DIALOGUE BETWEEN MATHEMATICS AND PHILOSOPHY IN HIGH SCHOOL: AN ACCOUNT OF AN INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPERIENCE

Abstract

Within the understanding that interdisciplinarity allows students to mobilize knowledge from two or more disciplines for a broader and more critical view of a given theme, and based on the understanding that the histories of Mathematics and Philosophy are intimately related, this work presents an account of an interdisciplinary activity proposed as a task applied to high school students. The activity began with the division of the class into five groups of four people and one group of three people. Once the groups were formed, a list of approximately one hundred thinkers who contributed to the development of Mathematics and Philosophy, from the pre-Socratic period to the modern era, was provided. Each group was to choose one thinker and present an oral (ten minutes) and written (two pages) work that addressed the historical context in which the thinker was situated, their contributions to both areas of knowledge, and the relationship between philosophical and mathematical thought. At the end of each presentation, the teachers provided feedback on the work, questioned the members of the presenting group, and opened the floor for questions from the class. Among the results obtained, we can mention the deconstruction of the idea that disciplines in the humanities have no relation to disciplines in the exact sciences, the understanding that the development of Mathematics is related to the historical and philosophical context of each era, and the understanding of the distancing of these two disciplines over the years.