The Identity of the Educational Space. Between the Ethos of a Game: Reflections on Selected Elements of the Thought of Jozef Tischner

Abstract

The article presents an analysis of the teaching space. The author makes the starting point of this study the philosophical texts of Jozef Tischner. Space is understood as ethos, as the place of the spiritual growth of man. Man finds his ethos first, then that of other people. He learns to know and understand the world that surrounds it. In some situations, however, the ethos is a place of a game led by other people. The game introduces principles foreign to the identity of the man understood as an entity and his moral actions.Referring to Jozef Tischner’s philosophical reflection, author is trying to find the answers to the questions relating to the shape of the contemporary pedagogical space. This space is always rooted in some axiological ethos. Therefore, it is very important to discover what values govern this space, whether it is a space open for dialogue, for rational self-analysis, and, at this same time, open to the world discovered outside of us, or rather this space assumes a deformed character, marked by fears, prejudices, stereotypes or emotions. Does this space drive us to discover the truth, or is it rather the area where we uncritically accept the rules of the game imposed by others “dwellers” of that space? What should be done in order to prevent the pedagogical space from acquiring the features of totality, systematization, standardization, parameterization? What should be done in order to keep the proper ethos of the pedagogue as a “trumpeter of truth”? Author is trying to find some answers to the above questions seeking an inspiration in Jozef Tischner’s thought.