Plural childhoods and children as subjects: a philosophical study based on dissertations supervised in the GT Filosofar e Ensinar a Filosofar (ANPOF)

Abstract

This paper presents an excerpt from the dissertation entitled Filosofias, Infâncias e Escolas: um estudo sobre dissertações orientadas por membros do GT Filosofar e Ensinar a Filosofar (ANPOF), entre 2017-2022, developed in the Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). Its objective is to understand how conceptions of childhoods and children are addressed in dissertations supervised by members of the GT during the defined period. To achieve this, we carried out a theoretical-bibliographic investigation articulated with Discursive Textual Analysis, a technique proposed by Roque Moraes (2003). The results obtained show that the dissertations develop a strong critique of traditional understandings of childhood, which position children as incomplete subjects. In contrast, the analyzed works converge in valuing childhoods as plural, socially and historically constructed, and in understanding children as subjects of rights, with the freedom to explore and the capacity to create meanings about the world, including philosophizing. The study contributes in a unique way to the field of Philosophy Education by highlighting the relationships between philosophy and childhood, reinforcing philosophy's commitment to education, childhood, and children and young people.