Eduardo Duarte

The Way of Lao-Tzu

The texts of Taoism, specifically The Tao Te Ching of Lao-Tzu, are instructive here on the event of Learning as occurring in the Leap into the mystery of Being, which appears to us as the openness of an abyss, a primeval chaos. Becoming teachable, we have said, is to be re-posed in the repose, the dignified calm of letting-be. With Learning we Leap into the emptiness, and we become open to the circulation of Being, the movement of presencing.

The Teacher and the World

[he] knew that the break in tradition and the loss of authority which occurred in his lifetime were irreparable, and he concluded that he had to discover new ways of dealing with the past. In this he became a master when he discovered that the transmissibility of the past had been replaced by its citability and that in place of its authority there had arisen a strange power to settle down, piecemeal, in the present and to deprive it of a ‘peace of mind,’ the mindless peace of complacency. ‘Quotations in my works,’ [Benjamin writes] ‘are like robbers by the roadside who make an armed attach and relieve an idler of his convictions.’

Heidegger's Prognostic: Originary Thinking at the End of Philosophy of Education.

Abstract This article is one in a series of attempts to clear discursive space for speculative thinking in education. The impulse to move toward another form of ‘philosophy of education’ is inspired by ongoing conversation with Heidegger, whose later work, in particular, indicated the possibility of a poetic thinking that could express the state of wonder from whence learning arises. Philosophers of education may be interested in the organized manner in which learning is organized at the level of culture, politics, and society. Speculative thinking in education, however, makes a horizontal transcendence, into an imagined future beyond the apparent present. In what follows, I will explore what I am calling Heidegger’s prognostic in order to make further articulation of the project of originary thinking. A brief recollection of this project will precede the presentation of Heidegger’s prognostic. After that presentation, I will attempt to show how the future predicated by Heidegger’s prognostication may be seen to come forward through the poetics of originary thinking. Here, I will revisit some recent work I have done on originary thinking as poiein, or the making of more poetry, less prose in educational theory.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave”

‘Passage’ denotes a portion or section of a written work. It also means “the act or an instance of passing of passing from one place, condition, etc., to another,” yet also “the permission, right, or freedom to pass.” It denotes an opening or entrance through which one may pass, hence a ‘passage way’ is “a way for passing through, or out of something.” Passage can also mean “a voyage by water or air from one point to another”, and “a progress or course, as of events.” Finally, passage also denotes “an interchange of communications, confidences, etc., between persons.” Passage captures much of what we have been describing in our exploration of the relationship between Being and Learning, and it is not surprising to find that the plurality of meaning that flows from this term also captures many of the events which unfold in the multilayered Allegory of the Cave.

Paulo Freire and Liberation Philosophy of Education

Freire’s project of critical literacy, which he initiated in 1946 when he was appointed director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Social Service in the state of Penambuco, Brazil, was an immediate overturning of the traditional classroom that, along with other vestiges of colonialism, has its roots in European authoritarian pedagogies that accentuate the dichotomy between the expertise of the master (instructor) and the ignorance of the novice (student). “By giving the student formulas to receive and store, we have not offered him the means for authentic thought” (Freire P, Education for critical consciousness. Seabury Press, New York, 1973, p. 38). In sum, Freire’s is a decolonial project intent on dismantling antidemocratic, anti-dialogic, and authoritarian schooling by initiating an entirely new project of liberation education within agricultural campesino communities and beyond.

Learning by Jamming

Aristotle offers the epigram for this chapter with the assertion from his Ethics: “For the things we have to learn to do, we learn by doing them.” In turn, this chapter explores what is happening when learning is put underway and ‘conducted’ by an educator who is ‘making music’ with their students. ‘Music making’ is a figurative category used to describe a particular form of dynamic dialogic learning. Hence, the aim of this chapter is to offer a phenomenology of the ‘music making philosophical educator.’ One can imagine different types of music making educators, and it is hoped this chapter will inspire others to describe their own musical-philosophical educators. However, the attention here is exclusively focused on describing the philosophical educator as one who puts into motion an improvisational jam session, i.e., one who understands that a philosophical education, or the experiential learning of human freedom, happens through dialogic jamming.

RE) Turning to the Originary Question

We have come full circle in this inquiry, having returned to the initial point of departure, namely, Plato’s description of the philosopher as “the real lover of learning.”(Rep., 485) We recall here that we were put underway by this depiction, which we read alongside a comment he makes further along, in book seven, where he links this lover of learning with the art of education.

Aristotle’s Critique

To dwell with the Sage is to become a student of learning, a student of the one who remains authentically seized by wonder. To dwell with the Sage is to be guided and directed along the path of silence where we take up the art of compassion. The Sage is the one who is remains steadfast in openness and thereby most active in the process of building, a creating meaning.

The Improvisational Art of Teaching/Learning

The ‘one’ arises from the ground of the ‘two.’ This ‘self’ is other of the ‘two,’ the third that emerges from the dialogic event occurring between ‘I’ and ‘thou.’ As ‘other’ it remains a stranger. The relation of the two, the ground of plurality, shows how the dialogic event is related to a third that is not present, and remains concealed, hidden, and spills over in the improvisational.

The Calling of Socrates

Responding to the call of Being with openness is to endure cheerfully being ‘held out’ for questioning. This enduring identifies our ‘bearing up’ for the wandering that we now understand as a ‘giving in to’ the clearing of Learning. In this ‘giving in’ we have wandered into the Teaching of Being, and offer our openness as the gift of teach-ability.