Instrumental Reason and Education: Reflections on School and New Technologies

Abstract

The reflections of Critical Social Theory on instrumental reason are the heart of critical analyses of the 20th-century catastrophes represented by Auschwitz. The ethical imperative expressed by Adorno for education, that Auschwitz not happen again, remains vital as the historical changes that took place in the 21st century did not alter the fundamental characteristics of instrumental reason. In this article, we point out the current tendency to propose school adjustment to the demands created by digital technologies as a symptom of the persistence of the predominance of instrumental reason in education. This article aims to criticize how the insertion of new technologies in the school has been proposed, failing to consider both the ethical dimension of education and the relationship between form and content in the new apparatus. The criticism of the concept of instrumental reason remains fundamental for recovering the ethical discussion in education.