From “Uncertainty” to “Deeper Understanding”

Abstract

Despite Bollnow’s wide-ranging interests and prolific publications, a clear “center of gravity” is provided by his intensive and sustained interest in philosophy and pedagogy, particularly in connection with the lived experience of students and teachers. Even when confined to this area, however, both the quantity and variety of Bollnow’s work poses a challenge to interpretation and simplification. This chapter addresses this challenge by working specifically with what Bollnow refers to as “educational reality” and three modalities or possibilities for this “reality” as it is experienced by both student and teacher: The first is represented by the possible affective attunement of those inhabiting and constituting the educational context; the second is marked by the discontinuity, interruption, even crisis that can affect educational experience; the third, finally, is the possibility of guiding educational reality in such a way as to build a bridge between discontinuity and attunement.