Braga Regional Centre launches Post-Graduate course in Philosophy for the dst Group

"Philosophy for the New Century" is the new Postgraduate Course of the Braga Regional Centre (CRB), Universidade Católica, designed for the employees of the dst Group - one of the largest construction and engineering groups in the north of the country. More than 500 staff members will attend the online training, which includes the study of contemporary thinkers and themes such as epistemology, spirituality, anthropology, ethics, politics, art and culture.

The three-year course begins on October 6, but in 2020 the CRB had already launched a philosophy course for 318 dst workers. An initiative that for João Duque, Pro-Rector of UCP and President of the regional centre, is not a traditional teaching, but "an encounter between two worlds that usually do not meet": the business and the philosophical. "That is what is challenging about this project", he stated at the launching conference of the Post-Graduation, which took place on 28 September, in Braga.

According to Carlos Morais, responsible for coordinating the course, philosophy is important in the business world because it provides the practice of questioning, reflection, critical analysis, anticipation of what others have not yet seen, and creativity. "A mind enlightened by philosophical reflection will provide each of us with the competence to see deeper and further," he asserted.

Therefore the Post-Graduate programme of the CRB seeks to "develop knowledge, attitudes, know-how, ways of being, which will lead the dstgroup staff to educate their critical and creative spirit" explained José Lopes, Director of the Faculty of Philosophy and Social Sciences of the UCP.

That is why José Teixeira, President of the Board of Directors of dstgroup, considers that the bet on the philosophical training of the workers is advantageous both for those who attend it and for the company itself. "If our workers don't think, we don't exist," he stated.

"If a company does not have the tools and time to think, it will live without freedom, hostage to those who think. Others will think for us and we will be servants and not free men and women," he said, stressing that "ignorance in companies is worse than misery".

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