Noddings Chapter 4:
Existentialism, Phenomenology, Hermeneutics,
Critical Theory, and Postmodernism
Analytical Philosophy
• Presupposes that there is a truth or law governing human action and choices
that if discovered would explain human action and choices. This knowledge
would lead to the development of best practices to meet specific ends. For
example, the data would reveal the best method for classroom discipline.
• NCLB emphasis on scientifically based research (SBR) is based on this
assumption in analytic philosophy.
• SBR is “research that involves the application of rigorous, systematic, and
objective procedures to obtain reliable and valid knowledge relevant to
education activities and programs.”
• NCLB assumes that there are scientifically discoverable “best practices” found
by using the scientific method.
Continental Philosophy
• Argues there are no overarching truths or laws governing human behavior or
actions but there are multiple “shared stories” to learn.
• Would argue for educational reform that focuses on the individual student, not
on the search for group level “best practices”.
• Divided up into many widely differing subgroups including: existentialism,
phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, and postmodernism.
• These subgroups have different views on the impact of social structures on
the development of the individual.
Existentialism: What is it?
• Definition: “The study of individuals and how individuals use their freedom to
define themselves” (Noddings, p. 62).
• About the freedom we have to choose who we are. Asserts that humans have
control over the development of ourselves as subjects, unless they cede that
control to others. Antidote to behaviorism or structuralism, both of which argue
the self is at least partially constructed by forces outside its control.
• But as subjects we have a responsibility to make good choices for all mankind.
This is not anarchy. Our choices impact the world, and we are responsible for
the consequences of those actions both taken and untaken.
• Key thinkers: Kierkegaard, Sartre, Buber
Existentialism and Education Practice
• Ideal education: Unschooling or student-led learning
• A student’s reflection on how unschooling helps develop the self as a fully
functioning subject: Unschooling
• Teachers may act as guides but not as authorities. This model is the antithesis
of behaviorism, which puts the teacher in the sole position of running the
classroom.
• Summerhill School in England is a prime example of how student-led
learning can function effectively.
Phenomenology: What is it?
• Definition: “Descriptive science concerned primarily with the objects and
structures of consciousness” (Noddings, p. 70).
• About understanding the essence of an idea, such as justice, hope, or
knowledge. Requires an examination of the idea in different circumstances
and from different points of view. The idea is that we consciously create these
ideas, so we can understand how they are developed through exploration.
• More useful in research than practice, though teachers can use this approach
to help build students’ viewpoints to better understand how to guide their
academic development, which is particularly useful for students with special
needs.
• Key thinkers: Husserl, Heidegger.
Phenomenology and Education
• Ideal education: Philosophic directed learning that examines how ideas are
constructed
• Education should guide students to understand fundamental underlying ideas
to all domains of education and research. We need to understand what
underlies the assumptions we make about the world to how and why we think
the things we do.
• Even elementary students can investigate ideas philosophically.
• The FAT City workshop is also phenomenology in practice, because it leads
teachers to examine how knowledge is constructed under varying types of
constraints, in this case, learning disabilities.
Hermeneutics: What is it?
• “Philosophical search for meaning that rejects both the quest for certainty
characteristic of foundationalism and nihilism associated with Nietzsche”
(Noddings, p. 76).
• About exploring the construction of meaning using both the whole and the
part simultaneously, which is not allowed under scientific method. Can be
used to weave together Adichie’s shared stories. Also more of a research
method than a guide to practice.
• The key idea here is that we cannot understand or think about something like
justice or race without simultaneously thinking about individual examples as
well as the concept itself at the same time. There are no abstract ideas. It is
analagous to doing inductive and deductive reasoning at the same time.
• Key thinkers: Heidegger, Gadamer, Rorty
Hermeneutics and Education
• Ideal education: Community run school that focuses on inclusion and
distributes power across all groups involved in the school because meaning is
created communally.
• An education based on Adichie’s idea of shared stories. Educational structure
and curriculum takes into account differences in culture, race, gender,
language, and other differences among students.
• Take a look at one school’s celebration of its diversity as a hermeneutic way to
celebrate the differences within the community as well as the whole
community at the same time.
• Hermeneutics can help us better teach students with special needs by leading
us to consider their experiences in the classroom. Try doing tasks from their
point of view: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/misunderstoodminds/attention.html
Critical Theory
• Definition: “Focuses on analysis of social conditions that underlie, accompany,
and result from forms of domination” (Noddings, p. 72).
• Works to understand how groups are created and the social structures that
work to keep some groups privileged and some oppressed.
• Also requires philosophy be put into practice to alleviate oppression in all its
forms. Most critical theorists are activists as well, like Paulo Freire or Henry
Giroux, who work to reform social institutions, like schools.
• Unlike existentialism, argues that societal structures can impact the
development of the self. The oppressed have fewer choices.
• Key thinkers: Marx, Foucault, Habermas, Freire, Giroux
Critical Theory and Education
• Ideal education: Conflicting. Unschooling vs AP classes for everyone
• Critical theory is not a monolithic school of thought on education. The one strand of
agreement is that liberation is achieved through learning.
• However, there are disagreements about what kind of learning leads to liberation.
Some argue that oppressed students need equal access to AP classes to overthrow
their oppression, while others argue that traditional school structures create
oppression and must be thrown out altogether in favor of more communal learning
structures. What will help underprivileged students the most?
• Recent CNN story on why everyone may not need algebra reveals this tension.
• The work of critical theorists on issues of race and gender helped pave the way for
increased inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms.
Postmodernism: What is it?
• Definition: Involves “the abandonment of the Enlightenment quest for absolute
truth...and an attack on on the long-standing belief in objectivity” (Noddings, p. 78).
• About giving up the modernist project that there is an absolute truth that could guide
society to an optimal outcome. Instead, there are only local truths. There is no one
true story of what it means to be a woman, or a teacher, or black.
• No knowledge is objective. My position on health care reform is determined in part by
my experiences and other beliefs because every fact requires interpretation to give it
meaning.
• Unlike existentialism, my subjectivity is affected by the society in which I live.
• Key thinkers: Foucault, Derrida
Postmodernism and Education
• Ideal education: Unschooling or individualized education with particular
attention to teacher’s role as authority figure
• Asks teachers to recognize you cannot be objective, and you need to be
aware of how your own values will always color your actions and perceptions.
• Try Project Implicit to see where your perceptions are affected.
• The self-reflective portion of the RTI process is an example of what
postmodernism requires of us as teachers: it asks us to recognize our role in
creating the experience of the students in the classroom and how we partially
determine that experience.
Questions for Educational Reform
• Continental philosophy challenges conventional assumptions about education.
It asks us deep and troubling questions but gives us few solid answers.
• Is there one best way to educate everyone?
• What kinds of knowledge do individual students need?
• Does that knowledge vary by class, race, or ability?
• How far should differentiation be taken?
• Are children able to be responsible for their own learning?
Further Questions
• NCLB pushes the educational system towards complete standardization. All
variants of continental philosophy challenge that idea by emphasizing the idea
that it creates a privileged set of knowledge that was chosen by a particular
privileged class.
• What kind of standards should schools be asked to meet? How does this
affect students who are ELL or who have special needs? Or simply
different abilities? Does my science and math loving child need to spend
half his day in writer’s workshop in third grade?
• Should educators expect all neurotypical students to achieve benchmarks
at the same time? One of my students was a late bloomer in reading. He
refused to learn to read till the middle of first grade, and then he learned to
read in six weeks.
Ideal Education
• Ask yourself what kind of classroom you want for yourself? For your children?
What do you imagine: the freedom of Summerhill School in England or
something more traditional?
• How would like to learn: through discovery, stories, experiments, or rote
learning? How do you think most students like to learn?
• I would love to send my kids to a school with self-guided, experimental,
discovery based learning like Summerhill, but tuition at such schools in our
area is out of our reach. NCLB makes it difficult for public schools to engage in
this educational format. Should it be easier?