Communicating Not-Knowing: Education, Daoism and Epistemological Chaos

Date
2014
Authors
Buckingham, Will
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
1556-889X
DOI
Volume Title
Publisher
China Media Research
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Mainstream educational theory and practice tend to favour what Freire, in Pedagogy of the Oppressed, has called ‘banking education’, in which students are seen as depositories of knowledge. But seeing pedagogy as a matter of simply communicating knowledge misses the epistemological complexities of our relationship with the world. By means of a reading of the Dao De Jing and the Zhuangzi, in this paper I intend to explore how the communication of not-knowing may be of central value in teaching and learning. Arguing that our lives are characterised by an ‘epistemological chaos’ in which the distinctions between knowing and not-knowing can never be firmly established, I suggest that the Daoist texts may allow teachers and students to rethink the purpose of education as a matter of yang sheng, or ‘nourishing life, by means of developing skill in dealing with the epistemological chaos in which we are immersed. [China Media Research. 2014; 10(4): 10-19]
Description
Keywords
Daoism, education, knowledge, epistemology
Citation
Buckingham, W. (2014) Communicating Not-Knowing: Education, Daoism and Epistemological Chaos. China Media Research, 10 (4), pp. 10
Research Institute