Autoridade e tradição : a crise intergeracional que afeta a educação e o mundo moderno

Abstract

This work presents a reflection on the relationship between the concepts of authority, tradition and education in the thinking of Hannah Arendt. The author addresses these issues based on the educational crisis. Authority, in the Arendtian conception, corresponds to the responsibility that the adult assumes in relation to the preservation of the world, and tradition, means respect for the experiences of the ancestors. The concept of natality in Arendt, is fundamental because it represents the essence of education, and concerns the birth of newcomers who will be able to act and change the world. In this context of the Arendtian conceptual web, the crisis of authority and tradition in education is analyzed as displacement or disappearance of adults' responsibility towards newcomers in the world. So adults lose the ability to pass on the inheritance to children who are educated in the private space and in the school institution. Thus, the transmission of knowledge, supported by teaching and learning in education, is affected by an intergenerational crisis. This dissertation investigates how this intergenerational crisis influenced the relationship between adults and children. Understanding the crisis provides an opportunity to reflect on the relevance of children's education for the relationships they will establish in the future as free adults in the public space and in their constitution as individuals in civilization. Given this context, we discussed how the crisis deepened to such an extent that the newcomers themselves transferred the responsibility lost by adults to the access of information, arisen with the arrival of the digital revolution. However, in our analysis, we consider that access to information is not education. Reflecting on the crisis of authority and tradition, based on the intergenerational crisis, may mean that education is the space that must be preserved to sustain the relationship between generations. It is up to the adult to ensure his promise to present the legacy of a world, allowing access to the threads of tradition, so that newcomers assume this heritage and can relate as singular beings with human plurality.