A razão cordial: uma alternativa frente ao fenômeno dos cursos livres online em educação

Abstract

This dissertation is dedicated to presenting the Cordial Reason theory - the "ethica cordis" - created by the Spanish philosopher Adela Cortina, as an alternative for understanding a phenomenon that is currently on ascencion: the offer of free online courses in education. The "ethica cordis" is concerned with establishing some criteria to live in a better world, more human, in which people not only coexist, but live together peacefully (CORTINA, 2007a). In face of it, we sought to investigate how the referred theory can contribute to bring to light strategies that represent a threat to the communicative potential of the internet. It started from the assumption that certain behaviors, which have been naturalized in cyberspace, are reducing shared knowledge to merchandise. For the development of the theme, bibliographic and documentary researches were used as technical procedures for data collection. Through the bibliographical research, an immersion in the concepts of the Theory of cordial reason was made and the proposal of Cortina for the establishment of an education for cordial citizenship was investigated in order to know what are the ethical principles that, in its conception, they should adopt in institutions. Through documentary research procedures, data was collected on the offer of free online courses. For the purpose of analysis, the largest digital business platform in Latin America, Hotmart, was selected. Thus, the strategies adopted by the company to capture content producers and sell their courses were investigated. After these two steps (bibliographic and documental research), the researched material was analysed. At the end of this phase, it was possible to confirm the existence of a series of positions driven by the maximization of profits, which have turned the internet into a favorable place for relationships dominated by a commercial logic. A fact that affects directly the area of education and contradicts the basic principles that guide the "ethica cordis". Based on this study, Adela Cortina's thought can be brought to rethink such postures, contributing to make virtual relationships based on knowledge sharing more human.