Stanley Cavell’s Ordinary Language Philosophy as an Example of Practicing Philosophy in the Essay-Form: In Search of a Humanistic Approach to Teacher Education

Abstract

The author introduces the idea of Stanley Cavell’s ordinary language philosophy as an example of the essay-form of philosophical practice by examining its underlying methodology and aspiration to see if it can be developed into a humanistic approach to teacher education. Here, Cavell’s ordinary language philosophy is shown as a form of philosophical practice that “strikes us dumb,” only to lead us to become aware of what we already know through our lived experience of it. It is also shown that the practice of ordinary language philosophy is supposed to challenge our power to use language at all, by making us confront the gap between the words we say and what we mean by them, only to lead us to see the language-game in which we live, i.e., its limitations as well as its possibility. This limits-experience makes the philosophical practice a personalized form of practice, showing how Cavell’s ordinary language philosophy can be employed to cultivate our ability to reflect on our relationship to ourselves as well as to the world, as a way of transforming our (or others’) sensibility.