TEACHING PHILOSOPHY IN HIGH SCHOOL: CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND PERSPECTIVES FOR DEVELOPING CRITICAL THINKING

Abstract

The teaching of philosophy in high school is a field of curricular, pedagogical, and educational debate, marked by differing conceptions of the purpose of philosophy in basic education and by the challenge of integrating philosophical knowledge, students’ experiences, and the development of critical thinking. This article aims to analyze the main challenges of teaching philosophy in high school and to discuss pedagogical perspectives capable of fostering a philosophical experience oriented toward problematization, critical reflection, conceptual creation, and students’ intellectual autonomy. A bibliographic study is conducted, employing a qualitative approach and a theoretical-reflective character, grounded in studies on the teaching of philosophy and education, with an emphasis on the contributions of Horn, Freire, Deleuze, Guattari, Aspis, Gallo, Cerletti, Kohan, Larrosa, Kastrup, and Tassin. The analysis shows that the challenges of teaching philosophy go beyond the transmission of content and involve the discipline’s historical curricular instability, the need to integrate philosophical knowledge with pedagogical knowledge, the difficulties in connecting philosophical concepts with students’ reality, and the need to move beyond predominantly expository teaching practices. In contrast to this scenario, there are approaches centered on the critical examination of concrete situations, dialogue with the history of philosophy, the experience of philosophizing, and conceptual creation as ways to foster more reflective and meaningful learning. It is concluded that strengthening the teaching of philosophy requires a teaching practice that preserves the conceptual rigor of the philosophical tradition while fostering dialogue, inquiry, intellectual autonomy, and the development of critical thinking, viewing the student as an active participant in the educational process.