Abstract
Abstract Philosophy is sometimes thought of as having two principal dimensions: one that aims to build systems and doctrines, and another that is concerned to unsettle fixed ways of thinking. Richard Peters seems to position himself in both camps. I suggest that education in the UK today increasingly bears the marks of rigid thinking, largely as a result of the domination of neoliberal fundamentalism, and is in particular need of unsettling. This, I argue, was a major part of western philosophy's mission at what we think of as its birth in the work of Socrates and Plato's dialogues. In these texts too we see depicted the arrogance and complacency of characters who may sometimes remind us of our contemporaries. The Socratic irony that is evident everywhere in the dialogues is their undoing.
Highlights
One way to introduce this paper is to relate the response of a colleague who had read the flyer for the lecture where I presented an earlier version of it
Is the philosopher challenging from the start the expectations of the age, creating difficulties— or, to use the terms of my title, unsettling what is taken for granted, what is thought to be the obvious way forward, which starts with the offer of certainty supplied by a definition and results in having an impact on educational practice in schools and universities
The US philosopher Richard Rorty, for example, takes the view, especially in Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity (1989), that radical social changes generally take place not because an individual philosopher or thinker, or even a group of them, puts forward an irrefutable argument: it is more that a language which has long seemed to be the only language to use starts to seem old-fashioned or inadequate. He gives the example (p. 12) of how ‘the traditional Aristotelian vocabulary got in the way of the mathematical vocabulary that was being developed in the sixteenth century by students of mechanics’ and was eclipsed by it
Summary
Citation for published item: Smith, Richard (2020) 'Unsettling knowledge : irony and education.', Journal of philosophy of education., 54 (3). pp. 757-771. A full bibliographic reference is made to the original source a link is made to the metadata record in DRO the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Durham University Library, Stockton Road, Durham DH1 3LY, United Kingdom Tel : +44 (0)191 334 3042 | Fax : +44 (0)191 334 2971 https://dro.dur.ac.uk
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
