When the Content to Be Taught Is a Norm

Roth Xavier

doi:10.24117/2526-2270.2018.i4.07

Abstract

It has become customary since Foucault to present Canguilhem as a man whose work is voluntarily restricted to a particular domain of the history of science. Yet the current edition of his Complete Works reveals that Canguilhem has never considered himself a true historian of science. If he traced “the history of the formation, deformation and rectification of scientific concepts”, it is above all to nurture his profession of professor of philosophy with “unknown material”. On the assumption that Canguilhem subordinates the history of science to teaching, this article will try to make a further step and show that its inter-regional approach of knowledge can serve as a paradigm in educational sciences, when the knowledge to be transmitted is a-disciplinary and has a strong normative dimension.

Highlights

In 1987, Canguilhem received the prestigious gold medal from the French “Centre National de Recherche Scientifique”
Considering that the philosophical practice consists essentially in an examination of the 66 relations between heterogeneous values, Canguilhem fully follows in the footsteps of Kant
This philosopher, where is he? Barring usurpation, it can only be found in the world of Ideas, as a regulative ideal of philosophical activity which aims at the harmonious articulation between the True, the Good and the Beautiful. This is why Canguilhem has always refused the title of philosopher: if one can only learn to philosophize, the philosopher is only a professor of philosophy. It does not have the power of the philosopher to fix definitively the sense of the hierarchy of values included in the experience; but as a professor of philosophy, it is his task to make these axiological conflicts appear, to rely on his knowledge of the different ways in which the great authors of the tradition have striven to coordinate these values, in order to enlighten the individual’s judgment today

Summary

Introduction

In 1987, Canguilhem received the prestigious gold medal from the French “Centre National de Recherche Scientifique”. Considering that the philosophical practice consists essentially in an examination of the 66 relations between heterogeneous values, Canguilhem fully follows in the footsteps of Kant.

Results

Conclusion