Christoph, Anna (2025). Bellum iustum - zerlegt, entlarvt, entmachtet. Dekonstruktion von Schlagwörtern als Aufgabe des Lateinunterrichts/ bellum iustum – la plurivalenza delle parole e dei significati. Un approccio decostruttivista. Ars docendi, 24, settembre 2025.

Jacques Derrida's method of deconstruction argues that every statement, every text has many possible meanings, making it very difficult, if not impossible, to definitively understand its meaning. An apparently clear interpretation is only a construction made by the reader, by the person who decides. The same applies to society and its certainties, social dynamics established as (to give a currently debated example) gender roles. In order not to become slaves to thoughts expressed with apparent clarity, when on closer inspection they are not so clear, we must return to the origins and accept the plurivalence of words and their possible meanings. How can this method be used in the context of teaching Latin?
Discussing one of the words with the greatest political impact throughout history as an example, A. Christoph, Latin teacher at the “Walther von der Vogelweide” high school (Bolzano), seeks to demonstrate how necessary, but also absolutely feasible, a deconstructivist approach is with the aim of emancipating oneself from fixations on problematic cultural and social ideas.