Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T15:50:02.103Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Postmodern/Poststructuralist Ethics and Education

from Part I - Traditions in Ethics and Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 March 2024

By
Marianna Papastephanou
Edited by
Sheron Fraser-Burgess ,
Jessica Heybach  and
Dini Metro-Roland
Sheron Fraser-Burgess
Affiliation:
Ball State University, Indiana
Jessica Heybach
Affiliation:
Florida International University
Dini Metro-Roland
Affiliation:
Western Michigan University
Get access

Summary

This chapter tackles postmodern and poststructuralist outlooks on ethics and how these have impacted educational theory. To fulfill this task, the chapter indicates how such outlooks differ from other perspectives on the relationship of philosophy, education, and ethics. After some basic definitions, clarifications, disclaimers, and caveats that familiarize the reader with the related discourses and their challenges, the chapter shows how postmodern/poststructuralist basic assumptions beneath the corresponding ethics differ from other perspectives on (educational) normativity. Then the chapter discusses the distinction between the ethical and the moral that makes the impact of postmodern/poststructuralist ethics on educational theory most visible. It concludes with critical remarks on the current status of this impact and on the challenge of rethinking educational ethics “after post-isms”.

Keywords

deconstructionmoralitymeta-narrativesidentitypowervirtue
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Ethics and Education , pp. 274 - 300
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, Ansgar, and Goddard, Roy. “The Domestication of Foucault: Government, Critique, War.” History of the Human Sciences 27, no. 5 (2014): 26–53.Google Scholar
Arndt, Sonja. “Pedagogies of Difference: Unknowing Immigrant Teachers as Subjects Forever in Process.” Journal of Pedagogy 6, no. 2 (2016): 119–132.Google Scholar
Auger, Peter. The Anthem Dictionary of Literary Terms and Theory. London: Anthem Press, 2010.Google Scholar
Badiou, Alain. Ethics: An Essay on the Understanding of Evil, translated by P. Hallward. London: Verso, 2001.Google Scholar
Benhur, Sevket Oral. “Subject and Justice: Žižek and Tiantai Buddhism.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 50, no. 14 (2018): 1374–1375.Google Scholar
Biesta, Gert. “Radical Intersubjectivity: Reflections on the ‘Different’ Foundation of Education.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 18, no. 4 (1999): 203–220.Google Scholar
Blake, Nigel, Paul, Smeyers, Smith, Richard, and Standish, Paul. Thinking Again: Education after Postmodernism. London: Bergin and Garvey, 1998.Google Scholar
Braidotti, Rosi. “Gender and Power in a Post-Nationalist European Union.” Nora: Nordic Journal of Women’s Studies 12, no. 3 (2004): 130–142.Google Scholar
Butler, Judith. Precarious Life. London: Verso, 2004.Google Scholar
Chadderton, Charlotte. “Towards a Research Framework for Race in Education: Critical Race Theory and Judith Butler.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26, no. 1 (2013): 39–55.Google Scholar
Davids, Nuraan, and Waghid, Yusef. “Higher Education as a Pedagogical Site for Citizenship Education.” Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 11, no. 1 (2016): 34–43.Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. “Could You Elaborate,” YouTube, July 7, 2008. www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2j578jTBCY (accessed March 20, 2022).Google Scholar
Derrida, Jacques. “Some Statements and Truisms about Neologisms, Newisms, Postisms, Parasitisms, and other Small Seismisms.” In The States of “Theory”: History, Art, and Critical Discourse, edited by Carroll, D.. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 1994.Google Scholar
Drousioti, Kalli. “Ethnic/National Identity Incrimination in and through Social Constructionism.” The European Legacy 24, no. 2 (2019): 181–201.Google Scholar
Eagleton, Terry. “Subjects and Truths.” New Left Review 9 (2001): 155–160.Google Scholar
Egéa-Kuehne, Denise, ed. Levinas and Education: At the Intersection of Faith and Reason. London: Routledge, 2008.Google Scholar
Fagan, Madeleine. Ethics and Politics after Poststructuralism: Levinas, Derrida and Nancy. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2013.Google Scholar
Fraser-Burgess, Sheron, and Thompson, Audrey. “Blackness (Un)defined by Whiteness: Possibilities for Education, Interiority, and Democracy.” Educational Theory 71, no. 2 (2021): 161–175.Google Scholar
Gallo, Silvio. “The Care of the Self and Biopolitics: Resistance and Practices of Freedom.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 49, no. 7 (2017): 691–701.Google Scholar
Golden, Jill. “The Care of the Self: Poststructuralist Questions about Moral Education and Gender.” Journal of Moral Education 25, no. 4 (1996): 381–393.Google Scholar
Gregoriou, Zelia. “Economies of Childcare, Debates over Matter, and the Discursive Illegitimacy of an Educational Philosophy of the Nursery: Re-Reading Irigaray after Butler.” Philosophy of Education Archive (2014): 416–424.Google Scholar
Gunzenhauser, Michael. “Solidarity and Risk in Welch’s Feminist Ethics.” Philosophy of Education Archive (2002): 101–109.Google Scholar
Heybach, Jessica. “Learning to Feel What We See: Critical Aesthetics and ‘Difficult Knowledge’ in an Age of War.” Critical Questions in Education 3, no. 1 (2012): 23–34.Google Scholar
Hogan, Padraig. “The Integrity of Learning and the Search for Truth.” Educational Theory 55, no. 21 (2005): 185–200.Google Scholar
Hogstad, Kjetil Horn, and Malabou, Catherine. “Plasticity and Education: An Interview with Catherine Malabou.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 53, no. 10 (2021): 1049–1053.Google Scholar
Jagodzinski, Jan. “The Ethics of the ‘Real’ in Levinas, Lacan, and Buddhism: Pedagogical Implications.” Educational Theory 52, no. 1 (2002): 81–96.Google Scholar
Jones, Deiniol. “The Origins of the Global City: Ethics and Morality in Contemporary Cosmopolitanism.” The British Journal of Politics and International Relations 5, no. 1 (2003): 50–73.Google Scholar
Kalisha, Wills. “‘You Have to Wait’: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Exploration of Unaccompanied Minors Waiting for Asylum Response in Norway.” www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/86598/1/PhD-Kalisha-2021.pdf. (accessed March 16, 2022).Google Scholar
Kelly, Mark. For Foucault: Against Normative Political Theory. Albany: SUNY Press, 2018.Google Scholar
Levinas, Emmanual. Totality and Infinity. Pittsburgh: Duquesne University Press, 1969.Google Scholar
Lewis, Tyson. “Rethinking the Learning Society: Giorgio Agamben on Studying, Stupidity, and Impotence.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 30, no. 6 (2011): 585–599.Google Scholar
Lyotard, Jean-François. The Differend: Phrases in Dispute, trans. Van Den Abbeele, Georges. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1988.Google Scholar
Lyotard, Jean-François. The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984.Google Scholar
Mayo, Cris. “The Uses of Foucault.” Educational Theory 50, no. 1 (2000): 103–116.Google Scholar
McKay, Loraine M., Carrington, Suzanne, and Iyer, Radha. “Becoming an Inclusive Teacher: Applying Deleuze and Guattari to Teacher Education.” Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online) 39, no. 3 (2014): 178–196.Google Scholar
Metro-Roland, Dini. “Knowledge, Power, and Care of the Self: The Many Faces of Michel Foucault in Education Research.” In Beyond Critique, 151–182. New York: Routledge, 2015Google Scholar
Moilanen, Antti, and Huttunen, Rauno. “The German Logic of Emancipation and Biesta’s Criticism of Emancipatory Pedagogy.” Educational Theory 71, no. 6 (2021): 717–741.Google Scholar
Montag, Warren. “Althusser’s Empty Signifier: What Is the Meaning of the Word ‘Interpellation’?” Mediations 30, no. 2 (2017): 63–68.Google Scholar
Norris, Christopher. Deconstruction: Theory and Practice. London: Routledge, 2003.Google Scholar
Norris, Christopher. Derrida. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1987.Google Scholar
Norris, Trevor. “Hannah Arendt and Jean Baudrillard: Pedagogy in the Consumer Society.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 25 (2006): 457–477.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “The Conflict of the Faculties: Educational Research, Inclusion, Philosophy and Boundary Discourses.” Ethics and Education 5, no. 2 (2010): 99–116.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “The Idea of Emancipation from a Cosmopolitan Point of View.” Continental Philosophy Review 33, no. 4 (2000): 395–416.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “Loyalty, Justice, and Limit-Situations.” Journal of Philosophical Research 46 (2021): 221–242.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “Method, Philosophy of Education and the Sphere of the Practico‐Inert.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 43, no. 3 (2009): 451–469.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “On (Crypto-) Normativity.” Critical Horizons 22, no. 3 (2021): 250–271.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “Philosophical Presuppositions of Citizenship Education and Political Liberalism,” edited by Arthur, J. Davies, I., and Hahn, C., 40–56. The SAGE Handbook of Education for Citizenship and Democracy. London: Sage, 2008.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “Prospects for Thinking Reconstruction Postmetaphysically: Postmodernism Minus the Quote‐Marks,” Journal for Cultural Research 3, no. 3 (1999): 291–303.Google Scholar
Papastephanou, Marianna. “Sketching the Multiple Relevance of Postmodernism to Educational Theory.” In Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory, ed. Peters, Michael. Singapore: Springer, 2018.Google Scholar
Peim, Nick, and Stock, Nicholas. “Education after the End of the World: How Can Education Be Viewed as a Hyperobject?” Educational Philosophy and Theory 54, no. 3 (2022): 251–262.Google Scholar
Peters, Michael A. “Education, Post-Structuralism and the Politics of Difference.” Policy Futures in Education 3, no. 4 (2005): 436–445.Google Scholar
Peters, Michael A., Tesar, Marek, and Jackson, Liz. “After Postmodernism in Educational Theory? A Collective Writing Experiment and Thought Survey.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 50, no. 14 (2018): 1299–1307.Google Scholar
Peters, Michael A., and Burbules, Nicholas. Poststructuralism and Educational Research. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.Google Scholar
Rajchman, John. The Deleuze Connections. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.Google Scholar
Rømer, Thomas Aastrup. “Postmodern Education and the Concept of Power.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 43, no. 7 (2011): 755–772.Google Scholar
Ruitenberg, Claudia. “Queer Politics in Schools: A Rancièrean Reading.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 42, nos. 5–6 (2010): 618–634.Google Scholar
Saito, Naoko, and Standish, Paul. “Transcending Borders from Within: Stanley Cavell and the Politics of Interpretation.” Paper presented at the International Conference on Cosmopolitanism, Stockholm, Sweden. 2008.Google Scholar
Simons, Maarten, and Masschelein, Jan. “Governmental, Political and Pedagogic Subjectivation: Foucault with Rancière.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 42, nos. 5–6 (2010): 588–605.Google Scholar
Smith, Richard. “Self‐Esteem: The Kindly Apocalypse.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 36, no. 1 (2002): 87–100.Google Scholar
Spector, Hannah. “The Who and the What of Educational Cosmopolitanism.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 34, no. 4 (2015): 423–440.Google Scholar
Stables, Andrew, and Scott, William. “Post‐Humanist Liberal Pragmatism? Environmental Education Out of Modernity.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 35, no. 2 (2001): 269–279.Google Scholar
Stone, Lynda. “Modern to Postmodern: Social Construction, Dissonance, and Education.” Studies in Philosophy and Education 13, no. 1 (1994): 49–63.Google Scholar
Szkudlarek, Tomasz. “Identity and Normativity: Politics and Education.” In Education and the Political, 61–74. New York: Brill Sense, 2013.Google Scholar
Taubman, Peter M. “Alain Badiou, Jacques Lacan and the Ethics of Teaching.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 42, no. 2 (2010): 196–212.Google Scholar
Thayer-Bacon, Barbara, and Bacon, Charles. Philosophy Applied to Education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill, 1998.Google Scholar
Todd, Sharon. “Guilt, Suffering and Responsibility.” Journal of Philosophy of Education 35, no. 4 (2001): 597–614.Google Scholar
Winch, Christopher, and Gingell, John. Key Concepts in the Philosophy of Education. London: Routledge, 1999.Google Scholar
Youdell, Deborah. “Subjectivation and Performative Politics – Butler Thinking Althusser and Foucault: Intelligibility, Agency and the Raced–Nationed–Religioned Subjects of Education.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 27, no. 4 (2006): 511–528.Google Scholar
Young, Iris M. Responsibility for Justice. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011.Google Scholar
Zembylas, Michalions. The Politics of Trauma in Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×