Vindication of the school as a fostering space for democratic experiences: Conceptual approach to moral practices of recognition and respect

Abstract

We vindicate something when we defend, especially in writing, something or someone who has been reviled, slandered or unjustly treated. It is true that nowadays this verb is more difficult to use, but in this work it is not only to argue in favor of something or someone, but to defend something, in this case schools. This paper will maintain that schools, the special temporary and spatial conditions they offer, make them a propitious place to cultivate two fundamental moral practices for the possibility, continuity and extension of democracy: recognition and respect. After clarifying what is meant here mean by «moral practices», the paper will turn to Axel Honneth and Richard Sennett respectively for the development of the conceptual content of each one of these practices. The paper hopes to provide strong arguments to stress how schools are, by their peculiar characteristics, a preferred place for immersion in these moral practices which foster democratic life experiences.