Paulo Freire: Power Point Carlos Mota, UTAD, 2018.

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire (1921-1997) was a Brazilian educator born in Recife. He graduated in law, which he practice. From 1941 to 1947 he was teacher of Portuguese. In 1959 he received his doctorate in Philosophy and History of Education. He was PhD of Philosophy and History of Education in 1961 at the University of Recife. He participated in an adult literacy campaign in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, neighboring Brazilian state (north) of Pernambuco (whose capital is the aforementioned city of Recife). President João Goulart appointed him in 1963, Chairman for the Popular Culture. With the military coup in 1964, he was jailed for about two months and exiled for fifteen years. During this period, he lived in Chile, going to Harvard in 1969 and then to Geneva for ten years.

He visited several African countries, especially the former Portuguese colonies, such as Guinea-Bissau, Angola, Mozambique and São Tomé and Príncipe. Back in Brazil, he taught at the University of São Paulo, and he was Secretary of Education of the city, elected by the Workers' Party. (PT, “Partido dos Trabalhadores”)

In the book Pedagogy of the Oppressed, he argued that education is sexist, racist and favors the powerful.

He developed a teaching method based in learning words that are already known by the student, and divided into syllables that can be recombined, resulting in the writing of new words.

For Paulo Freire, educating is liberating since the subject of education is the oppressed people, and it’s purpose is the people's liberation. Education is a political action. Paulo Freire rejects the liberal capitalism.

His theoretical work has taken over the idea of transformation of social reality from the educational activity, which is somehow a "return to Rousseau," in the late twentieth century. In fact, his pedagogy is considered "utopian and hopeful" by Maria Gabriela Bacelar.

According to that author, Paulo Freire proposes a pedagogy of liberation and transformation [that] must be utopian and hopeful and, future-oriented, built from dreams and faithful to the historical commitment requiring the criticism of the existing society and the will of a future better society."[1] [1], Maria Gabriela, "Violência e Educação, 7. Paulo Freire - Uma Pedagogia Utópica e Esperançosa", p. 123, artigo in Carvalho, Adalberto Dias de, (org.) Filosofia da Educação: Temas e Problemas, Afrontamento, Porto, 2001.

In his pedagogy Freire asserts the importance of otherness, "Since, in addition to recognizing the crucial role of intersubjectivity for the constitution of consciousness, the world and a project, and even to produce a more secure, aware and critical of the fact, he insists, especially in absolute value than the other should represent for the teacher, saying, therefore, the profound respect that it deserves."[2] [2]BACELAR, Maria Gabriela, "Violência e Educação, 7. Paulo Freire - Uma Pedagogia Utópica e Esperançosa", p. 123, artigo in Carvalho, Adalberto Dias de, (org.) Filosofia da Educação: Temas e Problemas, Afrontamento, Porto, 2001.

In this line of thought are the words of Paulo Freire: Paulo Freire believes that education can improve conditions of mankind. For Maria Gabriela Bacelar, The bases of its pedagogical project call, fall in Philosophical Pedagogy as this is established by Adalberto Carvalho. In this line of thought are the words of Paulo Freire:

"The invention involves the existence, repeat itself, necessarily, the language, culture and communication at deeper levels and complex than what occurred and occurs in the field of life, spiritualization the world the opportunity to beautify as “uglify” the world and all that inscribe women and men as ethical beings. " [3] [3]FREIRE, Paulo, Pedagogia da Autonomia, 15ª Ed., Paz e Terra, S. Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, 2000, p. 57.

Ethical concerns of Paulo Freire are also visible in the aforementioned work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, perhaps the most famous of all who wrote. "The violence of the oppressors, who is also dehumanized, it introduces another vocation - that of being less. How to be more distorted, the less takes the oppressed, sooner or later, the fight against those who made less. And this fight only makes sense when the oppressed, seek to regain his humanity, which is a way to create it, do not feel idealistically oppressors, or become, indeed, oppressive of the oppressors, but restorers of humanity in both." [4] [4]FREIRE, Paulo, Pedagogia do Oprimido, 29ª Ed., Paz e Terra, S. Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, 2000, p.30.

One must underline that "Paulo Freire was the Portuguese-speaking world's most renowned Educator. Considered by some, for example Roger Garaudy, as 'the greatest teacher of our time' was, without doubt, both of theoretical or practical intervention, each greatest pedagogues of all time. It is a mandatory reference when talking about literacy, adult education, popular education or community. You can agree or disagree with their point of view, it is nevertheless impossible to ignore its work .(...) Some 30 universities from different countries (USA, Canada, England, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Bolivia and El Salvador), awarded her an honorary doctorate” [5]. [5]APPLE, Michael, W. e NÓVOA, António (orgs) Paulo Freire: Política e Pedagogia, Porto Editora, Porto, 1998, pp 142-143.

Freire was one more person who realized that The teacher passes without rupture process [...] the passive experience as a student to conduct active as a teacher, unless it is placed, in many cases the meaning of educational, social and epistemological knowledge that they transmit or make their students learn.

The Pedagogy of Freire can be understood in the sense given by Yves Bertrand and Paul Valois, to what they call "crucial elements“. For these authors there are: a) Ecological dimension: the human person forgot or did not realize that it lives on earth. b) Societal dimension: the human person has forgotten or not yet realized that living with others. c) Praxeological dimension: the human person forgot or have not found that any individual decision or action has consequences for other people, society and the biophysical environment. d) Cosmic dimension: the human person has not yet discovered a living process of human evolution. e) Spiritual dimension: the human person has forgotten or not yet realized its union with all that exists. "[7] [7]BERTRAND, Yves and VALOIS, Paul, “Paradigmas Educacionais escola e sociedades, Instituto Piaget, Lisboa, 1994, p. 188”.

The work of Freire has a deep humanist root respectful of the 'other', the way of “Utopia” that it embodies. "More urgent is all this web anthropological when it obliges us to rethink, in our days, in the technological society where the issue of violence not only has to do with my relationship with another human being (who, knowing or knowing how I do another one, is my contemporary), but still with all who will succeed me in my time and are potential victims."[8] [8]CARVALHO, Adalberto Dias de, "A Filosofia da Educação Perspectivas e Perplexidades" in Filosofia da Educação: Temas e Problemas, Afrontamento, Porto, 2001, p.25.