Education and the Experience of Time: Αἰὼν, χρόνος, and καιρός

general courses

Classroom

This lecture-course on the hermeneutics of education and the experience of time thematizes the phenomenon of education in relationship to the understanding of time as αἰὼν, χρόνος, and καιρός.

Our lecture-course on the hermeneutics of education and the experience of time thematizes the phenomenon of education in relation to the understanding of time as αἰὼν, χρόνος, and καιρός. Interpreting Heraclitus’s Fragment B 52, αἰὼν παῖς ἐστι παίζων, πεσσεύων· παιδὸς ἡ βασιληίη, we will explore childlike experiences of time. For Heraclitus, a child experiences time more as αἰὼν than χρόνος. The aionic notion of time influences our understanding of education as an internal process of formation in need of permanent development. A more holistic qualitative and non-quantifiable experience of time stimulates an approach to education as the sharing of the experience of being a human being in the world. The childlike experience of the world can inspire thinking in education and promote an understanding of education as the culture of questioning.

Walter Kohan, Philosophy and Childhood: Critical Perspectives and Affirmative Practices (London: Palgrave, 2014).

Barbara Weber, “Questioning the Question: How to Cultivate Philosophical Questioning in a Community of Inquiry,” in M. Gregory, J. Haynes, and K. Murris, ed., The Routledge International Handbook of Philosophy for Children (London: Routledge Publisher, 2016).

Andrzej Wierciński, ed., Hermeneutics-Ethics-Education (Münster: LIT Verlag, 2015).

Andrzej Wierciński, “The Hermeneutics of Lived Time: Education as the Way of Being,” in Paul Fairfield and Saulius Geniusas, ed., Relational Hermeneutics: Essays in Comparative Philosophy (Bloomsbury: London, 2018), 52-62.

Knowledge:

o the student is familiar with new literature as indicated in the bibliography

o is familiar with new directions in the philosophy of education

o knows the state of research in the hermeneutics of education and is able to design an innovative research project

Skills:

o can identify philosophical aspects of education

o can address the importance of feelings (curiosity, patience, courage, uncertainty, self-esteem)

and validates them in the process of learning

0 has skills in presenting aspects of philosophical hermeneutics in discussing issues in

contemporary education in an international setting

o can effectively communicate with other scholars in hermeneutic philosophy and education

o shows depth in thinking and elaborating of original and novel ideas, as a creative and insightful student

Social competences:

o appreciates the need to learn to understand one’s life

o can set measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely goals and ways to achieve them in the context of academic, professional, and social activity

o sees the need for dialogue between different academic disciplines and schools of thought

Students must attend classes, actively participate in discussions, and write a research paper of ca. 2500 words. The grade will be based on the paper 50%. Students should clear their topic with the instructor before writing. Final revised paper due Friday, December 20, 2019. Attendance/ Active in-class participation (50%). Along with the final paper, students are required to submit a detailed report about their attendance and self-evaluation of their activity in the class.