L'école des philosophes: La dissertation de philosophie au baccalauréat

In: Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales, Band 47, Heft 1, S. 21-36

Abstract

Philosophers at school.
The philosophy dissertation is officially defined as the condition and sign of «free», «personal» thinking but it derives a number of its features from the constraints bearing on the scholastic discipline. On the one hand, there are internal constraints of self-reproduction, on the other, the external constraints of adjustement to a large audience of lay readers. This scholastic exercise is the most economical way of reaching the higher levels of the cultural hierarchies. Its main characteristics are a «meaning effect» and a «supersession effect».