A Concept of Education in the Experience of Freedom: Hermeneutic-Phenomenological Investigations Sun Inn Yun Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD UCL Institute of Education, University College London 2016 Abstract This thesis considers the idea of freedom in education. It attempts to show how prevalent conceptions of education – for example, in progressive child-centred education and in the idea of a liberal education – take on the question of freedom as something that the human being has, a property that human beings have in varying degrees. Freedom is then understood as something that is realised (or frustrated) in one way or another through their education – whether, for example, by allowing children freedom from the start or by restricting their freedom so that they can be initiated into worthwhile pursuits and forms of knowledge. To consider freedom at this level is not only legitimate but desirable up to a point. Freedom is an issue for education. But to confine thinking to these matters is to miss something more fundamental and ultimately more important about freedom. This has to do with the ways that freedom is a precondition for human being: it is freedom that allows human beings to be. This is so because things, for human beings, are understood not just as meaningless objects but in terms of their possibilities. To think of possibility involves a freeing of thought or, otherwise put, a thought that frees. Martin Heidegger provides a uniquely powerful way to this insight, and this thesis is therefore concerned to explore his thought in this respect. As has been seen, this is not just to do with human beings, for on this line of thought, freedom is also a condition for the world to be as world: the idea of world is inseparable from an idea of possibility. Freedom allows human beings to be and things to come into their own nature. Hence, there is a reciprocal relation between human beings and world, and it is the freedom inherent though sometimes latent in thought that allows things to come into presence. This thesis suggests ways of stepping forward from the current discussion of freedom. Within mainstream exploration and analysis of freedom, especially in Anglophone contexts, discussion is typically framed in terms of the contrasting ideas of freedom-from and freedom-to, in the light of which we can then speak of the freedom ‘of’ a person. Freedom in the sense explored in this thesis, however, is not to best understood in these ways. I am concerned instead with freedom as a phenomenon, which appears in education ‘as’ something. In a critical reading of Martin Heidegger and Jean-Luc Nancy, the idea of freedom in educational practice and theory is discussed in terms of five themes: i as movement, as possibility, as a leap, as language, and as thinking. In the light of such a phenomenology, education comes to be seen as a practice (or set of practices) in which the play of freedom reveals and conceals. In this way, the nature of education is considered as freedom in action, through which the human being is defined, refined, and renewed. It follows that any understanding of education that is blind to this freeing of thought is likely to fall short: for such a freeing of thought should be crucial to teaching and understanding in a subject and to the way the newcomer comes into the world. ii Statement of Originality I hereby declare that, except where explicit attribution is made, the work presented in this thesis is entirely my own. Sun Inn Yun 15 November 2015 Word count (exclusive of appendix and references): 75,510 words iii Contents Acknowledgement v List of Abbreviations vi PART I Introduction CHAPTER 1 The Problem of Freedom in the Over-Educated Society 7 CHAPTER 2 A Shift in the Question: from freedom-of to freedom-as 28 PART II Education in Quest of Freedom-As CHAPTER 3 Freedom as a Fix, Freedom as Movement 52 CHAPTER 4 Freedom as Possibility: A Response to Biesta and Säfström’s Manifesto 71 CHAPTER 5 Freedom as a Leap and the Aims of Education 95 CHAPTER 6 Freedom as Language: The Drama of the Leap, “Kaspar Hauser Exits the Cave” 119 CHAPTER 7 Freedom as Thinking: Evidence-Based Education and the Ideal of Freedom – Meaning and Mystique 148 PART III Conclusion CHAPTER 8 Education at the Crossroads of Freedom 173 Afterword: Liberal Education, Progressivism, and Freedom 191 Appendix: List of Publications 194 References 195 iv Acknowledgements At the completion of the thesis, I feel deeply blessed, privileged to have numerous people to whom I can now show my gratitude. I thank Paul Standish for his unfailing support in my philosophical journey, which has been shaped into the form of the present thesis. The conversation with him has been thought-provoking but full of encouragement. His inexhaustible care and attention extend into the details of writing and the articulation of my thought. The present thesis would not have come to light without the priceless support I have received from the Seles in Steg, Liechtenstein. This is not only a matter of generous financial support – the Seles Scholarship, as we often call it – but also of the incalculable affection and care I have received, which are reflected in every page of this thesis. I deeply thank Hugo, Imelda, Sebastian, and Joder for their generosity and invaluable friendship. I owe special thanks to my teachers, Sunbo Kang, at Korea University, and Yoonmi Lee, at Hongik University, who initially guided me into the philosophical journey I have undertaken. I also thank the Philosophy of Education Research Team at Korea University, led by Yongjin Han and Chang-ho Shin, as well as the Centre for Philosophy of Education at UCL Institute of Education. The thesis is immensely indebted to discussions with the colleagues and academics that I have encountered at various conferences, seminars, and colloquia. I thank them for the fruitful conversations and discussions I have enjoyed. I deeply thank my friends who are busy making their own lives, here and there. Through what was at first a simple exchange of greetings, networks of support have been built, and I have benefited greatly from them. I have found London a richly hospitable place: through a number of exciting academic and cultural events, this city has brought me wonderful opportunities alongside my philosophical journey. I cherish London: the people I have encountered and my time in London. Special thanks go to Kyobin Kang for his unfailing and full-hearted support. I treasure our relationship, friendship, and colleagueship during our PhD journeys in London and Seoul. Finally, I thank the members of my family, in heaven and on earth. They remain in my memories – of the past, of the present, and for the future. v List of Abbreviations of Martin Heidegger’s Works BP The Basic Problems of Phenomenology BT Being and Time CPC Country Path Conversations CT The Concept of Time DT Discourse on Thinking IM Introduction to Metaphysics IP Introduction to Philosophy EG On the Essence of Ground EHF The Essence of Human freedom ET On the Essence of Truth FCM Fundamental Concepts of Metaphysics KPM Kant and the Problem of Metaphysics LH Letter on “Humanism” MFL Metaphysical Foundations of Logic OWL On the Way to Language PDT Plato’s Doctrine of Truth PLT Poetry, Language, Thought PR The Principle of Reason PWM Postscript to “What is Metaphysics?” QCT The Question Concerning Technology and Other Essays STF Schelling’s Treatise on the Essence of Human Freedom WCT What Is Called Thinking? WN The Word of Nietzsche WT What is Metaphysics? vi Part I Introduction CHAPTER 1 The Problem of Freedom in the Over-Educated Society The Over-Educated Society The well-known American economist, Richard Freeman, defined the 1970s in the USA with the phrase ‘the over-educated society’ (1976). In his book, the desire and expectation of individuals and society regarding college education is described from an economic perspective. This book is worth looking at in order to evaluate the way education is popularly considered. Freeman states that the value of higher education is to reward individuals with higher salaries and social reputation, and that it also produces national growth in economic and defence terms for society (e.g. after the success of the Soviet Sputnik the US government tried to promote expertise at PhD level in various academic fields). The main argument in his book is that the number of highly educated persons (in an economic context the supply) exceeds the number of available vacancies present in the job market (the demand), and that during the economic recession of the 1970s in the United States this led to a devaluation of higher education in general, reflected in lower salaries and fewer high-level white collar job opportunities than before. He names this phenomenon of the relationship of the number of educated persons to what is required by the labour market in circumstances where supply exceeds demand ‘the over-educated society’. 7 It would be wrong to dismiss this term simply on the grounds that it sees education in a very narrow way. Freeman cautiously differentiates what he means by this term from other accounts as follows: ‘Overeducated relates in this context to the connection between years and type of college studies and labor market earnings and opportunities, not to the broader cultural aspects of higher education’ (Freeman, 1976, p. 4). One of the reasons that Freeman restricts the term over-educated to its economic sense may be to set aside any other possible meanings or values in education for the sake of clarity of argument.