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Cavell and Postmodern Education

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Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory
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Synonyms

Deliberative inquiry; Human engagement; Post-structuralist thought; Responsible action; Risk taking

Introduction

To make a claim that postmodern education can be associated with Stanley Cavell’s (1979) work would require that one analyzes what Cavell means by education. And a Cavellian understanding of education cannot be far removed from his claims about philosophy, as the way he understands philosophy would reveal some of his thoughts on education. More specifically, Cavell (1979: 384) claims that an individual stands in relation to herself and makes herself “intelligible to others … [in her] capacity to present … [herself] for acknowledgement” (Cavell, 1979: 393). So, as in a postmodern view of education, an individual acknowledges herself and engages with others in a relationship in which she and others “experience” one another “endlessly” and “continuously” (Cavell, 1979: 441). Cavell (1979: 440–441) offers two justifications for education: first, one engages “afresh”...

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References

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Correspondence to Yusef Waghid .

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Waghid, Y. (2017). Cavell and Postmodern Education. In: Peters, M.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-588-4_496

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