On the Relationship Between Education and Emancipation

Krstic, Predrag and Nikolic, Olga and Lackovic, Natasa and Cvejic, Igor (2024) On the Relationship Between Education and Emancipation. In: Rethinking Education and Emancipation :. Palgrave Studies in Educational Philosophy and Theory . Palgrave McMillan, Cham, pp. 1-22. ISBN 9783031470431

Abstract

This chapter provides a brief history of the concept of emancipation and its applications in and relationship with education, starting with the Enlightenment and considering both the continuation and the critique of this tradition that has further shaped the relationship between education and emancipation. The tension between two meanings of emancipation—personal, intellectual emancipation on the one hand, and political emancipation of the oppressed and the entire society on the other—comes into view in the divergence between Kantian and Marxists paths to emancipation. The chapter goes on to consider the ideas by notable classic thinkers who further developed the Enlightenment ideal of emancipatory education by democratizing it (Freire, Habermas, Dewey, Popper), but also outright questioned some of its main aspects (Peirce, Berlin, Rancière). Nevertheless, even the critics of the Enlightenment mentioned here stay faithful to the ideals of equality and freedom that were formulated in the Age of Reason. And here we are, facing “new” and “old” challenges and media.