Toleration, Respect and Recognition in Education E-Book

Mitja Sardoc

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: Educational Philosophy and Theory Special Issues
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 363

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

Toleration, Respect and Recognition in Education brings together a collection of papers examining the complexity of different interpretations of toleration, respect and recognition in education. * Discusses different theories of toleration and shows how it lies at the centre of a liberal pluralistic society * Brings together the work of leading scholars from a range of disciplines * Examines how education can accommodate diversity and promote shared public values

Leseprobe

Contents

Notes on Contributors

Foreword

Note

References

1 Toleration, Respect and Recognition: Some tensions

References

2 Toleration, Children and Education_

Introduction

The Fault Lines of Toleration in the Context of Education

Toleration and Mutual Respect

Toleration and an Autonomy Facilitating Education

Appreciation Instead of Non-Bigoted Acceptance

Restrained Manifestation

Limited Associational Liberty

Implications

Conclusion

Notes

References

3 Recognition and Toleration: Conflicting approaches to diversity in education?

Introduction

Toleration, Recognition and Respect

Toleration and Recognition in Tension

Aspects of Recognition and Toleration

Acts of Toleration

Acts of Recognition

(In)compatibility Revisited

Conclusion

References

4 Toleration and Recognition: What should we teach?_50733..51

The Nature of Toleration

The Difficulty and Infrequency of Toleration

Reasons for Toleration

What Should Count as Intolerance?

The Limits of Toleration

Toleration, Condescension and Respect

Toleration and Recognition

Conclusion

Notes

References

5 Cultural Diversity and Civic Education: Two versions of the fragmentation objection_

Belonging: National Unity and Liberal Politics

Consensus: Reconciling Pluralism and Political Stability

Conclusion

Note

References

6 Heteronomous Citizenship: Civic virtue and the chains of autonomy1

1. Introduction: The Liberal Reliance on Autonomy

2. Autonomy: A Working Definition

3. What is Wrong with Autonomy?

4. An Alternative Option: A Liberalism of Conscience

5. Four Objections to the Argument

6. Conclusion

Notes

References

7 Civic Respect, Civic Education, and the Family_

1. Political Liberalism—The Main Elements

2. Civic Respect and Civic Education

3. Comprehensive Doctrines and Families

4. Coercion and the Basic Structure

5. Conclusion

Notes

References

8 Mutual Respect and Civic Education

1. Hypocrisy?

2. A Trojan Horse?

3. Assessing the Postmodern Objection

4. Civic Education versus Education?

Notes

References

9 Avoiding an Intolerant Society: Why respect of difference may not be the best approach

What is a ‘Tolerant Society’?

Respect and Appreciation of Difference

Alternatives for Education

Notes

References

Index

Educational Philosophy and Theory Special Issue Book Series

Series Editor: Michael A. Peters

The Educational Philosophy and Theory journal publishes articles concerned with all aspects of educational philosophy. Their themed special issues are also available to buy in book format and cover subjects ranging from curriculum theory, educational administration, the politics of education, educational history, educational policy, and higher education.

Titles in the series include:

Thinking Education Through Alain Badiou

Edited by Kent den Heyer

Toleration, Respect and Recognition in Education

Edited by Mitja Sardocˇ

Gramsci and Educational Thought

Edited by Peter Mayo

Patriotism and Citizenship Education

Edited by Bruce Haynes

Exploring Education Through Phenomenology: Diverse Approaches

Edited by Gloria Dall’Alba

Academic Writing, Philosophy and Genre

Edited by Michael A. Peters

Complexity Theory and the Philosophy of Education

Edited by Mark Mason

Critical Thinking and Learning

Edited by Mark Mason

Philosophy of Early Childhood Education: Transforming Narratives

Edited by Sandy Farquhar and Peter Fitzsimons

The Learning Society from the Perspective of Governmentality

Edited by Jan Masschelein, Maarten Simons, Ulrich Bröckling and Ludwig Pongratz

Citizenship, Inclusion and Democracy: A Symposium on Iris Marion Young

Edited by Mitja Sardoc

Postfoundationalist Themes In The Philosophy of Education: Festschrift forJames D. Marshall

Edited by Paul Smeyers (Editor), Michael A. Peters

Music Education for the New Millennium: Theory and Practice Futures for Music TeachingandLearning

Edited by David Lines

Critical Pedagogy and Race

Edited by Zeus Leonardo

Derrida, Deconstruction and Education: Ethics of Pedagogy and Research

Edited by Peter Pericles Trifonas and Michael A. Peters

This edition first published 2010

Chapters © 2010 The Authors

Book compilation © 2010 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia

Edition history: originally published as volume 42, issue 1 of Educational Philosophy and Theory

Blackwell Publishing was acquired by John Wiley & Sons in February 2007. Blackwell’s publishing program has been merged with Wiley’s global Scientific, Technical, and Medical business to form Wiley-Blackwell.

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Notes on Contributors

Peter Balint is a Lecturer in Politics at the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy; email: [e-mail]. His research interests are in political theory and in public policy. In 2009, he was awarded his PhD from the University of New South Wales focussing on multiculturalism, in particular on the concepts of respect and toleration. He is a founding member of The Global Justice Network, and an editor of Global Justice:Theory Practice Rhetoric.

Colin Bird is Associate Professor of Politics at the University of Virginia, USA; email: [e-mail]. He is the author of The Myth of Liberal Individualism (1999) and AnIntroduction to Political Philosophy (2006), both published by Cambridge University Press. Currently NEH Fellow at the National Humanities Center in North Carolina, Bird is completing a book on concepts of respect and ideals of social recognition.

Gordon Davis teaches and researches on ethics, meta-ethics, political philosophy and history of philosophy at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada; email: [e-mail]. He currently is working on a monograph on neo-Kantian approaches to meta-ethics, and several projects in political philosophy and comparative philosophy, the latter comparing Western and classical Indian approaches to ethical theory.

Andrew Gibbons is a Senior Lecturer at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand. He has a certificate of journalism and a diploma of teaching in Early Childhood Education, and has worked in early education services in Aotearoa/New Zealand and Great Britain. His doctoral research applied philosophies of technology to questions concerning the use of computers in early childhood education and contributed to the recent publication The Matrix Ate My Baby. He has published papers examining the philosophy of early education with a focus on play and development, and a particular emphasis on promoting philosophy in the study and practice of early education in Aotearoa/New Zealand.

Peter Jones is Professor of Political Philosophy at the University of Newcastle; email:[e-mail]. He has authored and edited books on rights and his other published work includes articles on human rights, group rights, cultural diversity, value pluralism, toleration and recognition, freedom of belief and expression, distributive justice, global justice, democracy and liberalism.

Sune Lægaard is associate professor in practical philosophy at the University of Roskilde and affiliated researcher at the Centre for the Study of Equality and Multiculturalism, University of Copenhagen; email: [e-mail]. Publications include ‘Moderate Secularism and Multicultural Equality’, Politics 28(3); ‘Galeotti on Recognition as Inclusion’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 11(3); and ‘The Cartoon Controversy: Offence, identity, oppression?’, Political Studies 55(3).

Colin Macleod is an Associate Professor in Law and the Department of Philosophy at the University ofVictoria, Canada; email: [e-mail]. His research focuses on issues in contemporary moral, political and legal theory with a special focus on the following topics: (1) distributive justice and equality; (2) children, families and justice; and (3) democratic ethics. He is the author of Liberalism, Justice, and Markets:A Critiqueof Liberal Equality (OUP, 1998) and co-editor with David Archard of The Moral andPolitical Status of Children (OUP, 2002). His articles have appeared in The Chicago-KentLaw Review, Theory and Research in Education, Politics and Society, The Canadian Journalof Philosophy, The Canadian Journal for Law and Jurisprudence, Law and Philosophy, and Dialogue. He is an associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Philosophy.

Blain Neufeld is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. His research focuses on issues in contemporary political philosophy, primarily concerning the theory of political liberalism and its policy implications. He has published articles on civic respect, human rights, and citizenship education. E-mail address: [e-mail].

Mitja Sardoc works at the Educational Research Institute in Ljubljana, Slovenia; email: [e-mail]. He is executive editor of the Theory and Research inEducation journal published by SAGE. He is editor, most recently, of the book Citizenship, Inclusion and Democracy: A symposium on Iris Marion Young (Blackwell) and a journal special issue of Theory and Research in Education on William Galston’s theory of civic education.

Andrew Shorten is a lecturer in political theory at the University of Limerick; email: [e-mail]. Previously a post-doctoral fellow at University College London, he was winner of the UK Political Studies Association’s Sir Ernest Barker Prize for his PhD thesis, awarded by the University of Manchester. He has published articles on toleration, multiculturalism, nationalism, and issues of global justice.

Lucas Swaine is Associate Professor of Government at Dartmouth College; email: [e-mail]. He is the author of The Liberal Conscience: Politics andprinciple in a world of religious pluralism (Columbia University Press, 2006), and has published articles in a wide range of journals, including Journal of Political Philosophy, Ethics, Contemporary Political Theory, Journal of Church and State, and Critical Review. Swaine is currently pursuing a book-length project on heteronomous citizenship in liberal democratic life. This is his second article in Educational Philosophy and Theory.

Foreword

The sum of all we drive at is that every man may enjoy the same rights that are granted to others.1 (John Locke, ‘A Letter Concerning Toleration’, 1689)

Toleration is a central concept in education as Mitja Sardoc, the editor of this monograph, and his contributors so amply demonstrate. As Rainer Forst (2007) indicates, the concept itself has a history that occupies an important place in the philosophical discourse of religion that followed the Reformation in Europe although its original meanings are buried in ancient and classical sources. It is within the early Christian contexts that its meaning and applications became stabilized and entered permanently into political theory and the philosophical archive. Locke’s Letter was addressed to the question of the ‘mutual toleration of Christians in their different professions of religion’ and Locke took toleration to be the chief characteristic of the ‘true Church’. He argues:

The toleration of those that differ from others in matters of religion is so agreeable to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to the genuine reason of mankind, that it seems monstrous for men to be so blind as not to perceive the necessity and advantage of it in so clear a light.

And he asserts the argument now well known:

The commonwealth seems to me to be a society of men constituted only for the procuring, preserving, and advancing their own civil interests.

Religious tolerance laid some foundation for the application and civil development of the modern concept of tolerance with its limits and paradoxes. Forst (2007) embraces four dimensions or conceptions of tolerance: the permission conception—toleration is a relation between an authority and dissenting minority; the coexistence conception, where tolerance is seen as a means of avoiding conflict; the respect conception based on reciprocal respect; and, the esteem conception, based on a robust notion of mutual recognition. One can see the dimensions of all four of these dimensions in both the title—Tolerance,Respect and Recognition in Education—and the individual chapters that comprise it. Mitja Sardoc, as editor, has done a superb job in bringing these contributors together to fathom and reflect on such a significant theme and issue for the field of education.

Note

1. See the full text of the Letter at http://www.constitution.org/jl/tolerati.htm.

References

Forst, R. (2007) A Critical Theory of Multicultural Toleration, in: A. S. Laden & D. Owen (eds), Multiculturalism and Political Theory (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).

Locke, J. (1689) A Letter Concerning Toleration. Retrieved from http://www.constitution.org/j1/tolerati.htm.

1

Toleration, Respect and Recognition: Some tensions

Mitja Sardoč

There is hardly any concept in modern political thought that is more complex and controversial than that of toleration.The complexity of the foundations, nature and the value of toleration and the controversiality of the status, the justification and the limits of toleration raise a number of questions concerning the basis of toleration in a diverse pluralist polity. As the existing literature on this topic clearly exemplifies (e.g. Dees, 2004; Deveaux, 2000; Galeotti, 2002; Gutmann, 1994; Heyd, 1994; Kukathas, 2003; McKinnon, 2006; McKinnon & Castiglione, 2003; Mendus, 1989; Newey, 1999; Parekh, 2000; Rawls, 1993; Scanlon, 2003;Taylor, 1992/1994;Walzer, 1997;Williams & Waldron, 2008), the persistence of the moral and conceptual objections against toleration confirm that several issues associated with the traditional doctrine of toleration and the possibility conditions of toleration remain contested.

This book brings together eight chapters that examine in detail a number of issues related to the status, the justification and the limits of toleration on the one hand and the intricate relationship between toleration, respect and recognition of diversity in education on another. In chapter 2 of the Toleration, Respect and Recognition in Education book Colin Macleod discusses in detail the normative complexity of the different interpretations of toleration as it applies to education in democratic communities. His examination of the different ways in which controversies around toleration in educational contexts arise, together with the analysis of the main factors that are relevant to interpreting the meaning of toleration in the context of education, highlight the basic elements a successful account of toleration applied to public education must negotiate. In his contribution to this book Sune Lægaard identifies different forms of interpretation of both toleration and recognition and then proceeds with a discussion of the compatibility between different conceptions of toleration and recognition of diversity characteristic of contemporary multicultural societies. He first differentiates between different understandings of toleration, respect and recognition and then proceeds with an examination of the relationship between these three forms of engagement with diversity in the educational context. In his chapter, Peter Jones explores various difficulties associated with the circumstances and the possibility conditions of toleration on the one hand and the challenges recognition of diversity poses to its advocates in a society which is plural in its cultures and traditions. His discussion of the limits we are confronted with, by juxtaposing toleration and recognition of diversity as mutually exclusive alternatives and a close examination of the different possibilities offered by the interpretation of the complementary relationship between toleration and recognition, reveals a number of tensions between the orthodox understanding of both toleration and recognition. Andrew Shorten takes up the different objections against the fragmentary tendencies of multiculturalism. His examination of the multiculturalists’ concern about the stifling effect of a coercive assimilation policy and the liberal egalitarian suspicion that cultural fragmentation may threaten social justice and political stability provides a useful perspective on the complexity of reconciling accommodation of diversity and the promotion of shared public values in our plurally diverse societies. The contribution by Lucas Swaine outlines an alternative version of liberalism that he calls the liberalism of conscience. By distinguishing autonomy from heteronomy he outlines a version of liberalism that does not rely excessively on autonomy. The educational requirements advocated under a liberalism of conscience, writes Swaine, would be considerably less comprehensive than those advocated by autonomy-based liberalism. In their contribution to this book Blain Neufeld and Gordon Davis advance a ‘political liberal’ conception of mutual respect—which they call ‘civic respect’. Drawing on this conception of civic respect, they outline some of the key elements of a politically liberal civic education and go on to indicate what kind of civic education should be required of all future citizens in pluralist democratic societies. In his chapter Colin Bird focuses on two criticisms of the dominant contemporary conceptions of civic education. He distinguishes between the postmodern critique that attacks notions of mutual respect, reasonableness, fairness, neutrality, etc. and the other critique which claims that a civic education of mutual respect may sabotage other legitimate educational aims. In the final contribution to this book, Peter Balint argues that using education to encourage the respect and appreciation of difference can be deeply problematic, as it is a poor servant of those whose differences it is meant to protect; and crucially that it cannot be justified on the key liberal premise of protecting the freedom of individuals to live their (non-harming) lives as they see fit. He concludes his chapter by putting forward the educational alternative of respecting the basic rights of other citizens in the public sphere irrespective of one’s view of their differences.

As the chapters collected in this book clearly exemplify, the complexity of the foundations, nature and the value of toleration and the controversiality of the status, the justification and the limits of toleration raise a set of challenges related to the accommodation of diversity and the recognition of difference in the institutional arrangement and curriculum design of public education. The purpose of this book is therefore to examine in detail the various controversies over the genuine problems of toleration in a plurally diverse polity as both historically and conceptually, toleration is one of the foundational characteristics that defines the very essence of a liberal polity and the basic virtue associated with a liberal conception of citizenship.

References

Dees, R. (2004) Trust and Toleration (London, Routledge).

Deveaux, M. (2000) Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice (Ithaca, NY, Cornell University Press).

Galeotti, A. E. (2002) Toleration as Recognition (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).

Gutmann, A. (ed.) (1994) [1992] Multiculturalism: Examining the politics of recognition (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press).

Heyd, D. (1994) Toleration: An elusive virtue (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press).

Kukathas, C. (2003) The Liberal Archipelago: A theory of diversity and freedom (Oxford, Oxford University Press).

McKinnon, C. (2006) Toleration: A critical introduction (London, Routledge).

McKinnon, C. & Castiglione D. (eds) (2003) The Culture of Toleration in Diverse Societies (Manchester, Manchester University Press).

Mendus, S. (1989) Toleration and the Limits of Liberalism (Atlantic Highlands, NJ, Humanities Press International).

Newey, G. (1999) Virtue,Reason and Toleration:The place of toleration in ethical and political philosophy (Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press).

Parekh, B. (2000) Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural diversity and political theory (New York, Palgrave).

Rawls, J. (1993) Political Liberalism (NewYork, Columbia University Press).

Scanlon, T. M. (2003) The Difficulty of Tolerance: Essays in political philosophy (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).

Taylor, C. (1994) [1992] The Politics of Recognition, in: A. Gutmann (ed.), Multiculturalism:Examining the politics of recognition (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press), pp. 25–74.

Walzer, M. (1997) On Toleration (New Haven, CT, Yale University Press).

Williams, M. & Waldron, J. (eds) (2008) The Limits of Toleration (NewYork, NOMOS XLVIII).

2

Toleration, Children and Education

Colin Macleod

Introduction

It is almost a cliché to observe that modern states are characterized by enormous pluralism. The individuals and groups who share common political institutions and systems of law differ in terms of language, religion, ethnicity, culture, nationality, race, gender, sexual orientation, political ideology, moral outlook, ability and disability, and conception of the good life. In some cases, people disagree with one another, either profoundly or modestly, about the value, appropriateness or attractiveness of different commitments or practices. In other cases, there are differences that do not reflect any underlying evaluative disagreement but which pose important political challenges. In either case, questions arise about the manner and degree to which institutions and citizens should accommodate diversity. An important strain of recent political philosophy has explored the meaning of toleration as response to the first kind of diversity, namely diversity arising out of and reflective of evaluative disagreement. What is the basis of toleration? What does it require of states and individuals? What are the limits of toleration? The aim of this chapter is to contribute to discussion of these questions in three ways. First, I wish to identify and distinguish different elements of the challenge diversity poses to the interpretation of toleration in the context of education in democratic communities. My focus will be primarily on the way this challenge manifests itself in public elementary and secondary schools but some of the issues I identify have parallels in post-secondary institutions. I shall not explore specific controversies in particular jurisdictions. Instead, I will offer a general characterization of the fault lines that a successful account of toleration applied to public education must negotiate. Second, I shall explore how a respect-based conception of toleration should be developed with a view to accommodating the distinctive claims and interests of children. I shall argue that toleration is deeply allied with the ideal of providing children with an autonomy facilitating education. This, in turn, allows us to detect important differences between the way toleration regulates relations between adult citizens in civil society and the way it regulates relations between parents, children, and schools in educational settings. Third, I will outline some of the implications a child-sensitive conception of toleration has for negotiating the fault lines of toleration in education. My aim is not to provide a detailed analysis of the way specific controversies should be resolved nor is it to identify the specific pedagogical strategies or curricula that are required by toleration. Rather I shall try to illuminate some of the principles and considerations that are relevant, in my view, to appropriate and tolerant resolution of familiar controversies.