Neither angels nor demons: human introduction to education for citizenship

Abstract

Are we really the noble, charitable and good human beings by nature, something that sets us apart from other living beings, as the eighteenth-century illustrated thought? Or rather is the human being on all his behaviours a perfect egoist who pursues only his particular benefits? In the best of cases would he intend to give his behaviours an appearance of altruism and common good under those he would hide his unmentionable purposes? With these issues, we get into an interesting territory of political philosophy that extends to the social sciences such as economics, anthropology, sociobiology and psychology. A quick review of different fields of philosophical and scientific thought, shows us that at this moment in time the responses are aligned around two opposing positions: homo economicus and homo reciprocans. Psychology teaches us also that being the human both at the same time, we can have more of one soul than of the other. The predominance of one or the other will depend on the social and educational model in which we grew up. The curriculum of Education for Citizenship is the appropriate scope for the development of the abilities of the homo reciprocans.