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Discourse Theory and its Implications for Philosophy of Education
Author(s) -
Papastephanou M.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of philosophy of education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.501
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1467-9752
pISSN - 0309-8249
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9752.00146
Subject(s) - postmodernism , epistemology , rationality , subjectivity , sociology , relevance (law) , philosophy of education , discipline , education theory , social science , philosophy , higher education , law , political science
This article examines the actual and potential contribution of Jürgen Habermas's and Karl‐Otto Apel's ‘discourse theory’ to ongoing debates on educational issues. By exploring the paradigmatic assumptions of discourse theory, i.e. those related to new conceptions of rationality, language, and subjectivity, I suggest possible links between a Frankfurt School metacritique and a postmodern educational practice. While taking into account the poststructuralist intervention and the relevance of cultural studies to revisiting modern pedagogy, I take issue with dismissive readings of Habermas's discourse theory by its postmodernist detractors, and I put forward a more mediatory approach to cross‐disciplinary exchanges.