Killing the Buddha
Towards a heretical philosophy of learning
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8859282 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Viktor Johansson (0000-0003-1369-9351, Örebro University), Viktor Magne Johansson (0000-0003-0298-3832, Örebro University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 50 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 61-71 |
| Publication date | 2017-06-07 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Educational Philosophy and Theory (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-1857 • E-ISSN: 1469-5812 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/00131857.2017.1336917 |
| OpenAlex | W2623000226 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 17 |
This article explores how different philosophical models and pictures of learning can become dogmatic and disguise other conceptions of learning. With reference to a passage from St. Paul, I give a sense of the dogmatic teleology that underpins philosophical assumptions about learning. The Pauline assumption is exemplified through a variety of models of learning as conceptualised by Israel Scheffler. In order to show how the Paulinian dogmatism can give rise to radically different pictures of learning, the article turns to St. Augustine’s and Robert Brandom’s examples of language learning, and to general strands in scholarship on moral education. Dewey’s view of childhood immaturity and the problem of adult maturity are used as first attempt at a counter picture to the idea that learning must have an end. The article takes Dewey’s idea further by suggesting how the Zen-Buddhist idea of killing the Buddha and Wittgenstein’s method of destroying pictures work on the dogmatic focus on uses of ‘learning’ that assume ends. In conclusion, the article suggests three possible uses of ‘learning’—learning from wonder, intransitive learning and passionate learning—that do not assume that learning has or must have a teleological end
Buddhism · Epistemology · Gautama Buddha · Higher education · Philosophy of education · Political science · Theology · Educational Philosophies and Pedagogies · Law · Philosophy · Pragmatism in Philosophy and Education · Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |