PhD in philosophy. Activities: philosophy consultant, philosophy for children, didactics of philosophy, philosophical practice.
Bibliography
Calendar Oscar Brenifier
Every summer, in the little village of La Chapelle St André (Burgundy -
France), gather about 25-30 persons involved in philosophical practice
(students, teachers, professors, counselors, trainers) in order to
reflect on their work and improve professionally. For seven days, in
English, these philosophy practitioners coming from the five continents
will participate to different workshops, lead workshops, analyze and
evaluate them, theorize about the different issues involved.
In
this context, philosophy is not any more an academic activity centered
on the history of ideas, and one does not come simply to narrate what
he does in his home country, but get acquainted with the many ways of
philosophizing, as an activity constitutive of the mind and the self.
Philosophy with children, philosophical consultation, philosophy
workshops, Socratic dialogue, etc., one is introduced to the many forms
and variants of such an endeavor. It is not so much knowledge that is
at stake here, but acquiring and developing skills. How to
conceptualize, how to problematize, how to deepen understanding of
given ideas, and especially how to create a situation where this
activity can be induced, is the main focus of the work.
Of
course, Socratic maïeutics is a key methodological point, but as well
dialectics, analytics, community of enquiry, constitute as many entries
and matrices to define the work. If they wish so, participants can
facilitate a workshop, a situation which provides an occasion for a
practitioner to show how he works and get some critical feed-back on
his work and his methodology, so one becomes more conscious of his own
options and activity. Since the atmosphere of this seminar is open,
inclined to both rigor and diversity, it creates a context where one
can really express his view instead of hiding behind the usual
pseudo-consensus where "everything is fine and we are all great". In
this sense, the idea is to recreate the context of antique
philosophical schools, or the gymnasium as described by Plato, where
one could challenge other's ideas and himself be challenged. In the
peaceful atmosphere of a small French village, accompanied with good
food and good wine, walks in the beautiful surrounding woods and visit
to the medieval site of Vezelay, one can truly devote himself to
philosophical encounters and reflection.
All practitioners
interested in presenting their work and holding a workshop during this
event are invited to send in their proposal. The purpose of this
seminar is to exchange, discover, experiment and develop practices.
This
seminar does not require previous philosophical training. It can be an
initiation to philosophical practice, or a deepening of the activity.
Participants come from different parts of the world, and join for
professional or personal reasons, in order to work on a practice that
is applicable to many contexts: teaching children or adults,
management, individual consultation, N. G. O. activities…
The
duration will be one whole week, from August 1st - 7th, and the cost
will be 500 EUR, including the workshops, food and accommodation in a
private room. For people who are on a tight budget, this can be reduced
to 300 EUR if you accept "camping style" accommodation. Our Institute
can accept some people free of charge who have financial difficulties,
but are highly motivated.
On this Website, you can read texts and watch videos of the practice. And as well on the English section of
http://www.pratiques-philosophiques.com/
If
you wish to be informed of the seminar and workshops of the Institute
of Philosophical practice, you can send an email to Isabelle Millon at
the following address:
If you wish to be
posted on the activities of the I. P. P., you can send your name and
email at the adress below, and you will be included in our mailing list.
You can as well write at this email for more information.
Isabelle Millon : i.millon@club-internet.fr
To download the Unesco 2007 report:
Philosophy, a school of freedom :
unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0015/001541/154173E.pdf
Oscar Brenifier is the author of chapter 4 : Other ways to discover
philosophy, philosophy in the city