WHAT AND WHY?
How can philosophy produce change? In what ways can it be communicated? What role can it play in education for thinking?
These are the questions that inspire InRatio.
The overall goal of this project is to rearticulate the social role of philosophy through the re-reading and transformation of three major reservations held against it: philosophy’s alleged lack of objective knowledge and scientificity, its uselessness, and its abstractness. By addressing said problems not only what counts as (good) philosophy can be critically explored, but also the impasse in philosophy’s relation to practitioners of other disciplines and society at large can be tackled.
InRatio’s key move is to turn the above-mentioned prejudices upside down and ‘extract’ from their new reading some decisive features that characterise the educational, critical and transformative role of philosophy in society. In this way, those initially belittling arguments become tools for a (healthy and needed) self-criticism of philosophy and for a rearticulated account of its work and social impact. Such self-criticism must also invest the material and conceptual conditions in which philosophy has been commonly practiced. It is necessary to go beyond a mere ‘Western metaphilosophy’ and acknowledge the profound changes brought about by anti-oppressive perspectives, such as feminist philosophies, which integrate theoretical analyses with societal-transformative work. Furthermore, the gender gap in philosophy as a discipline and profession should be addressed.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES
InRatio aims at elaborating an inclusive, pluralistic model for presenting philosophy’s social-cultural role in contemporary societies. It should: overturn said prejudices, incorporate non-mainstream and under-represented perspectives, integrate diverse philosophical approaches and traditions, and forge new educational methods to contribute to societal transformations, while being able to convey its results to society. Accordingly, this project pursues three main objectives:
1) To elaborate a metaphilosophical account that (a) redefines the kind of knowledge and scientificity belonging to philosophy based on a conception of knowledge broader than what is modelled on the observational-empirical method of the natural sciences; (b) reconsiders philosophy’s usefulness in terms of its impact on education for critical thinking; (c) recasts the notion of concreteness in terms of concept networks capable of explanatory power.
2) To ideate new philosophical-educational programmes aimed at addressing societal challenges. Such programmes should emphasise philosophy's ability to tackle sensitive social issues (e.g. gender inequality in various public and epistemic fields).
3): To implement a strategy to improve philosophy’s dialogue with society.
To reach these objectives, InRatio links four areas: classical German philosophy (especially Hegel); contemporary metaphilosophy; feminist (meta)philosophy; philosophy as education for thinking.
WHY IS THIS PROJECT IMPORTANT FOR SOCIETY?
This project intervenes within processes of social and cultural change. It fosters critical and transformative thinking through philosophical practices. In this way, it contributes to creating more inclusive and reflective communities, capable of questioning their own practices of thought and action in a non-violent manner.
