Popularization and teaching of philosophy in brazil in the 1970s - in search of a safety rhetoric

Abstract

This article resumes the debate which took place at the round table titled “Why philosopher?” Promoted by the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência- SBPC), at its Annual Meeting, in July 1975 in the city of Belo Horizonte, in the Brazilian southwest. In this event, the lectures of José Arthur Giannotti and Gerard Lebrun addressed the historical and cultural experience of philosophy as an academic institution in the last century. Giannotti and Lebrun presented some possibilities and justifications for the popularization and teaching of philosophy in Brazil under the military dictatorship in the 1970s. My objective in this work is to compare the perspective of these authors with the academic teaching model which has been adopted by the University of São Paulo (Universidade de São Paulo- USP) and which decisively influenced the institutionalization of philosophy in Brazil. How could a philosophical work of an essentially technical nature, such as that practiced by USP, be safe from the potential risks of the vulgarization of philosophy when circulating as a commodity in the public space? The SBPC event in 1975 reopens a reflection on the theme of responsibility regarding the dissemination of philosophy in the country from the perspective of academic philosophers. It is an attempt to respond to the double challenge of preserving the excellence of theoretical university productions and at the same time expanding the philosophical community and the social interest in philosophy, even under successive authoritarian governments.