SPINOZA'S PHILOSOPHICAL IMPLICATIONS ON CONATUS, ETHICS AND PRAXIS IN THE CONTEMPORARY TEACHER

Abstract

The pedagogical approach developed under the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, in its aspects such as conatus, freedom, and nature, allows for the integration and analysis of pedagogical practice in the country. Conatus, as a vital impulse that seeks to defend oneself against death and to overcome limitations, acts as the driving force behind action, whether individual or collective. In the case of education in Colombia, teachers are not only educators; they are also, by the very nature of their work, managers of their passions and emotions, and this is an aspect that influences their capacity to teach, which subsequently becomes a tool for the transformation of society. Using a qualitative and phenomenological approach, this work studies how teachers' work is determined by their experiences, intrapsychic conflicts, affectivity, and reason, as well as their interaction with their social and political context. The results indicate that, in the case of social transformation, action, understood as freedom, is fundamental to our conclusions. In this sense, it can be affirmed that education is not only the acquisition of knowledge for the exercise of academic competence, but must be integrated so that education produces freedom, social justice, and collective well-being, and that education and its educational institutions must foster these outcomes.