Education and/or Displacement? A Pedagogical Inquiry into Foucault's ‘Limit‐Experience’

Bibliographic Data

ID8859359
AuthorsChristiane Thompson (0000-0002-7260-2663, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, corresponding author)
Year2007
Volume42
Issue3
Pages361-377
Publication date2007-08-17
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEducational Philosophy and Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0013-1857 • E-ISSN: 1469-5812
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1469-5812.2007.00373.x
OpenAlexW2094864577
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited16

This paper is concerned with the educational‐philosophical implications of Michel Foucault's work: It poses the question whether Michel Foucault's remarks surrounding ‘limit‐experience’ can be placed in an educational context and provide an alternative view regarding the relationship that we maintain to ourselves. As a first step, the significance of ‘limit‐experience’ for Foucault's historicophilosophical investigations, his ‘critical ontology of the present’, is examined. Far from being an external marking point, it can be shown that limit‐experience lies at the centre of Foucault's approaches to the history of thought. As a second step, the resistance of Foucault's work against its integration into the educational realm is examined: Coming from Foucault's ‘limit‐experience’, it is possible to problematize a specific way we speak about learning and education. As a subsequent step, this resistance is given a constructive turn: The practices of writing and reading (related to limit‐experience) could provide a valuable irritation for philosophers of education by exposing them to the challenges of ‘singularity’ in education. It is argued that specifically the writing practice could be helpful for educational studies in order to inquire into the complex relationship of subject, power, and truth within the educational realm. Finally, the possibilities and difficulties of provoking such a writing practice are mentioned

Argument (complex analysis · Constructive · Context (archaeology · Education theory · Epistemology · Higher education · Michel foucault · Philosophy of education · Politics · Power (physics · Realm · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Subject (documents · Computer Science · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy, Ethics, and Existentialism · Philosophy, Sociology, Political Theory

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub