Truth-speaking as a tool to reinsert violence into education

Abstract

Contrary to the common opinion which seeks to condemn violence in education and promote a state of peace, education is not violent enough when it does not allow for an interrogation of the systemic and symbolic dimension of violence. The concept of parresía or truth-speaking, coined by Michel Foucault, constitutes a useful tool to reinsert a necessary element of violence into education. It serves to break with the implicit presuppositions in a philosophy of education that seeks to establish a state of peace by focusing its attention on the relation between words and things on the one hand, and by diverting attention from the lived opposition between committed individuals on the other hand. Parresía links the speaker’s commitment, the appeal to the interlocutor, and the encompassing reality of the relationship between them. It can thus give a new direction to philosophy of education in the Latin American context consisting in creating a space of freedom to speak truths. However, this proposal is not without its difficulties, and it notably contains at least two paradoxes for further study and confrontation. The first is that the educator is required at the same time to mobilize their students to commit to speaking their truths, and to be an object of critique in those truths. The second is that speaking truthfully is at the same time a constant exercise in critique of the other, and a creative work of oneself, albeit without a fixed objective.