This article proposes literature and psychoanalysis as forms of critical education, putting in urgent question the market-driven, instrumental models of learning that currently dominate higher education policy. In psychoanalytic terms, it argues, the primary mechanism at work in such a policy is what psychoanalysis calls splitting, which involves…

This paper will evaluate a range of humanist and posthumanist ethical positions as useful bases for environmental education. It will conclude that a range of such positions can be seen as embracing respect for non-human nature. Therefore, environmental education can effectively embrace ethical pluralism to some extent. Embracing a degree of…

'The human being', Kant contends, 'is the only creature that must be educated'. Thus, for Kant, the concept of education plays a central role in the answer to one of the fundamental questions of philosophy: What is the human being? Education is the means by which the rational powers definitive of our humanity are actualised and cultivated. It is…

Innovations in genetics, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence involve the possibility of enhancement of human attributes and capacities--offering humans innumerable opportunities for diverse, unprecedented experiences and developments both physically and cognitively. These new innovations, frequently associated with theoretical frameworks…

Georges Bataille (1887-1962) is one of the most significant thinkers of the 20th century, whose anti-humanist anthropology influenced subsequent existentialist and post-structuralist philosophy. His wide-ranging writings (across philosophy, archaeology, economics, sociology, poetry, erotica and history of art) frequently mention children,…

In times of ecological crisis Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) becomes more and more important. However, ESD mostly understands nature as a resource that must be catered to for securing the survival of mankind. This article criticises the anthropocentric foundation of ESD. Therefore, the article first introduces the concept of 'making…

Results of the Boston University Mellon Sawyer seminar 20162-019 (www.mellophilemerge.com) reveal that social and philosophical drives are increasingly central to our uses of technology, including AI. This raises critical challenges for democracy, especially in a hyper-connected world where social media shapes human conduct in ways we are only…

Transhumanism promotes the application of emerging technologies and genetics in order to overcome the physical and cognitive limitations of the human species. In this article, the main question to be considered is the following: is Nietzsche's notion of educational self-overcoming compatible with the idea of biotechnological self-enhancement?…

This paper examines the role of normative ideals in contemporary critiques of the university. It begins by suggesting that the normative ideal of the university advanced by Immanuel Kant in "The Conflict of the Faculties" is particularly relevant to current critiques, as exemplified by a manifesto produced at the University of Aberdeen…

Peter Sloterdijk presented a reading of Heidegger's "Letter on Humanism" at a conference held at Elmau in 1999. Reinterpreting the meaning of humanism in the light of Heidegger's "Letter," Sloterdijk focused his presentation on the need to redefine education as a form of genetic "taming" and proposed what seemed to be…

This article takes up Foucault's politics of human rights and suggests that it may constitute a point of departure for the renewal of HRE, not only because it rejects the moral superiority of humanism--the grounding for the dominant liberal framework of international human rights--but also because it makes visible the complexities of human rights…

Humanism and humanistic education have been recognised as an issue of the utmost importance, whether in the East or in the West. Underpinning the Eastern and Western humanism is a common belief that there is an essence or essences of humanness. In the Confucian tradition, the core of humanity lies in the idea of "ren"; in the Platonic…

In this article I discuss the philosophy of John MacMurray, and in particular, his little-examined writings on discipline and emotion education. It is argued that discipline is a vital element in the emotion education MacMurray thought central to learning to be human, because for him it takes concerted effort to overcome the human tendency toward…

The aim of this article is to pinpoint some of the features that do--or should--make Aristotelianism attractive to current moral educators. At the same time, it also identifies theoretical and practical shortcomings that contemporary Aristotelians have been overly cavalier about. Section II presents a brisk tour of ten of the "pros":…

This article offers a sympathetic interpretation of Paul Feyerabend's remarks on science and education. I present a formative episode in the development of his educational ideas--the "Berkeley experience"--and describe how it affected his views on the place of science within modern education. It emerges that Feyerabend arrived at a…