philosophy (not only) with children: listening, caring, writing, transmitting

Abstract

In this article, I intend to link four topics or essential acts of philosophical practice: listening, caring, writing and transmitting, with special attention to children--what they inspire and teach us about philosophical practice, with special attention to the situation of confinement caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. A first task is to recover the function of listening and desire, in the context of the concept and the game, and against any abuse or violence. Second, we emphasize the role of care--its expansion and reformulation in these difficult circumstances, especially in interrupting the logic of servitude and of the activity-debt-reward circuit by way of the pleasure of inquiry. Third, we practice writing as a technology of self that overcomes the dichotomy between personal and academic form, in order to become a practice of care and transmission, along with other self-practices: abstinence, self-examination, exercises, etc. Finally, we consider the question of the “Name of the Father”--how to understand the decline of patriarchy in relation to love, self-esteem, the transmission and the use of a symbolic legacy, given that the decline in question is not merely a weakening, but an unfolding of a singular-generic power that binds us together: learning to decline names, words, concepts, and traditions, which  is what drives true subject formation.