Keynote speaker: How can indigenous philosophies help to improve Philosophical Practices?
Abstract: Philosophical Practice has work on relevant theories based on Western philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and María Zambrano among others Foucault, among others. However, our field has forgotten indigenous philosophies. The first reason is because some philosophers consider they are not real philosophies because of several reasons. These reasons are close to the ones used to reject feminist and feminine philosophies and Eastern philosophies in the past. However, the decolonial thinkers are overriding their arguments and indigenous philosophies are entering in universities. Indeed, indigenous philosophies are essential to deal with problems of the Western philosophies. Let’s see a couple of examples. Western philosophies are too individualistic, and they are grounded on the ego. On the the hand, Mesoamerican philosophies begin with a communitarian reason and ontology. They think by means of social structures such as ‘mingas de pensamiento’ (‘mingas of thinking’) in Andean philosophy of the Colombian Quillasingas or ‘asambleas comunitarias’ (community assembly) of the maian-toxolabales. Furthermore, Andean and Maian people live from a social point of view and their society goes beyond the personal structure. They consider that animals, trees, flowers, the river, and the nature have a ‘yatzil’ (a heart or soul in Mexican maian tojolabal communities). This is the second important point that enlarge Philosophy (and Philosophical Practice) if we move to their thoughts: the sensibility to nature. Yanomamies in Brazil and Venezuela can feel the suffering of an urban tree that is dying because of pollution, Pastos and Wayuu consider that they are the guards of the nature and that they have the obligation to look after the Pachamama (the Mother Nature and the whole creation). To sum up, there are Ethical, Hermeneutical, Aesthetical, Gnoseological, Epistemological and Social issues in these indigenous American philosophies that Philosophical Practice needs. This lecture will expose why Indigenous philosophes need to be considered inside the philosophical corpus and how their thoughts, philosophies and wisdom can be useful in Philosophical Practice.
Philosophical practice: a proposal of workshops and trainings for impoverished people
During last decade, we have been working with people at social risks in Europe and Latinamerica. We have carried out workshops in Colombian and Mexican prisons, in impoverished neighborhoods in Spain and Brasil and with children at social risk in Mexico, among others. Those activities were the first steps to begin several research projects to test the validity of our philosophical workshops with this population. Results are the last stage of the BOECIO project (http://institucional.us.es/
Book presentation: Experiential Philosophy and Prison
Should philosophy be used to help people serving time for homicide, rape, or robbery with violence? How can the exercise of reflection help to strengthen the resolve of security professionals, managerial staff, and educational teams working in prisons. How can the families of inmates benefit from critical thinking? How is it possible to train the reflective and emotional skills of people at risk of social exclusion who have not yet ended up behind bars?
Over the past decade, the BOECIO project has created and assessed guidelines for thinking for over 500 people deprived of liberty in both Spain and abroad. More than 1,000 hours of thinking have brought philosophy to penitentiaries and have placed the latter on the map of the former.
This book is a practical guide for whoever wants to train prisoners or people living on the margins of society. Similarly, those voluntary or aid workers interested in offering these collectives a deeper and more critical life, free from ideological restraints, will find in Experiential Philosophy and Prison a useful and rigorous tool and a program that can be applied in both the workplace and their private lives.
José Barrientos-Rastrojo (barrientos@us.es) is Associate Professor at the University of Seville (Spain) and Director of BOECIO (http://institucional.us.es/