[lit-ideas] Re: Sounds right to me
- From: wokshevs@xxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 13 Dec 2008 19:19:07 -0330
Interesting confluence of cosmological forces here. Suzanne Langer was strongly
influenced by one Ernst Cassirer, a Kantian philosopher if ever there was one.
He is known primarily for his thesis of "symbolic forms." One of Ryle's
students was Paul H. Hirst, a philosopher of education who attained significant
fame and notoreity for his "forms of knowledge" theory (co-authored with
Richard
S. Peters, the only educational philosopher to be referenced by Habermas. Yes,
we do keep track of such things, alas.)
The common ground between Cassirer and Hirst is the idea that the traditions or
disciplines of inquiry human beings have developed over the years - ie.,
science, philosophy, history, literature, etc. - are all contributors to what
we can call with Michael Oakeshott "a conversation of mankind." To have
appropriated a "liberal education" is to have attained an understanding of the
world, oneself and others as constituted by these disciplines or symbolic
forms of inquiry. "Liberal education" is thus understood as intending the
development of dispositions/disciplines of inquiry across its possible forms. A
liberally educated person is one who is able to "see" things from the developed
disciplinary perspectives. Incorporating the Socratic influence, we can say
that
the liberally educated person has gained some sense of how the various
disciplines go about justifying their respective validity or truth claims. In
short, the liberally educated person is able to experience the world, herself
and others through the resources provided by the disciplines, and she is also
able to understand what counts as legitimate warrant within each of the
disciplines, forms of inquiry/knowledge. (This is a philosophical reading of
liberal education. There is also the conception of liberal education based in
oratory and persuasion, as plied by the Sophists of ancient times. Their
educational outcomes differ significantly from the philosophical ones.)
I would think that a politically "liberal" society would understand the
philosophical version of liberal education as a moral and intellectual
imperative. Criticisms of this position
are of course many, emanating from Marxian, Feminist, Rortain Relativist, and
Whiteness Privilege paradigms of sociology, to name but a few. Martha Nussbaum's
*Cultivating humanity* is essential reading here. Bloom's *Closing of the
American Mind* is also within the ballpark, regardless of your views on Plato's
conception of education.
Walter O,
An admittedly white, secular, middle-class, possibly hermaphroditic, but not
yet
dead, reasonably autonomous person who wants no truck with E.D. Hirsch Jr. or
William Bennett and who is not married to the ideal of reproducing the status
quo.
Quoting Phil Enns <phil.enns@xxxxxxxxx>:
> John McCreery wrote:
>
> "How, then, might we select the tools, a.k.a., useful ideas that might
> form the core of a 21st education for people who must cope with
> information overload and all sorts of different people?"
>
> I appreciate John's quote from Geertz and his comments. The only
> hesitation I have is over the above sentence. I don't think we are in
> a position to anticipate what will happen in the future nor should we
> be selecting tools for people.* Borrowing from Oakschott, we are at
> sea and there are no stars to guide us, so the best we can do is
> prepare ourselves for whatever may come. At this point I would return
> to John's comments. From experience, we know that math, physical
> sciences, accounting and human rights are very useful in many
> different ways, and so we should make training in these disciplines
> available.
>
> I suppose if I were to summarize my hesitation with John's comments,
> it would be that I would not want to posit an outcome for education
> beyond providing opportunities for students to receive training in
> subjects that may be useful in the future. On the other hand, I would
> want to encourage students to dream and have a vision for a future
> they can work towards using the tools we provide. I just don't think
> that we teachers are in the business of providing visions for people.
>
> *There is a de facto selection that happens when schools decide what
> programs to fund and what courses to offer. In a liberal society, the
> hope is that a wide variety of educational institutions will exist
> allowing for people to choose.
>
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Phil Enns
> Yogyakarta, Indonesia
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