Philosophy of Higher Education and Interpretivism

Abstract

This chapter looks at the complexities that underlie the landscape and language of academic activism . While widely understood as a feature of higher education, there is seemingly little consensus of what academic activism implies as lived endeavours, expressions and experiences for academics, as well as management and governance structures. It is, therefore, unsurprising to find that despite understanding the theoretical importance of the role of higher education in actively pursuing and espousing new forms of knowledge, reasoning and judgement, there is disagreement not only on whom and what embodies activism but certainly on whose responsibility it is and what, if any, its parameters are. We explore some philosophical reflections on the notion of academic activism, as espoused through our human experiences , as academics, in relation to the practice of encounters. Concurrently we show how these practices of academic activism connect with a philosophical paradigm of interpretivism that gives activism its rigorous potency. Thereafter, we show how the notion of philosophy of higher education should be reconsidered in line with a more tenable understanding of academic activism.