Volume 24, Number 3, 2017

EN:

The republication of Nietzsche’s lectures “On the Future of Our Educational Institutions” invites reconsideration of Nietzsche’s thought on education. Though there is much in these lectures that might appeal to those struggling for the future of the humanities, or for the future of education more generally, I argue against their use in the attempted redemption of the humanities or education. Consideration of “Schopenhauer as Educator”, published two years later, brings out Nietzsche’s growing hostility to education. Education in modernity is a lost cause, Nietzsche argues. It is beyond redemption because (1) true teachers can no longer be found and (2) we are almost incapable of educating ourselves. At best we might attempt to educate ourselves against the age, which includes the challenging task of educating against our selves. From this position, which holds out little hope for the future of education as it is currently configured, if the modern educator has any functionality left, it is to serve as a symptom of decline.

EN:

This paper addresses educators’ responsibility for the discourse (including their own and others’) that circulates in educational settings. This issue tends to arise especially with hurtful language and other discursive acts that have negative effects, and that require an apology, correction, or some other kind of remedial discourse. The paper frames this “discursive responsibility” as particularly contingent on location, arguing that when educators address their own or others’ discourse, the response needs to be at a level of publicity that is the same as, or as similar as possible to, the discursive act it responds to.

EN:

Critical thinking involves the ability to properly assess statements and actions, and it also requires a permanent disposition to appropriately use cognitive skills in the evaluation of any claim. In the present paper, we discuss the characteristics of an ideal critical thinker, and apply them to a contemporary problem, namely anthropogenic global warming (AGW, a hypothesis that accounts for the increase of the average temperature of Earth as a consequence of human activities), in order to discuss what an ideal critical thinker is expected to conclude about the occurrence of this phenomenon. We assume that an ideal critical thinker is able to find out where the most reliable information regarding a certain issue is, is competent to reasonably evaluate it, and has an inclination to calibrate her beliefs according to the results of the inquiry. We thus conclude that an ideal critical thinker is expected to accept the current scientific consensus that AGW is occurring, albeit considering this issue, as well as virtually any other idea, open to revision. The fact that in many occasions people are selective in using critical thinking skills, such as when they reject the massive evidence of AGW, should be a cause of concern for educators, who should motivate their students to think critically about any problem and question they encounter; this, in turn, could help the students to develop a better understanding of the world, take more reasonable courses of action, and be protected against misinformation.

EN:

The participation of young adults in performance-oriented music ensembles can be seen to enhance democratic capacities and virtues. Much, however, turns on the particular conception of democracy at work. Although contemporary currents in music education tend towards models of liberal and participatory democracy to govern music ensembles, this essay contends that demanding epistemic democracy allows performance-oriented music ensembles the achievement of democratic virtues without sacrificing excellence as a central regulatory ideal. The inclusion of both men and women is shown to be particularly significant in this light. Central to its democratic epistemic ambition, the role of the conductor is considered in the last section of this article.

EN:

In recent years, an agonistic approach to citizenship education has been put forward as a way of educating democratic citizens. Claudia W. Ruitenberg (2009) has developed such an approach and takes her starting point in Chantal Mouffe’s agonistic theory. Ruitenberg highlights how political emotions and political disputes can be seen as central for a vibrant democratic citizenship education. The aim of this paper is to critically explore and further develop the concepts of political emotions and political disputes as central components of an agonistic approach. In order to do this, I return to Mouffe’s point of departure in the concept of the political. By drawing on Michael Marder’s (2010) notion of enmity, I suggest how “the presence of the other” can be seen as a vital aspect of the political in citizenship education. By not abandoning the concept of enmity, and with the notion of presence in the foreground, I argue that Ruitenberg’s definition of political emotions needs to be formulated in a way that includes emotions revolving around one’s own existence as a political being. Moreover, I argue that in order to further develop the agonistic approach, the emphasis on the verbalization of opinions in political disputes needs to be relaxed, as it limits the political dimension in education and excludes crucial political practices, such as exodus.