El reconocimiento del otro en la pedagogía cívica: estudio sobre la función de las emociones en relación con la alteridad

Abstract

This doctoral thesis is an in-depth analysis of the influence of social fear prevailing in current educational theory. Social fear generates a barrier in the relationship between educators and learners, as well as among learners. Subjects will experience a dissonance when another subject displays an evident and socially typified difference such as being foreign or having a disability. The thereof resulting impediment induces responses to emotional elements which complicate a sincere encounter with the other. We have carried out a double directional methodological analysis of fear. Firstly, we study the relationship between emotions and the perception of the other. The research is based on current standards of neuroscience, psychology, philosophy and sociology. The research focuses on analyzing the role of emotions in the construction of the representation of The Other. Simultaneously, the study applies philosophical, historical and sociological resources in order to create a genealogy of the concept of fear. The approach taken considers fear in its entirety: starting in the individual perception of fear, inherent to human beings, following by the collective experience of fear in Western societies, culminating in the current culture of fear. This contemporary take on fear is characterized by an overwhelming, imaginary fear of being disassociated from common places due to an inherent difference. The other is identified based on her dominating difference to the overall perceived norm. Secondly, we assess the impact of educational tolerance and compassion as reflex of social fear in relation to an individual’s ability to act. The thesis concludes with a pedagogical proposition calling for the inclusion of positive action as an educational measure. We recommend the educational process to undergo a transition towards responsibility, openness and confidence.