Education and Science beyond the “Myth of Stability”:

1. «Alle burde hatt ein forskarskule»

“…The main thrust of his reconstruction is a charge against the Cartesian substitution of rationality (as aspiring to an absolutely solid knowledge and, then, committed to a search for certainty) and for the Renaissance reasonableness, that is, a view of reason which does not recoil from contingency, situatedness, and the recognition of human precariousness. As elsewhere (see Oliverio, 2019) Toulmin's reading of the modern project and its impact on a 'theoreticist' and formalist understanding of science (related to an emphasis upon "rigor [as] exactness, precision and predictability" [Toulmin, 2001, p. 37]) has already been highlighted (as well as the elective affinity between this understanding and the contemporary discourse about evidence-based education), here we will focus on a specific facet of Toulmin's argument, namely the fact that the Cartesian rationality gave rise to the invention of disciplines.…”

“…We have introduced them because a contrario they allow what is at stake in the Toulminian challenge to stand out: it consists fundamentally in thinking of modes of connection between the scientific attitude (and the related issues of research, validity, rigor etc. : see also Oliverio, 2019) and the professional practice that do not yield to the excesses of the modern concept of rationality. According to Toulmin, indeed, the main wound that Reason has incurred at the dawn of modernity is a "loss of balance," as a consequence of which the search for certainty has become the polar star of Reason turned into Rationality that pursues a formal and theoretical knowledge, by abstraction from the contextualized constellation of the practice.…”

“…There is a sense in which it is possible to read Toulmin and Biesta as allies in a common undertaking (see Oliverio, 2019), in particular in the re-habilitation of phronesis. While placing ourselves in their wake, we complement them with an additional element, namely the tradition of spiritual exercises, which may represent a resource to cultivate the teacher's professional subjectification.…”

Validity and Value of Teacher Education Research

“…We have introduced them because a contrario they allow what is at stake in the Toulminian challenge to stand out: it consists fundamentally in thinking of modes of connection between the scientific attitude (and the related issues of research, validity, rigor etc. : see also Oliverio, 2019) and the professional practice that do not yield to the excesses of the modern concept of rationality. According to Toulmin, indeed, the main wound that Reason has incurred at the dawn of modernity is a "loss of balance," as a consequence of which the search for certainty has become the polar star of Reason turned into Rationality that pursues a formal and theoretical knowledge, by abstraction from the contextualized constellation of the practice.…”

“…There is a sense in which it is possible to read Toulmin and Biesta as allies in a common undertaking (see Oliverio, 2019), in particular in the re-habilitation of phronesis. While placing ourselves in their wake, we complement them with an additional element, namely the tradition of spiritual exercises, which may represent a resource to cultivate the teacher's professional subjectification.…”