Political relations between philogenic-ontogenic metaphor and “being an adult” as school tellers

Abstract

There are occasions in which, instead of a referentially rigorous, formalized, structured
and controlled language, sciences appeal to explanatory resources that do not come from the
disciplinary activity itself. In time, this phenomenon creates metaphors that eventually become part
of the common scientific lexicon, as they are effective in increasing our understanding. However,
should the metaphors be removed, very many scientific explanations would not sustain, given that
their own meaning does not depend on other ‘more literal’ expressions. The phylogeny-ontogeny
metaphor had a very strong influence in the way that, for example, the emerging anthropology and
sociology, but also pedagogy, would think about human being and society. Through the analysis
of bibliographical sources and specialized papers, this paper seeks to carry out a modest analysis
of its internal logic in order to examine some of the effects this metaphor has in the educational
field. It does not stand for getting rid of all metaphors, but rather for gaining awareness of how they
hinder divergent ways of thinking. It is especially interesting to stand out that the aforementioned
metaphor has sustained the construction of a body of knowledge about childhood and education
which works before the concrete realization of any educational situation. The problem is that this a
priori knowledge, in the manner of epistemological obstacles, restricts the emergency of new ideas
and/or solutions for the difficulties schooling is facing today.