Their Gaze Pierces our Shadows - The witness of Jean Vanier in the context of education as preparation
Leonard, T. (St. Xavier University)
This paper is occasioned by the prevalent assumption in public discourse and policy on education that pre-school is primarily a
set of preparations. This assumption is contrasted to the work of Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, a movement of group
homes for the intellectually handicapped. The life-world of Vanier and L’Arche reveals an anthropology that begins with the body that moves from shame to authenticity, from isolation to community, through community to freedom, to the givenness of a possible God. The paper draws from observations of a L’Arche home, from the writings of Jean Vanier and others involved in the L’Arche movement, as well as the phenomenological writings of Jan Patocka, Vaclav Havel, Jean-Luc Marion, Julia Kristeva, and Sam Rocha. The paper assumes that education is a broader phenomenon than schooling, and is a critique of schooling from the perspective of the L’Arche movement. The primary focus is on the notion of education as preparation, and points to other educational issues as well.
This paper is occasioned by the prevalent assumption in public discourse and policy on education that pre-school is primarily a
set of preparations. This assumption is contrasted to the work of Jean Vanier, the founder of L’Arche, a movement of group
homes for the intellectually handicapped. The life-world of Vanier and L’Arche reveals an anthropology that begins with the body that moves from shame to authenticity, from isolation to community, through community to freedom, to the givenness of a possible God. The paper draws from observations of a L’Arche home, from the writings of Jean Vanier and others involved in the L’Arche movement, as well as the phenomenological writings of Jan Patocka, Vaclav Havel, Jean-Luc Marion, Julia Kristeva, and Sam Rocha. The paper assumes that education is a broader phenomenon than schooling, and is a critique of schooling from the perspective of the L’Arche movement. The primary focus is on the notion of education as preparation, and points to other educational issues as well.
Teaching as reclaiming Mystery: The phenomenological possibilities of physis
Karrow, D. (Brock University), and Kentel, J. (University of Canterbury)
The purpose of this paper is to examine the subject of mystery as it frames our claims to knowledge. Mystery is because of knowledge and knowledge is because of mystery, where each refuses to marginalize or subdue the other; each is because of the other. Extending previous work where it was demonstrated that mystery and knowledge “complicate each other” in a deconstructive sense rather than “oppose each other” according to structuralism (Moran, 2000, p. 451), it advances the central argument that mystery and knowledge (doctrine of mystery) share a vital and essential dynamic in structuring reality, and accordingly should begin to more adequately characterize our educational (pedagogical, curricular, learning) activities. A doctrine of mystery is important as it calls to question a prevailing pattern of thought directly wreaking havoc on our planet. Calculative thought, the type of thought that persists in generating knowledge dominates thinking about the world in a way that exhausts it of its potential. Second, a society immersed and overly dependent on calculative thinking tends to prematurely settle upon “explanations” for the phenomena of reality. Such foreclosure eliminates other possibilities for being and limits or constricts possibility—a general cultural ethos around “explaining away phenomena” persists. And third, a doctrine of mystery expanding our predominant understanding of reality beyond rationality is important because it has significant implications for education. We argue a doctrine of mystery can be taken up by education.
Methodologically, the inquiry is guided by hermeneutic phenomenology. Phenomenological descriptions of old growth forests with a particular focus on physis (Greek word for nature), will serve as the foci of the inquiry. Subsequent hermeneutics or interpretation of these descriptions may lead to further understandings of the mystery/knowledge continuum and the insights these may have for education.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the subject of mystery as it frames our claims to knowledge. Mystery is because of knowledge and knowledge is because of mystery, where each refuses to marginalize or subdue the other; each is because of the other. Extending previous work where it was demonstrated that mystery and knowledge “complicate each other” in a deconstructive sense rather than “oppose each other” according to structuralism (Moran, 2000, p. 451), it advances the central argument that mystery and knowledge (doctrine of mystery) share a vital and essential dynamic in structuring reality, and accordingly should begin to more adequately characterize our educational (pedagogical, curricular, learning) activities. A doctrine of mystery is important as it calls to question a prevailing pattern of thought directly wreaking havoc on our planet. Calculative thought, the type of thought that persists in generating knowledge dominates thinking about the world in a way that exhausts it of its potential. Second, a society immersed and overly dependent on calculative thinking tends to prematurely settle upon “explanations” for the phenomena of reality. Such foreclosure eliminates other possibilities for being and limits or constricts possibility—a general cultural ethos around “explaining away phenomena” persists. And third, a doctrine of mystery expanding our predominant understanding of reality beyond rationality is important because it has significant implications for education. We argue a doctrine of mystery can be taken up by education.
Methodologically, the inquiry is guided by hermeneutic phenomenology. Phenomenological descriptions of old growth forests with a particular focus on physis (Greek word for nature), will serve as the foci of the inquiry. Subsequent hermeneutics or interpretation of these descriptions may lead to further understandings of the mystery/knowledge continuum and the insights these may have for education.