This paper is an enquiry into the meaning of teaching. I argue that as a result of the influence of constructivist ideas about learning on education, teaching has become increasingly understood as the facilitation of learning rather than as a process where teachers have something to give to their students. The idea that teaching is immanent to learning goes back to the Socratic idea of teaching as a maieutic process, that is, as bringing out what is already there. Against the (...) maieutic conception of teaching I argue for an understanding of teaching in terms of transcendence, where teaching brings something radically new to the student. I explore the meaning of the idea of transcendence through a discussion of Kierkegaard and Levinas, who both criticise the maieutic understanding of teaching and, instead, argue for a transcendent understanding of teaching—an understanding of teaching which they refer to as ‘revelation.’ Whereas Kierkegaard argues that revelation—which he understand as a process of ‘double truth giving’—lies beyond the power of the teacher, Levinas interprets revelation as the experience of ‘being taught.’ I use Levinas’s suggestion in order to explore the distinction between ‘learning from’ and ‘being taught by’ and argue that teaching has to be understood in the latter sense, that is, in terms of the experience of ‘being taught.’ To connect the idea of teaching to the experience of ‘being taught’ highlights that teaching can be understood as a process of ‘truth giving’ albeit that (1) this ‘gift’ lies beyond the powers of the teacher, and (2) the truth that is given, has to be understood in terms of what Kierkegaard calls ‘subjective truth’—which is not relativistic truth but existential truth, that is, truth that matters for one’s life. Understanding teaching in these terms also opens up new possibilities for understanding the role of authority in teaching. While my argument implies that teachers cannot simply and straightforwardly ‘produce’ the experience of ‘being taught’—so that what matters has to do with the conditions under which the gift of teaching can be received—their actions and activities nonetheless matter. In the final section of the paper I therefore argue that if we want to give teaching back to education, we need to resist the depiction of the teacher as a disposable and dispensable ‘resource’ that students can learn from or not, and need to articulate and enact a different story about the teacher, the student and the school. (shrink)

In this paper I explore the relationship between teaching and learning. Whereas particularly in the English language the relationship between teaching and learning has become so intimate that it often looks as if ‘teaching and learning’ has become one word, I not only argue for the importance of keeping teaching and learning apart from each other, but also provide a number of arguments for suggesting that learning may not be the one and only option for teaching to aim for. I (...) explore this idea through a discussion of the relationship between teaching and learning, both at a conceptual and at an existential level. I discuss the limitations of the language of learning as an educational language, point at the political work that is being done through the language of learning, and raise epistemological and existential questions about the identity of the learner, particularly with regard to the question what it means to be in and with the world in terms of learning as comprehension and sense making. Through this I seek to suggest that learning is only one possible aim for teaching and that the learner identity and the learning way of engaging with the world puts the learner in a very specific position vis-à-vis the world, one where the learner remains in the centre and the world appears as object for the learner’s acts of learning. That it is possible to teach without requesting from students that they learn, comprehend and make sense, is demonstrated through a brief account of a course in which students were explicitly asked to refrain from learning and were instead asked to adopt a concept. I show how this request opened up very different existential possibilities for the students and argue that if we value such existential possibilities, there may be good reasons for freeing teaching from learning. (shrink)

Prologue: on the weakness of education -- Creativity -- Communication -- Teaching -- Learning -- Emancipation -- Democracy -- Virtuosity -- Epilogue: for a pedagogy of the event -- Appendix: coming into the world, uniqueness, and the beautiful risk of education: an interview with Gert Biesta by Philip Winter.

The Posthuman Child combats institutionalised ageist practices in primary, early childhood and teacher education. Grounded in a critical posthumanist perspective on the purpose of education, it provides a genealogy of psychology, sociology and philosophy of childhood in which dominant figurations of child and childhood are exposed as positioning child as epistemically and ontologically inferior. Entangled throughout this book are practical and theorised examples of philosophical work with student teachers, teachers, other practitioners and children (aged 3-11) from South Africa and Britain. (...) These engage arguments about how children are routinely marginalised, discriminated against and denied, especially when the child is also female, black, lives in poverty and whose home language is not English. The book makes a distinctive contribution to the decolonisation of childhood discourses. Underpinned by good quality picturebooks and other striking images, the book's radical proposal for transformation is to reconfigure the child as rich, resourceful and resilient through relationships with (non) human others, and explores the implications for literary and literacy education, teacher education, curriculum construction, implementation and assessment. It is essential reading for all who research, work and live with children. (shrink)

Some biographical remarks and philosophical questions within philosophy for children -- Celebrating thirty years of philosophy for children -- Good-bye to Matthew Lipman (and Ann Margaret Sharp) -- The politics of formation : a critique of philosophy for children -- Philosophy at public schools of Brasilia, DF -- (Some) reasons for doing philosophy with children -- Philosophizing with children at a philosophy camp -- Does philosophy fit in Caxias? A Latin American project -- Philosophy as spiritual and political exercise in (...) an adult literacy course. (shrink)

O livro apresenta o Método Paulo Freire, a mais importante proposta pedagógica pensada a partir da realidade do Terceiro Mundo. Apesar dos mais de vinte anos que o separam da primeira edição, o Método mantém atual a avaliação do papel da educação, o vigor de suas perspectivas e sua aplicabilidade.

This dialogue between two of the most prominent thinkers on social change in the twentieth century was certainly a meeting of giants. Throughout their highly personal conversations recorded here, Horton and Freire discuss the nature of social change and empowerment and their individual literacy campaigns.

Author note: Matthew Lipman, Professor of Philosophy at Montclair State College and Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children, is ...

Em Pedagogia da esperança, escrito em 1992, Paulo Freire faz uma reflexão sobre Pedagogia do oprimido, publicado em 1968, durante o seu exílio no Chile. Nesse reencontro, analisa suas experiências pedagógicas em quase três décadas nos mais diferentes países. Um relato valioso, elaborado com cientificidade, humildade e coerência, que recusa o determinismo e mostra a história humana como um feixe de possibilidades. O livro conta ainda com a colaboração de Ana Maria Araújo Freire, através das notas explicativas, e prefácio de (...) Leonardo Boff. (shrink)

Este livro vem preencher uma lacuna importante, pois ainda não existia nenhuma bibliografia comentada de Paulo Freire. Apresenta um inventário dos escritos de e sobre ele, facilitando o acesso à bibliografia sobre a concepção libertadora da educação e seu impacto nas ciências da Educação.

Settler colonialism is structured in part according to the principle of civilizational progress yet the roots of this doctrine are not well understood. Disparate ideas of progress and practices related to colonial dispossession and domination can be traced back to the Enlightenment, and as far back as ancient Greece, but there remain unexplored logics and continuities. I argue that civilizational progress and settler colonialism are structured according to the opposition between politics governed by reason or faith and the figure of (...) the child as sinful or bestial. Thus, it is not contingent, but rather necessary that justificatory frameworks of European empire and colonialism depict Indigenous peoples as children. To illustrate how the theoretical link between Indigenous peoples and children emerges not as a simple analogy, but rather, as the source of the premodern/modern and savage/civilized binaries, I trace the various historical iterations of the political/childhood opposition through the classical, medieval, enlightenment, and modern eras. I show how the model of civilizational progress from a premodern and savage state of childhood continues to serve as the model for settler colonial exclusion and domination of Indigenous peoples. (shrink)

M. Lipman and P. Freire are two thinkers who support the practice of liberty. Liberty is liberty to learn to think, and to exist in communities of dialogue, questioning, and search. This is the project that leads human beings to understand themselves and recognize others. Without liberty there..

The aim of this paper is to offer a critical evaluation of the role of liberation philosophy in developing communities of inquiry. The article is divided into three sections. In the first, we examine the relationship between liberation philosophy and liberation pedagogy. The second section focuses on a discussion of relationships between liberation pedagogy, communities of inquiry and the teaching of philosophical thinking. Finally, we discuss what we regard as some of the challenges of liberation pedagogy and outline future directions (...) for research and practice. While a number of scholars have offered radical critiques of education and schooling, this article considers the work of Paulo Freire as expressed in what is perhaps his best-known book, Pedagogy of the Oppressed. (shrink)

O presente artigo é uma análise da recepção inicial e posterior adaptação do programa Filosofia para Crianças de Matthew Lipman na América Latina . São tomadas como ponto de partida as suas principais características filosóficas pragmatistas e em seguida mostra-se o modo como o seu trabalho e o seu pensamento influenciaram a AL. Por fim, faz-se um esforço para elaborar possíveis relações futuras entre as idéias de Lipman e o contexto latino-americano. Para aqueles que já estão familiarizados com o trabalho (...) de Lipman, o caminho pragmatista que ele seguiu parece ser facilmente reconhecido. Lipman adapta o conceito de “comunidade de investigação” de Peirce na elaboração de sua abordagem de Filosofia para Crianças; frequentemente, ele se refere ao eixo conceitual da filosofia de John Dewey; e também, recorre ao conceito de “ciência normal” de Thomas S. Kuhn. Com a proposta filosófica de Lipman percebemos a relação estreita entre a filosofia e a educação, o que implica na consideração necessária da abordagem epistemológica, ética e política decorrente. Assim, transportando-se estas idéias para o contexto latino-americano podemos constatar as implicações do programa lipmaniano no tocante à tolerância e ao respeito necessários num mundo marcadamente diverso e plural, desejoso por uma democracia real e verdadeira. De acordo com esta perspectiva, tendemos a um futuro onde todos poderão participar efetivamente das decisões para a melhoria da sociedade, uma vez que serão todos capazes de pensar de modo razoável e justo, hábeis no manejo de idéias e de argumentos, auto-confiantes e disciplinados individual e socialmente, sabendo pensar bem e julgar com responsabilidade intelectual e moral. No caso latino-americano, torna-se necessário o entendimento crítico sobre as experiências que afetam a realidade dessas sociedades Nessa tensão do universal latino-americano versus o particular de cada uma das suas sociedades individuais, manifesta-se a contradição que mostra a riqueza dos problemas que poderão promover o maravilhamento de que nos fala Lipman e, conseqüentemente, as questões filosóficas mais pertinentes. (shrink)