Learning Experience: An Alternative Understanding Inspired by Thinking Through Confucius

Purpose: Amidst ongoing attempts to think beyond Western frameworks for education, there is a tendency to overlook Japan, perhaps because it appears highly modern. This is striking given that some prominent strands of Japanese philosophy have formulated an explicit and exacting challenge to the core onto-epistemic premises of modern Western thought. It is also surprising because Japanese educational practices have resulted in some of the highest achievement outcomes-both cognitive and noncognitive-found anywhere in the world and inculcate a worldview that is distinct.Design/Approach/Methods: Herein, we thus attempt to make visible the potential contribution of modern Japanese philosophy by outlining some of the core ideas, then turn to sketch resonances with and responses to other projects outlined in this Special Issue. Our approach is elucidation through relational comparison.Findings: Through this process, we suggest that the notion of self-negation as a mode of learning may be helpful in explaining why-at the empirical level-the outlook of Japanese students, and perhaps other East Asian students, diverge markedly from their Western peers. Yet we also find that an attempt, such as ours, to link divergent onto-epistemic thought to alternative empirical hypotheses quickly gives rise to various doubts and discomforts, even among otherwise sympathetic scholars.

Section: The Kyoto School Alternative: From Ontological Individualismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reimagining Modern Education: Contributions from Modern Japanese Philosophy and Practice?

Komatsu

Rappleye

2020

“…In addition to contributing to the development of ethical human–human and human–nature relations, Zhao (2018) suggests that the Chinese tianrenheyi correlative cosmology can proffer “another form of onto-epistemology to re-envision education in a holistic sense of reconnecting humans with their cultural and natural environs and towards achieving an optimal co-creativity in a flourishing cosmos” (p. 1115). By resituating the human within an extensive network of cosmic relations and interrelations, tianrenheyi is thus a powerful example of a worlding-with practice recast in educational terms (see also Li, 2020; You, 2020).…”

Section: And If … Learning Was a Becoming-with And Worlding-with Expementioning

confidence: 99%

Anticipating Other Worlds, Animating OurSelves: An Invitation to Comparative Education

Silova

2020

Purpose: This article aims to reimagine education—and our selves—within the context of multiple, more-than-human worlds where everything and everyone are interrelated. Design/Approach/Methods: The aim is achieved by pursuing two speculative thought experiments to connect and bring into conversation seemingly unrelated knowledge systems across space and time—European “paganism” and 13th-century Japanese Buddhism, as well as excerpts from indigenous, ecofeminist, and decolonial scholarship. These thought experiments are conducted through a series of “and if” questions around education and schooling. Findings: The article proposes to radically reimagine education in two ways. First, it invites readers to reconfigure education as a “connective tissue” between different worlds, bringing together rather than hierarchizing them. Second, it proposes to reframe education as an opportunity to learn how to anticipate and animate our ongoing entanglement with more-than-human worlds. Originality/Value: Using the concept of “metamorphosis” as an antidote to Western metaphysics, the article re-situates education within a wider set of possibilities in relation to the taken-for-granted ways of knowing and being, as well as the notions of space and time.

“…As discussed above, Dewey’s conception of the universe encompasses both the social and ecological aspects of human existence. Aesthetic appreciation, scientific inquiry, and good citizenship as examples of attaining religious experience indicate that Dewey does not endorse a universality of modern schooling that polarizes the subjective versus the objective, the artistic versus the scientific, and the personal versus the political (see also You, 2020). Nevertheless, Dewey’s advocacy of common faith appears to put more emphases on “common humanity” than “ecological integrity.” To a large extent, Dewey’s conception of “common faith” is reminiscent of the Confucian conception of “the unity of humans and nature” ( tianrenheyi ).…”

Section: Deweyan Conception Of “Common Faith”mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More specifically, I focus on the unity of humans and nature ( tianrenheyi ) that has been widely regarded as the most distinguishing characteristic of the Confucian tradition (Chin, 1980; Pfister, 1995). The Chinese tian (天) conveys a wide range of meanings—from the sky, firmament, day, the heaven, nature, the cosmos, to the universe (see also You, 2020). Confucius inherits the traditional immanent and naturalistic characterization of tian (Eno, 1990).…”

Section: Confucius On Nature and Human Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Weaving a “Common Faith” in the Age of Climate Change

2020

Purpose: First, the article offers a critical examination of the Deweyan conception of “common faith” in the context of climate change. Second, the article explores the conceptual linkages among the Confucian conception of the human–nature unity, the Buddhist doctrine of “no-self,” and the Deweyan conception of common faith. Third, the article proposes a transformative pedagogical praxis that welcomes and embraces the pursuit of the intra- and intergenerational justice in this Anthropocene Age of climate change. Design/Approach/Methods: This study is based on a philosophical inquiry into interrelated issues concerning the cultivation of common faith in the age of climate change. Findings: The Confucian conception of a human–nature unity, the Buddhist doctrine of “no-self,” and the Deweyan “common faith,” collectively in recognition of a coterminous coexistence of humans and the universe, can shed light on the development of a transformative climate pedagogy. Further, embracing a dialogical pluriversality, recognizing human fallibility, can cultivate a shared agency and ecological identity. Originality/Value: Grounded in the coterminous coexistence of humans and the universe, the conceptual linkages among the Confucian conception of the unity of humans and nature, the Buddhist doctrine of “no-self,” and the Deweyan common faith reveal the possibility of cross-cultural collaboration for our interdependent future.