Who are the idiots, after all?

• Published in: Pro-posições Vol. 29; no. 1; p. 153
• Main Authors: Hamilton Viana Chaves, Maia Osterne Nonato Filho, Vasconcelos Jimenez, Maria Susana, Betânea Moreira de Moraes
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Campinas Universidade Estadual de Campinas - Unicamp; Faculdade de Educação - Revista Pró-Posições 01-01-2018
• Subjects: Ontology; Theory
• ISSN: 0103-7307; 1980-6248
• DOI: 10.1590/1980-6248-2016-0167

The participant of the polis, in its Greek meaning, was the one who deliberated over the collective life. The condition of manifested disinterest toward the state was denominated by the Greek as Ïδιoς (idiótes), from which the term “idiot” derives. In the tension between gnosiology and ontology, the idiot will be located throughout the modern thought. In the current conjuncture of sociability, the following question may be asked: who are the idiots, after all? Under the condition of a theoretical essay, this discussion aims, from a critical perspective, to show signs for such a condition. In this direction, it is pointed out that today the idiots would compose what is called the majority. Moreover, the study leads to the belief that, from the circumstances of sociability in the context of Greek citizenship until the various transitions and representations of capitalist society, one of the central challenges to human existence lies in the complex of individual-gender relationships.