‘Back home’: analogies as a strategy for the development of critical thinking

Abstract

This article assumes that the use of analogies can favor the understanding of concepts, which need to be validated in certain fields, in addition to enabling the development of critical thinking and the formulation of conclusions and symbolic arguments. For this reason, the problematization that is suggested seeks to intend possible analogies for the term “house”. It is interesting to overcome the common sense that attributes to this word the meaning only of functional space for housing and place inside. The aim was to value the term, exemplifying it as a place from inside and outside, that is, sometimes as a dwelling, sometimes as a possibility of artistic expression, sometimes as a body, and sometimes also as a common home, referring to the planet. The basic methodology involved a qualitative approach with an interdisciplinary emphasis when dialoguing with theorists from different areas: Carl G. Jung favors reflection from a psychological perspective; while others, such as Edgar Morin, understand life as a large intertwined fabric, so that - together with Marc Augé, they expand the relationship between humanity, its environment and surroundings. For their part, Salles and Ostrower base theories on creative processes, the language of art and the use of imagery to represent the symptoms expressed in man and in his environment.