Although postmodernist thought has become prominent in some educational circles, its influence on science education has until recently been rather minor. This paper examines the proposal of Michalinos Zembylas, published earlier in this journal, that Lyotardian postmodernism should be applied to science educational reform in order to achieve the much sought after positive transformation. As a preliminary to this examination several critical points are raised about Lyotard's philosophy of education and philosophy of science which serve to challenge and undermine Zembylas’ (...) project. Subsequently, the three main theses of Lyotard that Zembylas considers beneficial and wishes to transpose onto science classrooms and pedagogy are scrutinized and found to be more of a hindrance than a help to curriculum reformers. (shrink)

Although postmodernist thought has become prominent in some educational circles, its influence on science education has until recently been rather minor. This paper examines the proposal of Michalinos Zembylas, published earlier in this journal, that Lyotardian postmodernism should be applied to science educational reform in order to achieve the much sought after positive transformation. As a preliminary to this examination several critical points are raised about Lyotard's philosophy of education and philosophy of science which serve to challenge and undermine Zembylas’ (...) project. Subsequently, the three main theses of Lyotard that Zembylas considers beneficial and wishes to transpose onto science classrooms and pedagogy are scrutinized and found to be more of a hindrance than a help to curriculum reformers. (shrink)

ABSTRACTThis article asks whether the philosophy of Paul K. Feyerabend can be reasonably classified as postmodernist, a label applied to him by friends and foes alike. After describing some superficial similarities between the style and content of both Feyerabend’s and postmodernist writings, I offer three more robust characterisations of postmodernism in terms of relativism, ‘incredulity to metanarratives’, and ‘depthlessness’. It emerges that none of these characterisations offers a strong justification for classifying Feyerabend as ‘postmodern’ in any significant sense. Indeed, what (...) does emerge is that Feyerabend’s work was fundamentally informed by a humanitarian vision of the value of science that is, in fact, strikingly modern. (shrink)

The phenomenon of outer space has become ingrained in the various levels of human culture. A feature of modern views on the phenomenon of outer space is its human-sizedness. It consists in a person’s subjective cultural experience of their relationship to outer space and allows the modeling of possible future states of outer space on the basis of comprehending the regularities of its development. With the beginning of the Space Age, the peculiar “accessibility” of space gives rise to new forms (...) of cultural development of this phenomenon, where videogames occupy an important place since they allow a person to freely fulfill their most daring cosmic fantasies. The problem of representing outer space in videogames remains insufficiently studied. The authors’ hypothesis is that videogames reflect not only the physical characteristics of space, but also the grand narrative of space exploration and the unity of mankind in the implementation of the global task of space exploration. The authors have concluded that the grand narrative of space exploration is largely legitimized through videogames. The perception of reality, patterns of behavior, and a view on culture and science are formed through videogames. The legitimization of technical and social progress as a way to achieve significant success in space expansion is observed in most videogames where “outer space” is not only the setting, but also a part of the game mechanics. Interactivity as a central feature of the videogame phenomenon allows not only to describe and explain the idea of the physical properties of outer space or the operation of devices and mechanisms in these conditions, but also to participate directly in the development of such devices, as well as to be involved in simulators of real stay in space conditions. (shrink)