FILOZOFSKO OBRAZOVANJE I MENTALNO ZDRAVLJE: PARADOKSALNI ZAHTEVI I RADIKALNO MIŠLJENJE
PHILOSOPHICAL EDUCATION AND MENTAL HEALTH: PARADOXICAL DEMANDS AND RADICAL THINKING

Summary/Abstract: This text offers a radical critique of the contemporary educational system through the theoretical lenses of Althusser’s theory of ideological apparatuses, Gramsci’s concept of hegemony, and Lacanian psychoanalysis. The educational apparatus, as the dominant state ideological apparatus in modern capitalist society, plays a pivotal role in shaping subjects conditioned to reproduce existing productive and ideological relations. Althusser’s theory of interpellation reveals how schools, under the guise of imparting neutral knowledge and skills, mold individuals to “voluntarily” internalize social roles that sustain capitalist exploitation, repression, and ideological reproduction. Conversely, Gramsci’s notion of hegemony highlights the potential for active resistance – emphasizing the role of the organic intellectual, namely the teacher, in challenging this hegemonic order. This struggle is imperative, given the paradoxical and anomic demands inherent in education – such as the injunction to cultivate empathy within a context of relentless competition – which undermine the mental well–being of both students and educators. Hence, education not only produces political subjects but exacts a significant psychological toll in the process. Rather than serving as a critical corrective, philosophy often becomes complicit in this dynamic. Lacan’s critique of the “corruption of philosophy” illustrates how it can be co-opted into preserving the ideological status quo. The teaching of philosophy, alongside the call for “mental health,” frequently operates as an instrument of interpellation mechanisms through which subjects are directed toward self-adaptation within the existing class structure. Instead of liberating, philosophy education often forms part of the ideological apparatus that enforces norms and illusory aims such as enjoyment, empathy, and mental tranquility, while simultaneously generating alienation, obedience, and conformity. Institutional definitions of mental health, such as those promulgated by the World Health Organization, strip the concept of its philosophical and ethical dimensions, reducing it to normative functionality and adaptation. The classroom is far from a neutral space; it is a battleground where social contradictions are reproduced and thus must be continually reimagined and politically reclaimed. In this regard, philosophy must resist being reduced to ritualistic observances, mere “calendar marking,” or the depoliticization of pedagogy. It must once again become a site of struggle against its own degradation – a constant dialogue about what it means to be a subject in a society that demands functionality rather than freedom. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis and the radical philosophical tradition, and rejecting adaptive, normative notions of mental health, the function of education – and especially of philosophy teaching – is not to assimilate the subject into the existing social order, but to empower them to recognize and interrogate the symbolic structures that shape them. This includes the figure of the father, the law, and fundamental signifiers. Within this process, philosophy becomes a tool of resistance and emancipation: it should enable the student to move from a position of passive victimhood to that of an active subject who thinks, acts, and learns autonomously. The philosophy teacher should not embody authoritarianism, but rather act as a facilitator of symbolization and critical reflection. Ultimately, the goal of education is to empower students to assume responsibility for their own thinking and actions – to become, in effect, the educators of their educators. Authentic education does not integrate but subverts, creating the possibility for subjects to act from freedom rather than mere functionality. The challenge of the alienated classroom is taken up by Rancière, who, unlike Althusser, refuses to reduce education solely to a mechanism of interpellation and instead strives to transform the classroom into a space of equality and emancipation.

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