Genealogy and critique of the “Philosophy of Education”

a critique of the co-optation of education by philosophy from the perspective of Rancière and Foucault

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2026.1.47638

Keywords:

Education, Philosophy, Disagreement, Greeks

Abstract

In this article, we will aim to review the point considered to be the inaugural point of the “Philosophy of Education” in the Greeks, with a special critical focus on Platonic philosophy. This review will be carried out based on two formulas taken from two contemporary thinkers: Jacques Rancière and Michel Foucault. From Rancière, we will extract the formula of “disagreement”, proposed in the book The Disagreement (1995). We will recognize its political scope and use its modus operandi to carry out our critique of the “Philosophy of Education”. And with Foucault, we will seek, based on the reading presented in the course Hermeneutics of the Subject, the formula of the [poorly] educated subject. Starting from this formula, we will understand how the figure of Alcibiades served (for Plato) as a legitimizing device for the denial of Greek pedagogy and the foundation of a “Philosophy of Education”. Armed with these formulas, we will seek to understand how antiquity (especially Plato) co-opted and made invisible education, as it should have occurred in 5th century Athens, in the name of a philosophical project.

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Author Biography

José Eduardo Pimentel Filho, Instituto Federal do Paraná, Ivaiporã, Paraná, Brasil

PhD in Philosophy from UFRJ, with a sandwich at EHESS (PDSE/CAPES scholarship). Professor of Philosophy at the Federal Institute of Paraná. Post-doctorate at UEL, where he develops the research "Foucault and the Institutions". Author of the book The A economia das relações de poder, um conceito de inspiração foucaultiana. Member of the LAIMF and the Red Ibero-American Foucault.

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Published

2026-01-16

How to Cite

Pimentel Filho, J. E. (2026). Genealogy and critique of the “Philosophy of Education”: a critique of the co-optation of education by philosophy from the perspective of Rancière and Foucault. Veritas (Porto Alegre), 71(1), e47638. https://doi.org/10.15448/1984-6746.2026.1.47638

Issue

Section

PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION