Filozofia jako obowiązkowy przedmiot w szkole – próba problematyzacji zagadnienia

Abstract

Philosophy as a Compulsory Subject To Be Taught at Schools – An Attempt at Defining the Issue

This paper analyses the conditions related to the introduction of philosophy as a compulsory subject at Polish schools. The following main conditions are discussed in the paper: the importance of philosophy for intellectual culture; the need for the return to the European tradition and for more active participation in its cultural transformation; the need to continue social and educational transformation (which was triggered by the political transformation in 1989). It seems important to consider the impact of the political conditions on the common philosophical education in Poland and analyse the political impact on the education system as a whole. The participation of the Catholic Church in the education system and the influence of worldview orientations on philosophical education is also considered.
The second part of this paper discusses a project aimed at introducing common philosophical education at schools in Poland. Three stages were discussed: (1) development of theoretical assumptions concerning the concept of common philosophical education, (2) discussion of the assumptions of the project, (3) comments concerning the execution of the project. This paper proposes a summary of the options and the attempts at introducing common philosophical education in view of the twenty-five years of ideological and philosophical freedom in Poland.

Keywords: introduction of philosophy, Polish schools, philosophy education in Poland.