The Alleged (De)Politicization Problem of Post-Critical Pedagogy Reconsidered

Abstract

This essay tries to intervene in the discussion between Naomi Hodgson on the one hand and Joris Vlieghe and Piotr Zamojski on the other about the meaning and function of the political in and for education. Firstly, it argues against the common charge of essentialism that is brought against ontological philosophies in general and the Heideggerian ontology of Vlieghe and Zamojski in particular. Secondly, the essay suggests the existentialist concept of ‘the situation’ as a theoretical nodal point that can grasp the inherently quasi-political dimension of pedagogical work and hence provide common ground for the two positions discussed.