The body-mind parallelism in Spinoza

(im)pertinent notes for education

Abstract

This paper aims to extract some reflexive and critical notes for the education field from the theory of parallelism between body and mind that exists in Spinoza´s philosophy. Therefore, the methodology is based on conceptual studies focusing on parts II and III of the work Ethics. Mapping six conceptions that would form psychophysical parallelism, this text circumscribes criticisms of the dominant educational paradigm, as well as some possibilities for its transformation. Bringing, for example, the conceptions that the object of the ideas in the mind are primarily the affections of the body and that, even so, parallelism preserves the autonomy between the attributes of thought and extension, we intend here to draw the critical notation that an educational process can only be potent when it regards with equal importance the strength of the intellect and the force of the body sensibility. Thus, it will become clear that learning will no longer be guided by privileging abstract ideas to the detriment of the body, rather studies will also be focused on affections. Finally, it is concluded that a pedagogy capable of understanding the parallelism between body and thought will consider the power of mutual potentiation that exists between the two attributes, in order to conceive the joy and amplification of realities as its greatest purpose.