The aim of this study is to investigate the potential relationship between human and life sciences. I am indebted to my experience within the Interfaculty Program in Movement and Sport Sciences at the University of Perugia, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Faculty of Education, and its didactic and scientific laboratory. As my field is pedagogy, education is both the subject and the “pretext” to carry out this reflection with a view towards epistemological, anthropological, and ethical suggestions. Key points: Pedagogy is a human science, a reflection on human beings and their possibilities for becoming and need to become persons [educabilis – educandus] (implies that they are first human beings and then persons!). Education is described as the action of a culture on a particular nature (Ulmann, 1987). Pedagogy can thus be regarded as “an integrated science” whose task is “to develop the theories that guide actions in education”: improving interpersonal relationships and well-being in human life involves not only information, but understanding the whole situation of an acting person (Röthig, 1987), which implies a meaning. If biology precedes, culture transcends (Ayala, 1998). There is a need for new competence, both epistemological and hermeneutical, education of new professionals which is at once pedagogical and philosophical, and an extra-empirical grounding of the evidence examined (Russo, 2000). For example, a physician may not have a monopoly on the knowledge, but the understanding and appraisal of that knowledge require professional education and training (Chantler, 2002). Conclusion: The relationship between life sciences and humanities is more than an ideal: now it is a need, mostly because of advances in technology and genetics. Human creativity may be regarded as a complex biological property (Coffey, 1998). Ethical behavior can be considered as a distinctive human trait, but there are causal connections between human ethics and human biology (Ayala, 1998). We must consider the human as a value and pedagogy as a science between ethics and politics, science and art [techne]. Rapid changes in society can be faced by theory and praxis which surmount the opposition between scientific and technical knowledge and the humanities and promote a relationship between science and philosophy. Pedagogical reflection on nature and human beings brings out the complex relations among all their dimensions. “Culture transcends: I provide you with care and not only treat you” (Verzé, 2002).
Pedagogy Between Life Sciences and the Humanities: Anthropological, Ethical and Epistemological Suggestions for a Human Life Science
FARINELLI, Giovanna
2006
Abstract
The aim of this study is to investigate the potential relationship between human and life sciences. I am indebted to my experience within the Interfaculty Program in Movement and Sport Sciences at the University of Perugia, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and Faculty of Education, and its didactic and scientific laboratory. As my field is pedagogy, education is both the subject and the “pretext” to carry out this reflection with a view towards epistemological, anthropological, and ethical suggestions. Key points: Pedagogy is a human science, a reflection on human beings and their possibilities for becoming and need to become persons [educabilis – educandus] (implies that they are first human beings and then persons!). Education is described as the action of a culture on a particular nature (Ulmann, 1987). Pedagogy can thus be regarded as “an integrated science” whose task is “to develop the theories that guide actions in education”: improving interpersonal relationships and well-being in human life involves not only information, but understanding the whole situation of an acting person (Röthig, 1987), which implies a meaning. If biology precedes, culture transcends (Ayala, 1998). There is a need for new competence, both epistemological and hermeneutical, education of new professionals which is at once pedagogical and philosophical, and an extra-empirical grounding of the evidence examined (Russo, 2000). For example, a physician may not have a monopoly on the knowledge, but the understanding and appraisal of that knowledge require professional education and training (Chantler, 2002). Conclusion: The relationship between life sciences and humanities is more than an ideal: now it is a need, mostly because of advances in technology and genetics. Human creativity may be regarded as a complex biological property (Coffey, 1998). Ethical behavior can be considered as a distinctive human trait, but there are causal connections between human ethics and human biology (Ayala, 1998). We must consider the human as a value and pedagogy as a science between ethics and politics, science and art [techne]. Rapid changes in society can be faced by theory and praxis which surmount the opposition between scientific and technical knowledge and the humanities and promote a relationship between science and philosophy. Pedagogical reflection on nature and human beings brings out the complex relations among all their dimensions. “Culture transcends: I provide you with care and not only treat you” (Verzé, 2002).I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
