We repeatedly call for the abolition of philosophy courses at the college level. The request is too constant to be dismissed out of hand and this wish expresses, if not a problem, at least a discomfort with this discipline.
It is generally maintained that philosophy is outdated. Students want knowledge about the immediacy of their concrete experience. The “classics”, by nature “essential”, would form an outdated, even racist group.
Let’s see it this way: to do research in physics, it is necessary to have the basic principles of Newtonian mechanics, of linear algebra; differential equations, electromagnetism, thermodynamics. This done, we can embark on quantum physics and participate, humbly, in the construction of an edifice of knowledge that we call science. However, no one is proposing to abolish mathematics because it is repulsive and seems far from our practical interests.
Culture
Science is not, however, the only “building of knowledge”. There is another, sometimes closer to us and our concerns, which is called culture. It is made up of literature, works of art, architecture and town planning, national and universal history, religions and so on.
I invite you to think of culture as a language. To speak a language, you must master grammar, vocabulary and syntax, pronunciation, oral and written comprehension, and finally practice it regularly. The same is true with culture.
However, the idea of a common core at the CÉGEP is precisely to give each student the foundations of this grammar of intelligence by which culture becomes understandable. Hence the teaching of Literature (and not simply French) and that of Philosophy.
freedom of knowledge
Whether we like it or not, we are the heirs of a multimillennial culture which has its roots in Antiquity and which developed, through a complicated path, from Christianity to the medieval world, from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment and so on. , till today. Vast sections of literature, works of art, architecture, etc. remain forever incomprehensible without a knowledge of the ideas which gave birth to them, which carry them and against which, often, these works of the mind have rebelled. In short, in the same way that one cannot speak or understand a language, or a science, without possessing the essential notions, in the same way one cannot really grasp the deep meaning of the culture in which we participate without recourse to the “classics”, which do not only have the virtue of teaching us things about the world; above all, they have the advantage of giving us a syntax so that we can, with this legacy, say and express, in our own way, the world as we see it and feel it. And this language, which is culture, basically serves the same purpose of all communication: to inform, exchange, share, instruct, amaze, make people laugh and cry. In a few words, it serves to be human and, by that very fact, to be free.
Should we now update the programs, offer more teaching breaks to allow teachers to develop their works (many are active in research and creation), review the methods of evaluation, the delivery of courses ? These are proposals to be examined piecemeal, but whose value seems to me to be superior to the abolition of philosophy at the college level, a simplistic solution. Let us always remember that ease is often the index of insignificance.
Photo provided by Charles Le Blanc
Charles LeBlanc, Full Professor, Department of French/Department of Philosophy, University of Ottawa