Thinking About Equity and Difference: Is It the Only Thing to Do?

The Rooted Route Of Justified Self-Interest: Kant, Blumenbach, Heglian Education Philosophy

We think that a starting point for dealing with this topic in the Philosophy of education, whatever the level of education, is the affirmation of the basic equality of all human beings, especially their equality in dignity (Siraz Chowdhury et al., 2023). We are all equally worthy of respect, worthy of rights, worthy of freedom and so many other things that are equally worthy. To be worthy is to be deserving of dignity. Hence the word dignity comes with rights and justice. We say that we all have the fundamental right to be respected for our dignity. We all have the right to respect our dignity as human beings. This is called the right to human dignity. In relation to this right, we are all equal. Because we are all equally human. And, in this equality, we also have the right to be different in the realization of our common or equal humanity. The richness of the human lies in the differentiation of ways to realize the basic equality of being human. Hence the idea that being different in the way we realize our equal humanity, we are all equally human beings.

It strikes us that the Greek language has three words to designate people, that is, human beings: Anthropos (the human being in general), guinea (the female human being), and Andros (the male human being). In the Portuguese language, we use the word “homem” both to designate human beings in general and to designate the male human being, just as we use the word woman to mean human beings. Could this indicate something? Perhaps an identification of the male human being as what most represents the human? To think. If we are correct in what we said about the Greek language, it seems to me that there is a clear indication in it that both male and female human beings are different and equal. Differences are unique manifestations of the fundamental equality of human beings that spread across Planet Earth, which, as equally human, manifest the wealth of possibilities of this “equal human being”: equal as human, equal as deserving (worthy) of respect for others. the human being and respected in their right to be human in their way, that is, differently. Whether as male or female, whether as a child, young person, adult or elderly person, whether as belonging to different ethnicities or races, whether as a speaker of different languages, whether as a member/producer of different cultures, whether as different ways of thinking and express, whether as a participant in different religions or even without participating in any of them, whether affiliated with this or that political party, whether as having chosen to fulfill their sexuality in one way or another, or through any other difference in the way of being people. Fundamentally, at the heart of being human, we are all equally worthy of respect. This is the principle defended here and which is reflected in the second principle: the right to realize equal humanity in different ways; the right to diversity which is an equal right for all humans.

And here it is important to note that principles have not been demonstrated. They are recognized as locations of departure (hence being principles, that is, what comes first, or at the beginning of an argument; not gratuitously, but also on account of some form of argumentation). Moreover, it is practical to suggest that this be subjected to critical study in Philosophy courses. Why are we willing to accept this principle? Thinking about a Country where diversity is the great riches of the human person who is one as human and various in its manifestations, Morin says something that can be presented here as an invitation to philosophical study in general and Philosophy Education in particular. As said in Chapter One, one needs to take coherence. The phrase “the rooted route of justified self-interest” refers to how certain philosophies, despite advocating for enlightenment and progress, can reinforce and justify certain forms of prejudice and self-interest. The philosophies of Immanuel Kant, Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel illustrate this concept. Immanuel Kant, a prominent Enlightenment philosopher, proposed that humans could transcend their instincts and prejudices through the application of reason. Nonetheless, some critics have noted that Kant's universal claims about human nature and morality frequently reflected his own cultural and social context. Influential Enlightenment philosopher Immanuel Kant believed in human reason as a means of comprehending the world and steering ethical behavior. According to his philosophy, human reason enables us to transcend our immediate inclinations, desires, and biases to comprehend universal truths and moral laws.