Mimesis, poetic education, and inclusive teaching


Abstract:

An ever-increasing number of scholars belonging to diverse disciplinary fields have been turning their attention towards mimetic studies. Those studies in affirming the centrality of mimesis in learning processes and the definition of human beings as mimetic animals par excellence have had a remote beginning dating back to Plato and Aristotle. The intent of the present study is to reread, through a hermeneutic educational philosophical procedure, those ancient pages in the light of the most recent studies. The intent is to hypothesize didactics that, by constructing itself poetically and not only rationally, can constitute itself as inclusive, because it is able to respond to the deep needs of those who present learning and behavioural difficulties. Educational modalities that ignore the poetic dynamisms that characterize processes of humanization unwittingly find themselves feeding those difficulties, creating distances between students and, at times, accentuating discomfort.