Education and Meaning in Life

Ruyter, Doret de; Schinkel, Anders

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190063504.013.32

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…Aesthetic experiences have also been argued to foster broader flourishing (Lomas, 2016). Yet formal education remains focused on preparing learners to be economically viable citizens (Reber, 2019;De Ruyter and Schinkel, 2022) and the role of aesthetics remains largely unexplored within pedagogical inquiry and practice, especially within the area of language learning (Reber, 2019). Our findings demonstrate that learning about grammar has the potential to generate rich aesthetic experience.…”

Section: Pedagogical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 84%

“…We hope that the speculative framework presented in Table 1 opens up a broader conversation around the aesthetics of grammar as a discipline and motivates further research in this area. Gaining a deeper understanding of the potential role of aesthetic experience within the grammar classroom (and education more generally) is crucial, not just because an aesthetically oriented approach might optimize learning, but because it can foster authentic engagement (Ainsworth and Bell, 2020) and human flourishing (Reber, 2019;De Ruyter and Schinkel, 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this way we have contributed to thinking in relation to the relationship between perceptual insights (in this case suddenly 'seeing' the structure of language) and aesthetic pleasure (Consoli, 2015). As well as supporting meaning-making at a processual level (e.g., by signaling a state of cognitive consonance), aesthetic experience may also foster meaning in life, which comes in part from being able to make sense of your life and the world around you (De Ruyter and Schinkel, 2022). We have contributed to understandings around the relationship between meaning in life and disciplinary aesthetics by beginning to explore some of the ways in which learning about grammar might foster self-knowledge and knowledge of others.…”

Section: Significance For Disciplinary Aestheticsmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Towards an aesthetics of grammar learning: lifting the veil on language

Ainsworth,

Bell

2024

Front. Educ.

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The last few decades have seen growing interest in the field of disciplinary aesthetics. While the physical sciences and mathematics have attracted significant interest in this area, relatively little attention has been given to the aesthetic potential of learning about the structure of one’s own native language. Within this paper, we bring together ideas from evolutionary aesthetics, philosophy, psychology and neuroscience to explore the question of what might characterize an aesthetics of grammar learning. The paper connects our previous empirical findings with theoretical developments across these disciplines. We argue that explicit grammar learning has a particular potential to evoke aesthetic experience due to its role as a mediator between procedural and declarative knowledge. We suggest that by facilitating the transformation from knowhow to knowledge, grammar learning has the potential to generate cognitive consonance, experienced as an aesthetic-epistemic feeling of fittingness. The discussion draws parallels between the characteristics of grammar and the properties of entities more traditionally conceived to be aesthetic (such as art works and performances). In particular, we note that meta-linguistic labels (grammar terms) provide concrete tokens which facilitate virtual models, supporting the transition from ‘automatism’ to ‘conscious reflection’. The paper concludes by exploring the implications for the field of disciplinary aesthetics and for developing pedagogies which maximize the aesthetic potential of grammar.

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Section: Pedagogical Implicationsmentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Significance For Disciplinary Aestheticsmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Towards an aesthetics of grammar learning: lifting the veil on language

Ainsworth,

Bell

2024

Front. Educ.

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The flourishing child

Wolbert¹,

Ruyter²,

Schinkel³

2021

Journal of Philosophy of Education

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This paper aims to offer conceptual clarification on the use of the concept of human flourishing with regard to children. We will argue that the concept can meaningfully be applied to parts of human lives, specifically one's childhood, and discuss when we can meaningfully speak of a flourishing child. Viewing children's lives in terms of whether they are flourishing may be able to help us understand and articulate in which ways a child's life may go better or worse. This is relevant, firstly, to the overall evaluation of people's lives, and secondly, because a flourishing childhood could be instrumentally necessary for adult flourishing. But, most importantly, childhood is a period of life that is good in itself irrespective of its contribution to adult flourishing, that is, being able to be a child has intrinsic goodness. Children have particular characteristics that can optimally function in childhood. While these contribute to the overall evaluation of a flourishing life, they are not regarded as valuable only because of this contribution.

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Education and Meaning in Life

Cited by 2 publications

References 30 publications

Towards an aesthetics of grammar learning: lifting the veil on language

Towards an aesthetics of grammar learning: lifting the veil on language

The flourishing child

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