Aalborg Universitet Exploring the Borderland a study on Reflections in University Science Education Christensen, Ole Ravn Publication date: 2004 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication from Aalborg University Citation for published version (APA): Christensen, O. R. (2004). Exploring the Borderland: a study on Reflections in University Science Education. Aalborg Universitetsforlag. General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. ? Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. ? You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain ? You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us at [email protected] providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Downloaded from vbn.aau.dk on: September 23, 2021 Exploring the Borderland A Study on Reflections in University Science Educations Ph.D.-thesis by Ole Ravn Christensen Department of Education and Learning, University of Aalborg Funded by Centre for Educational Development in University Science Supervisor: Professor Ole Skovsmose, Department of Education and Learning, University of Aalborg Exploring the Borderland. A study on Reflections in University Science Education Ph.D. dissertation © 2003 - Ole Ravn Christensen ISBN 87-90934-98-9 (e-book publication) Published by Department of Learning and Education Aalborg University Langagervej 8 DK-9220 Aalborg, Denmark Tel +45 9635 9950 www.learning.aau.dk [email protected] Acknowledgements This thesis was written in the period from September 2000 till November 2003. I would like to thank the staff at the Department of Learning and Education, University of Aalborg, at the Centre for Science Education, University of Copenhagen, and at the Department of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Harvey Mudd College, Los Angeles, CA, for daily cooperation in the three year period. In addition, I am grateful to the people that have been part of the PhD.-network under Centre for Educational Development in University Science. Special gratitude goes to Kristina Brun Madsen, Anne-Marie Pedersen, Paola Valero, Anton Ehlers, Mogens Pahuus, Tomas Nielsen, Kasper Gøttsche, Mette Ravn and Ole Skovsmose who have in different ways discussed and inspired the process of writing. Theme I and III of Part II were first presented at the Nordic Summer School in 2001 and 2002. Pages 117-135 are a further development of a paper written in connection to an unfinished Pædagogikum education. The core of the arguments concerning Wittgenstein’s two conceptions of language (pages 156-158 and 162-169) are slightly changed versions of sections in my master thesis Wittgenstein’s Influence on Contemporary Philosophies of Mathematics (1999). Theme II of Part II will be part of an upcoming anthology stemming from the Science Philosophical Forum at the University of Aalborg. In the text, I use notes to signify what I have translated from Danish to English. The translation notes can be found at the end of the thesis. Ole Ravn Christensen Aalborg, November 2003 INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................................3 1. A STUDY ON REFLECTIONS IN UNIVERSITY SCIENCE EDUCATIONS ..................................................5 1.1 Problem Statement and Research Objective.............................................................................8 1.2 Methodology ...........................................................................................................................12 PART I: HISTORICAL APPROACH – POSITIONS ON THE FILOSOFIKUM......................23 2. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................25 TH 3. THE FILOSOFIKUM PRIOR TO THE 20 CENTURY ............................................................................29 3.1. Scholasticism .........................................................................................................................29 3.2 The Renaissance .....................................................................................................................33 3.3 The Enlightenment ..................................................................................................................35 3.4 Romanticism ...........................................................................................................................38 th 3.5 A Recapture of pre-20 Century Filosofikum .........................................................................42 4. 20TH CENTURY POSITIONS ON THE FILOSOFIKUM............................................................................47 4.1 Høffding’s Filosofikum ...........................................................................................................48 4.2 Jørgensen’s Filosofikum .........................................................................................................58 4.3 Hartnack’s Filosofikum ..........................................................................................................70 5. THE REVOCATION AND CONCLUSIONS ...........................................................................................81 5.1 Initiatives for Reforms in the 20th Century..............................................................................81 5.2 The Philosophers on the Revocation of the Filosofikum.........................................................84 5.3 Conclusions on the Historical Approach................................................................................87 PART II: CRITICAL APPROACH – A CRITIQUE OF THE CONCEPTION OF SCIENCE IN MODERNITY.......................................................................................................................................93 6. INTRODUCTION...............................................................................................................................95 6.1 The Conception of Science in Modernity ................................................................................99 6.2 The Irrelevance Position.......................................................................................................101 Excurse I – Contemporary Debate....................................................................................102 6.3 Thematic Approach...............................................................................................................107 7. THEME I: UNDERSTANDINGS OF SYSTEM – THE BELIEF IN REDUCIBILITY ....................................111 7.1 A Philosophical Perspective on System ................................................................................117 7.2 A Scientific Perspective on System........................................................................................129 7.3 A Phenomenological Perspective on System.........................................................................136 8. THEME II: UNDERSTANDINGS OF REPRESENTATION – THE BELIEF IN FORMALISATION................151 8.1 Leibniz’s Project...................................................................................................................153 8.2 The later Wittgenstein...........................................................................................................162 9. THEME III: UNDERSTANDINGS OF ADVANCEMENT – THE BELIEF IN PROGRESS............................173 9.1 Science and Society...............................................................................................................178 9.2 The Idea of Progress.............................................................................................................189 10. PERSPECTIVES ON THE CRITIQUE................................................................................................203 10.1 The Irrelevance Position Revisited .....................................................................................204 10.2 Tensions ..............................................................................................................................206 PART III: POSITIONAL APPROACH – BEYOND THE SECLUSION OF SCIENCE ...........209 11. INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................211 Excurse II – A New Political Initiative .............................................................................212 12. BEYOND AN EDUCATIONAL SECLUSION OF SCIENCE ..................................................................219 12.1 Simplicity or Complexity of Objects....................................................................................221 12.2 Unity or Diversity of Approach...........................................................................................226 12.3 Certainty or Uncertainty about Progress ...........................................................................232 Excurse III – Contemporary Art .......................................................................................233