A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHICAL COURSES SYLLABY INMACEDONIAN AND CROATIAN HIGH SCHOOLS

Abstract

Abstract

The text, as part of a broader analysis within the University project “Theoretical and practical update of the syllabi for the philosophical subjects (philosophy, ethics, logic, aesthetics) for high-schools” by the Institute for philosophy at the Faculty of Philosophy in Skopje, offers a comparative study of the high school philosophical courses syllabi in Macedonia and in Croatia. The main points of focus are the didactical objectives and outlined contents of the subjects, set by the syllabi in both countries. The general data from the preliminary comparison shows similarities in the presence of courses, with certain differences in the status of the subjects and in the number of years that they get taken. The didactical goals are similar in both countries, as philosophical subjects are expected to teach students how to properly think, how to use reason and arguments, how to substantiate claims, carefully communicate, employ value-thinking, extend compassion and solidarity, and learn to position themselves in society and in the world. The major difference, although this is not amiss in the Macedonian system, is the insistence, across all three subjects in the Croatian system, on the formation of informed, engaged, active and democratic citizens, aware of their own identity and the duties and responsibilities it carries, capable of cooperation in all societal roles. The approach to the study of philosophical topics differs – the Croatian is through problems (core philosophical problems, or topics of inquiry, tackled non-chronologically), and the Macedonian is through a historical overview of emergence of issues, authors, tendencies in philosophy (except in the elective Philosophy course, where the broad outline of the course is quite close to the Croatian). The preliminary impressions of the study of both systems lead to the suggestion that it is beneficiary to have Philosophy with both a historical and a problematic approach, that Logic, due to the competencies it gives to students, should be obligatory in Macedonia, and Ethics should be taken for three or even four years, and that Aesthetics should be expanded to all art schools in Macedonia.