Page - 144 - in Reflective Cosmopolitanism - Educating towards inclusive communities through Philosophical Enquiry

144 REfLECTIvE COsMOPOLITANIsM Representative democracy is in danger of taking the possibility of active participation in political life away from the citizens, who, through the mechanism of delegation, are relieved of any responsibility and lose interest in what should concern them and in debate, exchange, and critical reflection. How can this danger be avoided? What do your students think? Activity: The majority and the minority Imagine that the head teacher has asked you to paint your classroom and to change the arrangement of your desks, the teacher’s desk and the blackboard. The head teacher has given you carte blanche: you can use one color or cover the wall with murals. You have to choose colours or the theme of the murals and everything that concerns the re- arrangement of the items in the classroom. Put forward several proposals and explain the reasons for supporting one over the other. When, after a discussion, you identify two or three proposals, put them to a vote. There will probably be one proposal chosen by the majority. Now ask each other why the other proposals were not voted for, and ask the people belonging to the minority whether they are in anyway satisfied with the final choice. If this is not the case, will the majority be able to convince the others that the final choice is the right one? Can it happen that, instead, it is the minority that convinces the majority to repeat the vote in reference to the other proposals Activity: The assembly Divide students into two groups. Ask each group to identify an issue to debate and solve. The issue could be a real one, such as extending the time for the break between classes or when to plan exams. Each group will have to identify who is the recipient of the request (for instance, the principal in the case of the break, or a teacher in the case of exams) and choose a spokesperson. The spokesperson should be chosen, not elected, and this implies a preliminary discussion during which each group must explain the good reasons and criteria for the choice. Subsequently, each group will debate how to submit the request to its respective audience, what are the reasons they gave, and what are the expected outcomes. Later, every spokesperson will ex- plain his or her group’s request to the other group as if he or she were speaking to the official addressee. Which spokesperson will succeed in correctly reporting what had been discussed during each group’s assembly? Episode 5: Tolerant? Who? Leading Idea 1: Tolerance In a cosmopolitan framework, it is important to think about various perspectives on the meaning of tolerance. It is very difficult to define tolerance without taking into account what it means according to common sense. The principle of tolerance first arose to pro- mote the peaceful co-existence between different religions. Indeed, the problem of reli- gious tolerance was tackled mainly during the Enlightenment, when the most prominent intellectuals lashed out at the irrationality of religious intolerance, which was dominant especially in Catholic states. Over time, tolerance has taken on a wider meaning, which comprises the notion of a pluralism of values on which contemporary society is based.