to be integrated, instead of anNIHILated (nihil as the Latin word for Nothingness)

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