This article argues that Hegel’s book The Phenomenology of Spirit can be read as a Bildungsroman or a theory of reception. Hegel (as he appears in this book) sets forth to educate his readers to a historical understanding. This is the article’s main argument which will be split up in three parts. First, it seems that Hegel tries to lead the uneducated reader to his own ideal philosophy. If so, the reception will be merely technical, i.e., the book has only (...) one answer and the reader has to submit to Hegel to get him right. The article argues against such a reading. Secondly, it seems more likely that Hegel invites his readers to take an active part in the interpretation of the book. To substantiate this claim, the article argues that the hitherto unknown phenomenon in the book “touches” and challenges the reader, who must “touch” back and accept the challenge in order to grasp the phenomenon. This reception involves the experience of “touch” (not physical) and is therefore haptic. Thirdly, and in extension of the haptic reception, the article argues that there is a reception as recollection, meaning that Hegel invites the reader to reflect upon the recollected experiences or “the gallery of images” that Hegel has archived in his book. In doing so, the reader will see the gallery of images with new eyes—which ultimately is a process of Bildung as the reader gains self-awareness and knowledge through Hegel’s images. (shrink)

This is the first reference work to explore and define what continental philosophy of education is and what its boundaries are. The book includes 28 chapters written by leading scholars based in Belgium, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Sweden, Taiwan, The UK and the USA. It is subdivided into three sections covering the metaphysics, ethics and aesthetics of education and the chapters focus on philosophical concepts such otherness, empathy, (...) personhood and problems including political influences on education and the limits of education. (shrink)

This paper takes the position that the aim of existential teaching, i.e., teaching where existential questions are addressed, consists in educating the students in light of subjective truth, where the students are ‘educated’ to exist on their own, i.e., independent of the teacher. The question is whether it is possible to educate in light of existence. It is, in fact impossible, as existence is a subjective matter, meaning that it must be determined individually. In this way the existential teaching appears (...) thus: even though existence cannot be determined educationally, as it is a subjective matter, it does require some kind of education. However, the teacher cannot make use of pedagogical means that coerce the students to take responsibility for their subjective truth. A pedagogical ‘expedient’ is nonetheless required, which deprives of all types of constraint but still opens up for the students taking responsibility for their subjective truth. I argue that this expedient must be irony, but not all types of irony. I therefore discuss which conception of irony the existential teaching should and should not be connected with. (shrink)

After providing a general overview and critique of some of the main problems with teacher praise, in which I basically argue that praise binds and controls the students instead of liberating them, I go on to examine whether it is possible to praise without the intention to control the students. In this way I challenge conventional and standardising ways of praising, and argue that it is possible to make room for the singularity and uniqueness of students through praise.

In the book Forgotten Connections. On Culture and Upbringing, originally from 1983, the late German educator Klaus Mollenhauer interprets Johann Friedrich Herbart’s educational concept of Bildsamkeit, i.e., the ability and willingness to be educated. Furthermore, Mollenhauer conceives Bildsamkeit as growing out of a primitive state towards a cultivated life. The Danish thinker Søren Kierkegaard, however, conceives the Christian concept of ‘primitiveness’ as a growing in the opposite direction, i.e., as a growing out of a cultivated state towards a primitive one, (...) in which the self shall let itself be invented by ‘God’. Thus, I investigate whether the concept of primitiveness may enrich the reflection on the educational concept of Bildsamkeit, as it is conceived by Mollenhauer. Towards the end of the paper I turn to Emmanuel Levinas, whose ethical reading of the Hebrew Bible and the Talmud may reveal a weakness in Kierkegaard’s concept of primitiveness. But rather than rejecting the concept of primitiveness, I suggest that we re-consider the concept, with the help of Levinas’s transcendental perspective of ‘God’. Essentially, I try to address the following question: Can Bildsamkeit be something more than the ability to be educated? Can not Bildsamkeit also be defined as being susceptible to ‘God’, who transcends our existence, after which we are lead towards a teaching and education otherwise? (shrink)

This article states that the concept of time we generally hold is a spatial version of time.However, a spatial time concept creates a series of problems,with unfortunate consequences for education.The problems become particularly obvious when the spatial time concept is used as a basis for the education function that is connected to the individuality of the pupils. In order to examine this problem more closely, the article turns to literature in order to get a new and different insight into education. (...) In part four of the novel Ada or Ardor: A family chronicle (1969) the Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov claims, by way of the protagonistVanVeen, that a spatial notion of time will lead to a determinate and reduced view of the future. Not only does one in this way sweep the very notion of time under the carpet, but one will moreover hinder the possibility of appearing as a unique and individualised person.Van is preoccupied with a pedagogic question: viz., the question of how one can become individualised through time.This is also the reason he attempts to re-create a time concept that can give him the status of a free and independent individual. With a background in Van’s analysis of time, the article attempts to derive two forms for education. First, formal education, which bases itself on a spatial time concept. Secondly, non-formal education, which bases itself on a time concept that has freed itself in the greatest possible manner from space. Neither of these two solutions is appropriate in regard to education’s individualising function. Therefore, the article draws on Nabokov’s best-known novel, Lolita (1955), so as to broadenVan’s understanding of time. In the end, then, the article articulates a time concept that introduces a notion of education where time occurs through acts of responsibility. Not until education has such a time concept as a basis, can one, so the article argues, attain the education function that has as its goal to individualise and make responsible children and young people. (shrink)

The paper Publish yet perish: On the pitfalls of philosophy of education in an age of impact factors is written in response to Matthew Hayden’s analysis of publications in four major English-language journals on philosophy of education. The authors take their point of departure in Hayden’s Table 12, which is a list of the top fifteen countries regarding the number and percentage of articles published in the four journals. They point out that the publication output in the field of philosophy (...) of education is compared with the publication output in other disciplines. The authors are highly critical of such comparisons as it is like comparing apples and oranges. There is also the concern that certain assessment systems, which are linked to rewards and punishments, might threaten the very existence of philosophy of education. Therefore, the authors examine the output of individuals. Although the authors recognise several weaknesses of such an approach, they do underline the method’s advanta .. (shrink)