Esclarecimento e formação humana: Foucault leitor de Kant

Abstract

This thesis deals with enlightenment and its interlocutions with human formation based on Michel Foucault's research and his interpretation of Kant's writings on the subject. It investigates the relationships between Foucault's analysis of enlightenment and the concept he developed of a critical attitude in dialogue with human formation. The theme is developed having as a support point the studies that address enlightenment in Foucault and refer to the first two classes of the texts The Government of Self and Others and What Are the Lights?. In Kant, the texts studied are based on the Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? and About Pedagogy. The guiding thread of the research consists of affirming that the notion of education as human formation (Bildung) underlying enlightenment (Aufklarung) is indispensable for the care of oneself and others, as well as for the public use of reason in a perspective of life that defend democracy. Along the same lines, the thesis seeks to understand - in opposition to the neoliberal world rationale - the close overlap between the attitude of exit (Ausgang), as the daring to think for oneself (Sapere Aude), in Kant, and the way in which Foucault interprets this capacity in terms of the critical tradition and an exercise of the formative self, in addition to interpreting the meaning of enlightenment and human formation as a problem of ontology of the present. To achieve this purpose, a parallel is established between enlightenment, self-exercise, criticism and human formation in Kant and Foucault. The purpose is to consider such concepts as foundations of education as a human formation, with a view to enabling individuals to participate in the public space in a democratic way. Likewise, it is reflected that the weakening of this foundation puts human beings on the path to minority and barbarism and puts the public use of reason at risk. To develop the thesis, we opted for qualitative research, of a bibliographic nature, anchored in the hermeneutic stance that proposes open dialogue with the sources investigated, taking the text itself as an object of study, understanding and interpretation. Supported by this methodology, the work also highlights the meaning of what Foucault called ontology of the present, that is, an exercise in permanent interrogation of current affairs. In the same vein, it reflects on the practices of human formation that make up the history of our societies, confronting them with the possibility of their transformation, creating space for forms of self-care and public use of reason, without the pretension of universal normativity or metaphysics. The research is divided into four parts. The first develops the diagnosis of time, seeking to critically understand the present time. The second interprets Foucault's texts that deal with the issue of enlightenment (Aufklärung) and its relationship with the ontology of the present. The third takes Kant's texts on enlightenment and pedagogy, seeking to highlight possibilities for enlightened human formation. Por fim, a quarta, trata do esclarecimento e suas interlocuções com a formação humana, defendendo a tese de que tal articulação pode ser fundamento para a saída do ser humano de sua menoridade. Como conclusão, a tese aponta que, ao reconstruir alguns aspectos das noções filosóficas como prática de vida esclarecida, e ao alinhar a educação nos trilhos da Bildung, Foucault pode indicar que a filosofia e a educação reúnem condições para mostrar um dos caminhos possíveis e impulsionar força intelectual para fundamentar outras práticas sociais e humanas que não se coadunam com a razão neoliberal, mas, sim, com a democracia e a justiça social. Esse caminho evidencia que a aliança entre esclarecimento e formação (Aufklärung e Bildung) dialogal, aberta e de inspiração foucaultiana, pode fundamentar as práticas de formação humana e atitudes filosóficas carregadas de coragem e atitude crítica para a saída da menoridade neoliberal.