Jyoti Dalal
This
paper addresses the question of education by drawing from two significant
philosophical texts – Plato’s cave allegory as book VII in his Republic
and Kant’s What is Auflarung? (Enlightenment). They provide us with an
important vantage point to problematize the question of education in the
contemporary times. These classical texts have stood the challenges of times
and today they provide us with important reminders as we struggle with the
direction that education is taking. In the language of Giorgio Agamben, one can
locate certain untimeliness to these texts, as their significance goes beyond
any temporality.
While
providing the close reading of Plato’s cave allegory and Kant’s article, the
paper explores three key ideas that emerge from these two texts – turning
around, critique and Auflarung
(enlightenment). By developing these ideas, the paper further explores their
significance in the present times. The contemporary modern, utilitarian
instrumental education has become bereft of the essence of education, which was
always close to internal growth and development of an individual. In that
light, it has become essential to draw from the work of scholars so that
movement ahead can be charted.
Plato,
Kant, education, turning around, critique
VOL.13, ISSUE No.3, September 2021