Education and Democracy at The End

This book grapples with what it means when education and democracy are at an end: when these two foundational aspects of our society seem to have reached a culminating point, no longer appearing to produce and make sense amid the crises of our time. Engaging topical political events and mobilizing a variety of cultural resources, Di Paolantonio shows that today the possibility of the future and the significance of an expansive transgenerational sensibility are radically in question as trends toward destruction, cruelty, and banality are steering world-defying calamities, and sparking “chronopathologies” of doom and despair among the planet’s occupants. Unfolding his argument through a series of accessible chapters that draw on contemporary philosophy, educational thinking, and cultural-artistic works, Di Paolantonio explores how the transgenerational sensibility retains a possibility we might tap for overcoming the impasses of our time.

"In a world plagued by climate devastation and political pandemonium, the concept of democracy is at a crossroads, demanding urgent attention and care. This timely and essential book addresses the intricate intersection of democracy, education, and our uncertain futures, appealing to readers of continental and political philosophy as well as educationalists and good citizens worldwide. From his unique perspective, Di Paolantonio addresses the pressing issues of empathy loss, indifference, generational malaise, and the crisis of sense in our societies, all within the context of the Anthropocene era. Yet, the author seeks manifold philosophical insights to guide us through the challenges of democracy and education in an increasingly thoughtless world, while raising the crucial question of transgenerational hope. A must-read for those committed to a future in which all belongs to all." (Joff P. N. Bradley, Professor of English and Philosophy, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan)

"This book makes sense! I don’t simply mean that Di Paolantonio’s book is easy to understand. Instead, I mean that Di Paolantonio reveals the radical and urgent need for a return to the problem of transgenerational sense making in order to face the current state of worldlessness and thoughtlessness brought about by the intersection of capitalism’s devastating leveling effects, the empty and formal bureaucratization of democracy, and the agitational shock of fascism. Questioning an over reliance on cultivating civic skills and deliberative discourse as “solutions” to these problems, Di Paolantonio returns to a more basic and fundamental educational question concerning the appearance of meaning as such. Through a truly ingenious reading of philosophy, educational theory, literature, and the visual arts, Di Paolantonio discovers traces of sense within and against current crises that can once again enable us to hear, see, feel, and give a public account of who we are, wherewe have been, and were we are going." (Tyson E. Lewis, Professor of Art Education, University of North Texas, USA)

"In this bold and timely book, Di Paolantonio explores how democracy and education cultivate a meaningful coexistence and ensure deep differences don’t devolve into intractable conflicts. In our time the imperative to imagine a future and our commitment to a sense of passing on the world to future generations is increasingly threatened by the “foreclosing of the transgenerational temporal sensibility”. Di Paolantonio describes how democracy and education can address apathetic and nihilistic responses to foreclosed future of worldless neoliberal digitalization by exploring ways to live together and live together well, while maintaining an aliveness towards the future." (Trevor Norris, Professor of Philosophy of Education and Politics, Brock University, Canada)

"I felt like a kid in a candy store reading this book. Di Paolantonio engages with adazzling array of philosophers, educational and cultural theorists, as well as literature and art, to offer an incisive analysis of today’s deep malaise of education and democracy under neoliberal imperatives. In sparkling prose, Di Paolantonio expounds a penetrating account of what he calls ‘the crisis of sense’. By revitalizing and rereading educational concepts that many have turned away from, such as ‘inheritance’ and ‘passing on’, the book convincingly reaffirms the need to cultivate a form of transgenerational temporal sensibility in democracy and education." (Stefan Ramaekers, Professor of Philosophy of Education, KU Leuven, Belgium)

"A philosophical tour de force, Mario Di Paolantonio’s Education and Democracy at The End: The Crisis of Sense articulates the ways in which the transgenerational promise to receive and ‘pass on’ the world is being foreclosed at the end of times. The end is marked by the failures of democracy to tackle the climate catastrophe broughton by the fossil economy. The end is characterized by the ‘cruel optimism’ of education that demands youth pay for and seek out all-consuming jobs that lack meaning and contribute to the planetary crisis. Di Paolantonio expertly communicates ‘the end’ by merging educational philosophy, literary analysis, and art interpretation to make sense out of the senselessness of what we are doing and where we are going. And yet within this wasteland, there remains a trace of hope as the gift of being alive allows us to inherit and pass on to the next generation the stories of our dead. An astonishing work of scholarship, it acts as an ethical summons to educate meaningfully in the present and for an unpredictable future." (Hannah Spector, Associate Professor of Education, Penn State University, Harrisburg, USA)

"Education and Democracy at The End is a book I’ve been waiting to find and read. Highlighting and explicating on the elemental qualities of contemporaneity, educationand democracy, Di Paolantonio offers researchers and educators generative entry points for re-thinking (a politics of) education little tethered to the enduring deadends of instrumentalism and naïve (and cruel) optimisms. The prognosis is unsettling but worth sitting with. The arguments are precise and artfully presented." (Paul Tarc, Associate Professor and Chair - Critical Policy, Equity, and Leadership Studies, Faculty of Education, Western University, London-Ontario, Canada)

Mario Di Paolantonio is Associate Professor at York University, Canada. His extensive publications span across the fields of philosophy of education, social and political thought, cultural memory and the arts.