MOVING TOWARDS AN AGE OF RECONCILIATION: SOCRATIC EDUCATION AS A MEANS TO RECONCILE WITH OUR SETTLER COLONIALIST HISTORY

Abstract

The purpose of my paper is to examine the settler colonialist sentiments that are systemically intertwined within Canadian society in relation to Canada’s Indigenous population. In doing so, I aim to highlight that Canada’s practices and sentiments surrounding Indigenous people are unjust in nature. Furthermore, I demonstrate that the Platonic praxis in relation to those deemed “other” as well as the educational program geared towards that practice demonstrated in Plato’s Republic can guide Canadian society towards becoming a more just polis in relation to its practices of knowledge surrounding Indigenous peoples. To begin, I highlight that the current state of Canadian society, out of which a process of re-education may begin, parallels the starting point from which characters such as Thrasymachus and Polemarchus are re-educated in Plato’s Republic. I then delve into the educational process highlighted in The Republic itself, examining what this process might look like in Canadian society. Specifically, I discuss three steps Plato’s educational ideology that Canada can take in the pursuit of justice. My paper reaches the conclusion that if society is to be re-educated, our ideas of what it means for someone to be "other," and what it means to serve justice to the "other" must be shifted. Further, the process of reconciliation will be difficult and painful, yet ultimately it is our pathway towards a more just existence. Finally, I conclude that we must be accountable as individuals for the shifting of the settler colonialist fabric of our society.