Secondary education, a place for philosophy

Many members of the philosophical community consider that philosophy in secondary education is necessarily highly modified and, in the best of cases, only a simulacrum can be practiced. This perspective is of more concern to us than that found in psychopedagogical approaches based on educational systems in which philosophy is excluded. In this context, we consider that the existence of real philosophy in action is both desirable and possible in secondary school classrooms. We base this argument on the criteria of the discipline itself, such as the validity of idealism and the relevance that philosophy has had to child development since its origins. To practice this philosophy, we must analyse the specific tools used to philosophise: conceptualisation, problematisation and argumentation. The production of philosophy in Catalan secondary school classrooms, modest though it may be, should be seen as a challenge by all institutions. Opposition due to elitist conceptions of philosophy should be verturned.