A idéia central da dissertação é explicitar a filosofia da educação subjacente às práticas do Opus Dei e discutir criticamente estas práticas. A contribuição principal do trabalho será a demonstração de que a concepção de educação do Opus Dei tem como objetivo a formação de indivíduos submissos em grau universal e irrestrito. Serão também explicitados os meios utilizados pela instituição para obter este objetivo. A natureza do trabalho é a de uma pesquisa teórica que além da bibliografia usual inclui o exame de diversos casos e testemunhos. O objeto a ser pesquisado se subdivide nos textos produzidos pelo Opus Dei (de autoria de seu fundador, o espanhol Josemaría Escrivá, e de seus seguidores) e no que podemos chamar de educação informal do Opus Dei, que são as atividades levadas a cabo nas casas da instituição. O objetivo visado, portanto, é trazer à luz uma análise científica sobre as práticas educacionais do Opus Dei e seus reflexos no indivíduo. O referencial teórico remete à obra de autores que se debruçaram sobre as temáticas da virtude da prudentia, linguagem e psico-sociologia: Tomás de Aquino, Karl Popper e Erich Fromm. Os procedimentos metodológicos consistem na pesquisa teórica e no exame de relatos. O procedimento técnico-operacional consiste em analisar os escritos do Opus Dei, sempre confrontados com os depoimentos de quem vivenciou as práticas da instituição, à luz dos referenciais teóricos apontados. / The central idea of this work is to present the educational philosophy of Opus Dei´s practices and critically analyze those practices. The main contribution of this work shall be the demonstration that the Opus Deis concept of education has as primary goal the production of fully submitted individuals. The methods used by the institution to achieve this goal will also be presented. The works nature is theoretical, but also includes the analysis of many testimonies of real cases. The object of research is composed by Opus Deis texts (written by its founder, the spanish Josemaría Escrivá, and by some of his followers) and by the so called informal education of Opus Dei, witch are activities that usually take place inside the institutions houses. The objective, therefore, is to present a scientific analysis of the Opus Deis educational practices and its consequences on the individual. The theoretic references are authors who have studied the fields of prudentia, language and psycho-sociology: Tomas de Aquino, Karl Popper and Erich Fromm. The methodological procedures consist on the theoretical research and on the analysis of testimonies. The technical-operational procedure consist on the analysis of Opus Deis texts and testimonies of ex-members.

A idéia central da dissertação é explicitar a filosofia da educação subjacente às práticas do Opus Dei e discutir criticamente estas práticas. A contribuição principal do trabalho será a demonstração de que a concepção de educação do Opus Dei tem como objetivo a formação de indivíduos submissos em grau universal e irrestrito. Serão também explicitados os meios utilizados pela instituição para obter este objetivo. A natureza do trabalho é a de uma pesquisa teórica que além da bibliografia usual inclui o exame de diversos casos e testemunhos. O objeto a ser pesquisado se subdivide nos textos produzidos pelo Opus Dei (de autoria de seu fundador, o espanhol Josemaría Escrivá, e de seus seguidores) e no que podemos chamar de educação informal do Opus Dei, que são as atividades levadas a cabo nas casas da instituição. O objetivo visado, portanto, é trazer à luz uma análise científica sobre as práticas educacionais do Opus Dei e seus reflexos no indivíduo. O referencial teórico remete à obra de autores que se debruçaram sobre as temáticas da virtude da prudentia, linguagem e psico-sociologia: Tomás de Aquino, Karl Popper e Erich Fromm. Os procedimentos metodológicos consistem na pesquisa teórica e no exame de relatos. O procedimento técnico-operacional consiste em analisar os escritos do Opus Dei, sempre confrontados com os depoimentos de quem vivenciou as práticas da instituição, à luz dos referenciais teóricos apontados. / The central idea of this work is to present the educational philosophy of Opus Dei´s practices and critically analyze those practices. The main contribution of this work shall be the demonstration that the Opus Deis concept of education has as primary goal the production of fully submitted individuals. The methods used by the institution to achieve this goal will also be presented. The works nature is theoretical, but also includes the analysis of many testimonies of real cases. The object of research is composed by Opus Deis texts (written by its founder, the spanish Josemaría Escrivá, and by some of his followers) and by the so called informal education of Opus Dei, witch are activities that usually take place inside the institutions houses. The objective, therefore, is to present a scientific analysis of the Opus Deis educational practices and its consequences on the individual. The theoretic references are authors who have studied the fields of prudentia, language and psycho-sociology: Tomas de Aquino, Karl Popper and Erich Fromm. The methodological procedures consist on the theoretical research and on the analysis of testimonies. The technical-operational procedure consist on the analysis of Opus Deis texts and testimonies of ex-members.

<p>The purpose of this essay is to discuss the base of sociology from an existentialistic perspective. The discussion takes it's position in the debate on the crisis of sociology, and aligns with Alvin Gouldner's understanding of the crisis. Gouldner believed that the crisis of sociology was mirrored in a sociological method that failed to describe the social reality that it meant to describe; a lack in self-criticism and self-reflexivity, a lack in self-containment in relation to state interests and a lack in moral engagement. This raises a number of questions, which I discuss in the essay. What is the role of sociology in our society? How shall we form a method that responds to the social reality that we sociologists aim to describe? How can we make sociology more moral?</p><p>Existentialism offers a starting point to describe these questions. I argue that the existentialistic description of man as essence carries implications for the social science. By constituting a critique of a computable moral, existentialism points at the necessity of a standing self-criticism and dialogue. An existentialistic description of man as non-essence carries implications for the theory and method of sociology. Man's possibility of radical exceeding of himself means the impossibility to reach theories that describe reality as it is. At the same time, method and theory are necessary to create knowledge about social phenomenon. I read existentialism as an imperative for a sociology that is reflexive in the sense a) a reflexivity in relation to the basic presumptions (value philosophical and ontological) that effect our sociological examinations b) a self-reflexivity that amount to an understanding of the scientists own role relation to his study and the object being studied. Furthermore, I read existentialism as an imperative for a radicalization of dialogue as method.</p>

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the base of sociology from an existentialistic perspective. The discussion takes it's position in the debate on the crisis of sociology, and aligns with Alvin Gouldner's understanding of the crisis. Gouldner believed that the crisis of sociology was mirrored in a sociological method that failed to describe the social reality that it meant to describe; a lack in self-criticism and self-reflexivity, a lack in self-containment in relation to state interests and a lack in moral engagement. This raises a number of questions, which I discuss in the essay. What is the role of sociology in our society? How shall we form a method that responds to the social reality that we sociologists aim to describe? How can we make sociology more moral? Existentialism offers a starting point to describe these questions. I argue that the existentialistic description of man as essence carries implications for the social science. By constituting a critique of a computable moral, existentialism points at the necessity of a standing self-criticism and dialogue. An existentialistic description of man as non-essence carries implications for the theory and method of sociology. Man's possibility of radical exceeding of himself means the impossibility to reach theories that describe reality as it is. At the same time, method and theory are necessary to create knowledge about social phenomenon. I read existentialism as an imperative for a sociology that is reflexive in the sense a) a reflexivity in relation to the basic presumptions (value philosophical and ontological) that effect our sociological examinations b) a self-reflexivity that amount to an understanding of the scientists own role relation to his study and the object being studied. Furthermore, I read existentialism as an imperative for a radicalization of dialogue as method.