Paideia, Prejudice and the Promise of the Practical
In an age of radical pluralism it is increasingly difficult to affirm and sustain the educational aspirations of Greek paideia (Latin humanitas). The most challenging attacks on these aspirations come from standpoints which share a postmodern attitude of opposition towards inherited cultural ideals, especially those which claim universality. This paper first examines optimistic and pessimistic prospects for the educational heritage of humanitas, concluding that, in the face of cultural disparateness which is increasingly evident in post-Enlightenment cultures, the pessimistic case seems to be more convincing. Recognizing that this gives added impetus to postmodernist standpoints, the second section examines some key features of these, taking as its examples arguments of Lyotard, Foucault and Rorty. I show that the prejudices of the postmodernist arguments are as invidious as the discriminatory assumptions and the neglect of the quality of educational practice in the Western cultural inheritance. Recalling some insights which can be gleaned from the educational practices of Socrates, the last section joins these with findings of contemporary philosophers on the pre-judgements and partiality which are inescapable features of human understanding. This is a reclamation and elucidation of a practical and promising humanitas which does justice to the claims of diversity and universality.
Introduction: Hard Times for Paideia
To many it may seem quaint or quixotic to make the ancient notion of paideia the theme of a world conference of philosophy in cultural circumstances which are variously described as post-industrial, post-Marxist, post-Christian, post-religious, or post-mod...
... middle of paper ...
..." in R. Hollinger (ed.) Hermeneutics and Praxis (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame, 1985).
(16) Richard Rorty, "Private Irony and Liberal Hope" in his Contingency, irony, and solidarity (henceforth CIS) (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).
(17) Richard Rorty, Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature (henceforth PMN) (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1980) pp.357-365.
(18) Hans-Georg Gadamer, Truth and Method (T&M) translation of Wahrheit und Methode (W&M) by G. Barden & J. Cumming (New York: Seabury Press, 1975).
(19) T&M, pp.10-11; W&M, pp.6-7.
(20) PMN pp.358-359.
(21) PMN p.351.
(22) CIS, p.73.
(23) CIS, pp.74-75.
(24) Heraclitus, Fragment 45, quoted by Jaeger in Paideia, Bk.1, p.179.
(25) These earlier Dialogues include Gorgias, Protagoras, Euthyphro, Apology, Crito and Bk.1 of Republic.
(26) Plato, Apology, 23.
(27) D&P, p.27.
Rowlands, Mark. The Philosopher and the Wolf . New York : Pegasus Publishing , 2008.
Paley, William. “Natural Theology,” in Introduction to Philosophy. 6th edition. Perry, Bratman, and Fischer. Oxford University Press. 2013, pp. 47-51.
Frydman, C., & Saks, R. E. (2010). Executive Compensation: A New View from a Long-Term Perspective, 1936-2005. Review Of Financial Studies, 23(5), 2099-2138.
American Philosophical Quarterly 21, no. 3 (1984): 227-36.
A skeptic once argued “trying to find a common cause for every Bermuda Triangle disappearance is no more logical than trying to find a common cause for every automobile accident in Arizona” (“Bermuda Triangle”). Although some theories may be more plausible than others, this is implying that there is not one single explanation of these disappearances. While some researchers propose far-fetched theories, historical events as well as scientific observation and experimentation show many reasonable explanations to the abnormal phenomenon that occurs within the boundaries if the Bermuda Triangle.
Atwood creates many ideas in which allude to the thought that an apocalypse was to occur in the future of the novel Oryx and Crake. The presence of separation between a perfect and corrupt society presents many dangerous ideas that lead to the assumption of the ending of human life. In the novel, two different societies are being represented, one being the Pleeblands and the other being the Compound. The Pleeblands have been badly looked upon because p...
...nt is not dead and the abolition of abortion all together is far from realty.
It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his ‘natural superiors’, and has left remaining no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous ‘cash payment’. It has drowned the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervor, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom-Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation. The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage-laborers.
Miller, Connie Colwell. The Bermuda Triangle The Unsolved Mystery. Mankato, Minnesota: Capstone Press, 2009. Print.
Perelman, Chaim. From _The New Rhetoric: A Theory of Practical Reasoning_. In Bizzell and Herzberg. 1384-1409.
Wittgenstein, Ludwig; G. E. M. Anscombe, P.M.S. Hacker and Joachim Schulte (eds. and trans.). Philosophical Investigations. 4th edition, Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009. Print.
Melchert, Norman. The Great Conversation: A Historical Introduction to Philosophy. 4th ed. Toronto: McGraw Hill Companies, 2002.
Early thought processes concerning education laid the groundwork for the modern philosophy of education, including university structures and frameworks. What our ancients have advocated is said to be the cause of every century’s success in continually gaining knowledge. But Plato and Aristotle had very different opinions when it came to the education branch of life.
Brown, Charlotte R. "Wollaston, William (1659–1724)." Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Ed. Donald M. Borchert. 2nd ed. Vol. 9. Macmillan Reference USA, 2006. 832-834. Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
The Bermuda Triangle, an area that stretches from the Florida coast to Bermuda to Puerto Rico, also known as the Deadly Triangle or Devil's Triangle. This area has been the location of many unexplained disappearances and phenomenon’s such as shipwrecks, plane crashes, mysterious disappearances, craft instrument malfunctions. These disappearances and phenomenons have caused many different theories to be developed over the years. This paper will focus on the more plausible theories surrounding the Bermuda Triangle.