Sitting before me is one of this country\u2019s most important thinkers<\/strong>, whose reflections scratch Mexico\u2019s deepest wounds: gender and violence, abuse, injustice, exclusion, and inequality. Dora Elvira has a fixed and attentive gaze, as if she were digging into the internal world of whoever she is looking at.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She notices my interest in a painting hanging over her head behind her desk. \u201cIt\u2019s the School of Athens… <\/a>Raphael painted each philosopher according to what they thought,\u201d she explains. Explaining is her vocation, beginning over four decades ago when she became a teacher. Aristotle is pointing at the spectator: \u201cAs he spoke about context\u201d (ideas are based on the physical world). \u201cPlato is pointing at the sky because he speaks about topos hyperuranios (the \u201creal\u201d world is the spiritual realm of abstract ideas).\u201d I decide it best to lower my gaze to the physical world, her crowded desk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What\u2019s your research process like?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I read. One book takes you to another book, and that one takes you to another. I make notes in the margins and underline things. My desk is so untidy because I work on many books at once. I get up at 6:30 a.m. At that time, I\u2019m happy to sit at my desk and read in absolute silence, drinking coffee and water. Reading steals a lot of time away from spending time with my husband. Here, I read books for research. I read literature on the couch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Born in 1957, Dora Elvira was the third of five children in a family from San Pedro de los Pinos: \u201cI used to go cycling with my friends; I\u2019ve always loved cycling. It was a peaceful neighborhood of families who all knew each other. We\u2019d all relax in Pombo park,\u201d she recalls.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n What was the intellectual life of your family like? <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I grew up surrounded by books. Although my dad was a public accountant, he encouraged his children to read. He recommended books to us from his extensive library. In the evenings, he\u2019d read on the couch in his room. At the weekends, he\u2019d go into his study to read about history and philosophy. Classical music was also important: I took flamenco classes and learned to play piano and accordion from an early age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Besides my family, I was also influenced by my school: Colegio Madrid. They were teachers with revolutionary left-wing ideas who\u2019d been exiled from Spain, who influenced my thirst for knowledge. Anger and my desire to build a better world have marked me since elementary school. At high school, my teacher Laura Freij\u00f3o introduced me to philosophy. She suggested authors such as Ortega y Gasset, for whom philosophy was marked by its time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dora Elvira received the Romulo Garza Insignia Award in 2020,<\/a> the highest recognition a Tec researcher can receive. Her study is a universe of objects, a kind of museum that serves thought: sculptures, pens, photos, pages covered in handwriting, China seals, a Don Quixote bookmark, a printer, a glass of water, folders, a cup of coffee, and Dali\u2019s melted clock (life here runs counterclockwise).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Which books made an impression on you when you were little?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Little Women<\/em>, and from Mexican literature, The Bandits from R\u00edo Fr\u00edo<\/em> by Manuel Payno, and Clemencia<\/em> by Manuel Altamirano.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why did you study philosophy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To understand inequality, injustice, exclusion, and poverty. I wanted to study at the UNAM, but my dad refused because of all the strikes: the 1968 movement was brimming over. I studied at Universidad Iberoamericana, which questioned the status quo less. Although the Jesuits were open, brave, and committed to society, their line was a religious one. We barely studied Marxism. At the UIA, my interest inclined toward political ethics, theories of justice, overcoming violence, and philosophy of peace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n What was it like studying philosophy in a sexist country?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I got married very young and my desire to teach was questioned. It wasn\u2019t the path marked out for me by society; it wasn\u2019t a matter for debate in my home, but I put my foot down: I wanted to teach after college. My dad asked me: \u201cWhy work if your husband Jos\u00e9 Luis already has a job? You\u2019re in charge of raising your kids; you\u2019ll neglect them.\u201d But he wasn\u2019t going to limit my passion. I spent ten years studying for a master\u2019s and a PhD while bringing up three kids and giving classes. I did everything I had to, although the moms of my kids\u2019 friends excluded me because I didn\u2019t go to their breakfasts or inconsequential meetings. They thought: \u201cPoor woman, she has to give classes.\u201d They didn\u2019t know that I was fortunate to give classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dora Elvira, who is the Coordinator of the UNESCO Chair for Ethics, Culture of Peace, and Human Rights, <\/strong><\/a>author of books such as <\/em>Del poder pol\u00edtico al amor al mundo, <\/em>Hermen\u00e9utica anal\u00f3gica, pol\u00edtica y cultura, and <\/em>\u00c9tica, profesi\u00f3n y ciudadan\u00eda<\/a>, knows how to listen. She looks you in the eye, never interrupts, and keeps long silences before answering. Before responding, she processes the words that she doles out.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Describe yourself as a teacher.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve prepared my classes all my life; I make a lesson plan. But if there are any questions or detours to current issues, I go off course. What students say is as important and valuable as what I have to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How do you feel you can improve in that area?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I have an immense challenge: translating complicated and deep subjects for students with prejudices about philosophy. They think that all you have to do is make big speeches. They\u2019re prejudiced about any form of self-examination. Philosophy raises awareness: the kids who are going to run companies or public agencies can help make a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Should philosophy be taught to children?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It would be a great success. Children are deeply philosophical: they question everything. School stops them asking questions; kids who ask a lot of questions are made to feel uncomfortable. Critical children could become capable people in any subject. If nobody shuts them up and puts them in their place, they ask questions, find problems, they\u2019re critical (her hand comes down on the table three times to mark these phrases, making her bracelets shake).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is the current government unphilosophical? The official line is: \u201cDon\u2019t question, don\u2019t ask; the world is black and white.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Polarizations are a huge mistake. They don\u2019t provide solutions to a society that is already divided, resentful, and iniquitous. Valuable thinking is not just about black and white, but the gray spaces in between, not whether we toe the official line or not. There\u2019s a lot of regressive thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She began giving classes at the Tec 20 years ago \u201cto help students think clearly and understand the world through philosophy.\u201d Her academic community introduced \u201ccross-cutting ethics\u201d so that reflections on humanity from different disciplines were close to what professors, directors, and employees were doing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are thousands of books everywhere, in front and behind. Dora Elvira, who holds a master\u2019s and a PhD from the UNAM, an Insignia Award from the Tec, and was Research Director at the School of Education, Humanities, and Social Sciences at the Tec,<\/a> as well as director of the institution\u2019s journal <\/em>En-claves del Pensamiento,<\/em><\/a> is embraced by a world of books. Looking around at random, I spot <\/em>Utopia and Disenchantment by Claudio Magris; <\/em>Time of the Magicians by Wolfram Eilenberger; and one of her own: <\/em>Trascender la violencia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which book would you suggest reading to someone taking up philosophy?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Human Condition<\/em> by Hannah Arendt. It\u2019s enlightening. She opened my eyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you\u2019ve received the Mujer Tec Award for your research on gender perspective, what do you think of feminism in Mexico?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Although we\u2019ve made progress, there\u2019s a lot of reticence due to a lack of knowledge and prejudice. Feminism implies involving the masculine: men and women lose in this system. We have to deconstruct the model so that both can live to the full.<\/strong> We need our higher education to investigate and speak about it. If youngsters don\u2019t stop to think about the importance of these subjects and don\u2019t do the theoretical work, it will be hard to make any change. For instance, they have to know that women everywhere have spoken up about ecocide. They look at the farms, the polluted water, and the lack of water because it was taken out of the springs nearby or because it doesn\u2019t rain anymore after the forests were cut down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What does the School of Humanities want to do now?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To provide instruments for being critical, valuing the dignity of people and their actions, from human perspectives and not necessarily from the statistical, technological, and economic perspectives the world is suffering from. It seeks to build a better world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This mother of three is now a grandmother: \u201cI enjoy and dedicate myself body and soul to my grandchildren. I read them stories, we run around in the garden, and we play ball. I have many things to do, but I give them quality time.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Time, as always. Elvira looks at the clock and gets up. The interview is over: there are many things to do.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Winner of the 2023 Mujer Tec Award due to her promotion of gender equality and eradication of violence, remarks that Mexico would overcome many of its big problems if philosophy were an integral part of education from childhood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":157362,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_eb_attr":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[89],"tags":[123],"class_list":["post-157360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-social","tag-meet-the-scientist"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Family](\"https:\/\/tecscience.tec.mx\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/05\/WhatsApp-Image-2023-05-15-at-11.04.29-AM.webp\")
\r\n <\/picture>The importance of teaching philosophy <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
To build a better world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n