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Walking My Own Path Towards Democracy and Social Justice

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Reflections on Criticality in Educational Philosophy

Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Educational Philosophy and Theory ((PSEPT))

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Abstract

What are the critical traditions of critical theory and critical pedagogy? How do they shed light on the concept of criticality? And how is criticality scholarship able to further enhance the conceptualisation and the usability of criticality? In pursuing these inquiries I argue that part of the intellectual foundation for the concept of criticality includes critical theory and critical pedagogy. I argue that reflection on the relations between theory and practice demonstrates the emancipatory power of criticality. Criticality scholarship, I suggest further, can utilise this notion to empower critical beings to move from mere critique and self-reflection to transformative action. Given the premise that human flourishing buttresses criticality scholarship, I argue that criticality offers the critical being the opportunity to live an examined life, be a meaningful participant in society and act in the world as a socially transforming agent and bring about a more humane and just world. Here criticality is operating at a collective as well as an individual level. Finally, linking criticality with democracy and social justice, I argue that criticality can further the societal purpose of improving justice for everyone by transforming emancipatory spirit into transformative action.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Stephen Brookfield in his renowned work, Teaching for Critical Thinking, takes a different approach from mine and surveys five critical intellectual traditions—critical theory, analytic philosophy and logic, pragmatism, natural science and psychoanalysis—to explore the concept of critical thinking (Brookfield 2012: Chapter 2).

  2. 2.

    Criticality scholarship is set up as an open-minded forum in the context of human flourishing. How can we pursue rewarding and examined lives? How can we be meaningful societal participants? How can we work to make the world a better place in which to live out our lives? In Chapter 1, I laid out a framework in which connections are made with Wilfrid Sellars’ notion of a logical space of reasons (Sellars 1997: 75–77) and with the postcolonial literature in envisaging this public space to mirror, at least in part, Homi Bhabha’s concept of a third space (Bhabha 2004: 54–56; 2009: ix–xiv) and John Hopkins’ idea of a decolonising conversation (Hopkins 2018: 130–131 and 142). Here I claim that criticality scholarship is a logical space in which we give reasons for our expressions—justify how we use them—within a community of speakers and listeners. Further, I visualise the interstices between colliding viewpoints, a liminal space which gives rise to things new and unrecognisable and where we negotiate identities. And I draw an analogy with the notion of survivance and its war on reconciliation.

  3. 3.

    Following Gert Biesta, I am employing ‘human emancipation’ as a general criterion for evaluating criticality (under the auspices of criticality scholarship) and accept its dogmatic character (Biesta 1998: 476). As I mentioned in Chapter 1, I am prioritising the necessity of overcoming human suffering, exposing and eradicating hidden contradictions and hegemonies and removing prejudice and inequalities. The latter’s empirical reference points also include making sovereign the concrete needs and sincere desires of others who are enduring hardship, discrimination and oppression and for their voices to be listened to, acknowledged and acted upon. I am seeking ‘epistemic friction’ among ‘significantly different perspectives’; and I am trying to make ‘others our eminently relevant significant others’ (Medina 2013: 18 and 157).

  4. 4.

    In Chapter 1, I conceded that the expressions ‘democracy’ and ‘social justice’ cannot be neutral in any material sense. Indeed my perception of social justice as it develops in Part III of this book is always open to critique. Any particular conception of social justice may fail the ethical imperative of in fact being just.

  5. 5.

    In developing Gramsci’s ideas, Michael Apple argues for a ‘redistribution of our situations, a redefinition that recognizes not the ideologically laden ideal of the unattached intellectual but instead one that takes seriously the passionate involvement Gramsci called for in his notion of the organic intellectual who actively participates in the struggle against hegemony’ (Apple 2019: 172).

  6. 6.

    These aims are a reflection of my personal political and philosophical aspirations. It is a critical path that I choose for myself but believe it is not a solitary one. And I reiterate that criticality scholarship is a receptive space in which participants can walk other paths that may well diverge in all sorts of directions and so may create conflicts that will need to be addressed.

  7. 7.

    It is only fair to point out that some of the premises upon which the critical traditions operate need justification. For example, claims relating to asymmetrical power relations between societal groups always needs demonstrating depending on the particular context at issue unless, of course, they are operating dogmatically—taking up Gert Biesta’s thesis (Biesta 1998: 476).

  8. 8.

    See Alexander (2018: 904–910), Apple (2011: 13–14), Burbules and Berk (1999: 46–56), Darder et al. (2017: 3–21), Douglas and Nganga (2017: 520–523), Foresman et al. (2017: 326–327), Giroux (2017a: 31–53), Jeyaraj and Harland (2019: 3–4), Kirylo (2011: 213–217 and 221–223), McArthur (2010: 494–495), Moore (2013: 507–508), and Ross (2017: 608).

  9. 9.

    Ronald Barnett observes that the ‘critical pedagogy programme contends against ideology but is itself ideological’ (Barnett 2021: 116). This is right but, taking Gert Biesta’s point (Biesta 1998: 476), the ideological format in question is unobjectionable providing we accept that it is operating dogmatically.

  10. 10.

    As distinct from technical (or work) knowledge and practical knowledge.

  11. 11.

    I acknowledge the conflict inherent in the act of ‘decolonising’ since Indigenous people and their land are misappropriated.

  12. 12.

    The question becomes how do we surrender settler futurity and restore native futures?

  13. 13.

    Following convention, titles for Wittgenstein’s works are abbreviated (PI = Philosophical Investigations), with section (§) or page number, and with the full citation and initials given in the References.

  14. 14.

    I juxtapose this with Michael Apple’s legitimate concern that, due largely to the global forces of consumerism, the contemporary citizen is no longer defined by what she does, but by what she buys (Apple 2019: 203).

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    Marc James Deegan

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Deegan, M.J. (2024). Walking My Own Path Towards Democracy and Social Justice. In: Reflections on Criticality in Educational Philosophy. Palgrave Studies in Educational Philosophy and Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-57330-9_4

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