On Problematic Situations and Problematizations: Study Practices and the Pragmatics of a World to‐Be‐Made

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, Hans Schildermans suggests practices of study as a way for universities to respond to socio‐ecological questions, issues, and problems related to the Anthropocene. He elaborates the concept of study practices by drawing on traditional pragmatic notions, such as problematic situation and problematization, as these are articulated in John Dewey's theory of inquiry. Prompted by concerns about the closed problem–solution nexus, as well as questions concerning the (egological) worldview underlying this theory, Schildermans aims to reread these ideas through the lens of contemporary authors such as Isabelle Stengers. In doing so, he articulates the educational dynamics of practices of study that address problematic situations, with specific attention to matters of educational futurity. In other words, centrally important to this analysis is the question of how these practices of study participate in a world in‐the‐making by activating possible futures — or, to formulate it somewhat differently, how practices of study give shape to a pragmatics of a world to‐be‐made