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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 4

Publication Date: April 25, 2023

DOI:10.14738/assrj.104.14550.

Tomé, J. M. S. (2023). I, You and The Others, Among Otherness, Diversity and Education. Advances in Social Sciences Research

Journal, 10(4). 312-322.

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

I, You and The Others, Among Otherness, Diversity and Education

José Manuel Salum Tomé

Catholic University of Temuco

ABSTRACT

When you think of the other and the other, they are not due to the same power and

hegemonies, and that this other is identified as a face, there is the possibility of

guiding behavior or ethics, along the paths of diversity, understood It is like the

discovery of diversity and otherness in education, which are the most appropriate

ways to understand that the autonomous self, is in debt, under the figure of hostage.

Humanity has begun a path which has no possible reserve and this consists in

opening, via postmodernity, a type of thought that is capable of generating

scenarios of recognition of what is different, as a discovery that benefits everyone

and everyone greatly. To propose that otherness is the basis on which diversity is

built, is now an open route in education and to travel that makes life more

meaningful because of the ethical recognition of the other and the other that will

accompany me on a path of history.

Keywords: Alterity, diversity, education, human rights, recognition, inclusion.

INTRODUCTION

From the early writings of Descartes, Locke, and Kant to contemporary discussions of mind and

brain, philosophers have provided strong support for the reality of bounded being. In many

ways the hallmark of Western philosophy was its presumption of dualism: mind and world,

subject and object, self and other. Furthermore, the field of philosophy is also nourished by the

dispute and while the individualist vision of human functioning has been dominant, there are

significant escapees, several of whom have become textual companions in developing

proposals for the relational being. My conviction for existentialism led me to the work of

Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1970) who, although he placed individual consciousness at the center

of his thoughts, also postulated a consciousness deeply inhabited by the other. From the above,

the perception we have of the other contains in itself an awareness of being perceived by the

other. When we observe the other during a conversation, for example, we are also aware of

being observed and both forms of awareness are inextricable. Or, in the same vein, the

awareness of touching another person embodies in itself the awareness of being touched by

another.

The work of Martin Heidegger (1962) is closely related. As for Merleau-Ponty, much of

Heidegger's analysis deals with the phenomenological world of consciousness, and at the same

time the latter attempted to subvert the traditional subject/object dichotomy, in which

conscious subjects are contrasted with a world apart from external objects. For Heidegger

consciousness is always consciousness of something. If all objects of consciousness are

removed, there is no consciousness; if all consciousness is removed the objects cease to exist.

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Tomé, J. M. S. (2023). I, You and The Others, Among Otherness, Diversity and Education. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(4). 312-

322.

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.104.14550

Thus, subject and object are fundamentally coexistent and the insertion of hyphens between

the words of their fundamental concept, being in the world, works as a visual illustration of the

conceptual break with the traditional binary model. Although coming from the terrain of

American pragmatism, the work of John Dewey and Arthur Bentley is consistent with

Heidegger's (1949) innovation of breaking the binary model. In their view, there is a mutually

constitutive relationship between the person and the object (mind and world) and both agreed

to replace the traditional interaction view (independent objects in a causal relationship with

experience) by the concept of transaction.

Another very important school of thought is the one that emanates from sociological and

political theory and whose work is especially important for its critique of liberal individualism,

both in terms of its influence on cultural life and its suitability as an orientation to civil society

and society. policy. Regarding the data of daily life, the book Habits of the Heart by Robert Bellah

(1989) and colleagues is fundamental in its significance. The book reveals in detail the insidious

implications of individualist ideology for human relationships. In addition, it includes the

initiatives of the community movement led by Amitai Etzioni (1993) and his colleagues. Here

the emphasis is placed on the obligations we have to the community as opposed to the claims

of individual rights.

On the other hand, the work of the political theorist Michael Sandel (1996) and the philosopher

Alasdair MacIntyre (1987) adds an important conceptual dimension to this movement as both

focus attention on the individual's deep location in relationships and hit on the idea of the

gravely flawed carefree free agent. All these works have been sources of incalculable value for

me, although I express some discontent with the value of the favored community as an

alternative to individualism. There is not only the problem of determining the limits of what

constitutes one's community, but there are additional complications resulting from the very

establishment of those limits. Educational communities are also bounded entities and create

the same types of conflicts that attend the public as essentially separate. In the case of

community commitments such as religious and political the consequences can be disastrous.

At the same time there is an important difference that separates this work from all previous

theories (except Wittgenstein). All those philosophers have worked in a tradition dedicated to

establishing foundations, that is, foundations of reason, truth, human nature, ethical value.

Fundamentals that are sometimes called first philosophies. In contrast, this writing has no such

aspirations, and while the form of the writing may sometimes suggest otherwise, my goal is not

to articulate what human nature simply is or should be. In fact, neither do I claim to be true or

precise in traditional terms, but I hope to offer an attractive construction of the world, an

inviting vision, or an entity of understanding, all materialized or embodied in relevant actions.

The basis is not a series of marching orders but an invitation to dance.

THE PEDAGOGY OF ALTERITY: A WAY OF ENABLING AND UNDERSTANDING THE

EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE OF THE PRESENT

Since its inception, pedagogy has been defined as the discipline that, Conceptualizes, applies

and experiences knowledge related to the teaching of specific knowledge in different cultures.

It refers both to the teaching processes of the exhibition of sciences, as well as to the exercise

of knowledge, within the culture (López, Barragán and Aguirre, 1990).

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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 4, April-2023

Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom

That is to say, pedagogy is specifically in charge of the methods and theories for the

understanding of the educational matter, of the forms of teaching in educational practices, it is

what allows one to reflect on the various realities in which the human being is being built as a

subject. in continuous training.

During a good part of the 20th century, different perspectives regarding pedagogy and its

teaching methods were created and developed; So much so that pedagogical models such as the

developmental, behavioral, social or traditional appear to be able to give a satisfactory

explanation to a portion of that educational reality, because, Pedagogy has built, from its

history, a series of models, as ideal representations of the real world of education, to

theoretically explain its doing, that is, to understand what exists. But these models are dynamic,

they transform and can, at a certain moment, be imagined to be poured into the real world

(González, 1999, p. 48).

And indeed they have become reality in such a way that, in many cases, they have served for

societies to take advantage of these models and can become fundamental axes of learning and

teaching for the transformation of a context for the common good. of all human beings.

This transformation can be mediated by a relatively new form of teaching, the pedagogy of

otherness. This educational perspective relies heavily on epistemological constructions of

philosophy, and little by little it has been generating a wide debate, especially in Chile. This

pedagogy has very clear claims regarding academic work as such, while what it seeks is the

recovery of the word of the other, that voice that has been silenced for a long time, for

ideological, political reasons, for the eternal conflict between the power and the knowledge that

is gestated within the classroom, which prevents any human being from being able to manifest

their logos, their thought, their power in expression. The conception of alterity is manifested by

an ethical relationship insofar as, it is a responsible relationship with the other, and the

educator is someone who is passionate about the word, about the transmission of the word,

about the reception and hospitality, about the donation (Mélich, 2002, p. 51).

The discourse of alterity in essence offers the possibility that voices, thoughts, argumentative

constructions and conceptual clarity intermingle within the classroom. This pedagogy is the

bearer of the Promethean dream, of knowledge that no longer belongs to a single individual,

but belongs to many men. The word of the other is spilled and drawn with the subjectivities of

the others, to create free people committed to change and transformation. Thus, The incurable

melancholy with which students move has its roots in the almost general complacency of

thinkers or educators in the direction of negativity and suspicion, in the silence that they offer

as the only answer to the question that students ask and ask themselves. about the meaning of

life, in the lack of an alternative they find in the face of the nihilism of the time, in the inability

to grasp the nature of reality that is theirs, in the pessimism that surrounds them when they

express enthusiasm, passion, desires. When they overflow with life, they want to impose

castration, submission, and obedience on them. They are supposed to train free men, but they

make slaves (Onfray, 1999, p. 53).

To understand a specific pedagogical model, two aspects must be taken into account: didactics

and the curriculum. In this sense, these two concepts could be defined to provide clarity and lay

the foundations of the various conceptions of educational work in a good part of the 20th