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Autonomy, Candour and Professional Teacher Practice: A Discussion Inspired by the Later Works of M ichel F oucault
Author(s) -
Raaen Finn Daniel
Publication year - 2011
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/j.1467-9752.2011.00824.x
Subject(s) - autonomy , deconstruction (building) , michel foucault , sociology , epistemology , modernity , foundation (evidence) , politics , pedagogy , philosophy , law , political science , ecology , biology
Autonomy is considered to be an important feature of professionals and to provide a necessary basis for their informed judgments. In this article these notions will be challenged. In this article I use M ichel F oucault's deconstruction of the idea of the autonomous citizen, and his later attempts to reconstruct that idea, in order to bring some new perspectives to the discussion about the foundation of professionalism. The turning point in F oucault's discussion about autonomy is to be found in his proposal for an ethics of the self. This ethics invites a break with the normalising discourses of modernity. As I see it, this makes it particularly relevant to a discussion about the principles of professionalism. The conception of parrhesia is central. I use the role of the teacher to illustrate my arguments.