EDUCATION, ALTERITY AND LIBERATION: DIALOGUES BETWEEN LEVINAS, DUSSEL AND PAULO FREIRE

Abstract

This article aims to understand the categories of Self and Other, manifested as central concepts in the philosophies of Emmanuel Levinas and Enrique Dussel, as ethical-reflective foundations for the construction of autonomy and liberation in the educational context. From this perspective, rural education is analyzed as a pedagogical proposal capable of articulating Levinasian, Dusselian, and Freirean principles, guiding educational practices that go beyond a merely cognitive approach and are rooted in an ethics of liberation. In this direction, the Western Self is displaced in favor of the infinitude of the Other, whose presence is revealed as inexhaustible alterity and not as an absolute entity, establishing a new ontology centered on relationship and ethical responsibility. The study shows how humanization is realized in the self/other relationship, constituting an ethics of radicality oriented towards life and unconditional respect for the Other. The research that underpins this text adopts a qualitative approach of a theoretical-bibliographical nature, based on the analysis and critical interpretation of philosophical and pedagogical works that address the categories of Self, Other, ethics, alterity, and liberation. It is also characterized as an exploratory and hermeneutical investigation, proposing the interpretation of philosophical categories in light of the educational field. According to Gadamer (1999), hermeneutics makes it possible to understand the text in its historicity and in dialogue with the present, an essential aspect for transposing concepts such as the "face of the Other" and the "ethics of liberation" to the realm of contemporary educational practice. This research is based on bibliographic and documentary study, involving reading, systematization, and critical analysis of primary and secondary sources, as well as official documents that guide rural education in Brazil, such as the Operational Guidelines for Basic Education in Rural Schools (CNE/CEB Resolution No. 1/2002) and the National Policy for Rural Education (2010). These references allow for contextualizing philosophical reflection within the scope of public policies and pedagogical practices aimed at emancipation and social justice.