Using philosophy for guidance in Italian schools

Abstract

Philosophy, with its questions about the meaning of existence and the nature of knowledge, deeply enters into each individual's search for their own identity and their place in the world. However, it can only fulfill this guiding function if education does not reduce it to a repertoire of topics to talk about, but instead continues to make it alive with authentic problems to confront. Its role, like that of any discipline, is not to provide answers but to exercise each individual's competence in self-orientation. The specific contribution of philosophical competence is the subject of this article, which reads the official documents of the Italian school in order to offer an interpretation for colleagues' discussion.