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Publikation Nr. 3871 - Details

Nature as a test environment? - On the experimental character of an unruly concept.

Nature as a test environment? - On the experimental character of an unruly concept.
"Kirschner, A. & Pfister, L. (2023). Nature as a test environment? - On the experimental character of an unruly concept. , University of Strathclyde, Glasgow/ Scotland.
Vortrag




Abstract
The Rousseauian concept of nature is an unruly category that never fits seamlessly into pedagogical thinking – it can only illuminate central perspectives on education by obscuring others. Against this background, nature is described as powerful metaphor (Christolini 2019) or multidimensional concept that has been interpreted in numerous ways: For instance, relevant interpretations range from nature as an anthropological premise, normative orientation, methodological framework for action, and medium of education (cf. Tenorth 2013, p. 427ff.) to a benchmark of critique of politics and society. Given the fictional setting in Émile, the concept of nature can also be read as a research program (cf. Schäfer 2017, p. 54).
Thus, when Rousseau speaks of a "natural education", it sends the educator neither back to nature nor forward to natural conditions alone. Rather, it confronts him with the fact that this "basic pedagogical category" (Korte 2007) comprises an inherent dynamic potential that defies any attempts at reification. With Cassirer (2012), this potential can be characterized as a risky, venturing, and constantly renewing movement of Rousseauian thought.
On a methodological level, this experimental use of the Rousseauian concept of nature is close to the philosophical figure of the thought experiment (Kuhn 1977): By means of the concept of nature, education in Emile is contrived as an experiment in thought. Hence, this raises the question in which function Rousseau's concept of nature is part of the thought experiment "education" and which perspectives result from it on current ways of thematizing the unruly connection between nature and education.

Sources
Schäfer, A. (2017): Jean-Jacques Rousseau. ein pädagogisches Porträt. Weinheim, Basel: Beltz.
Cassirer, E. (2012): Über Rousseau. Frankfurt a. M.: Suhrkamp.
Chistolini, S. (2019): Metaphors of Nature in Education. In Vierteljahresschrift für wissenschaftliche Pädagogik, H. 95, S. 497-516.
Korte, P. (2007): Natur als pädagogische Basiskategorie des 18. Jahrhunderts oder die Begründung der Erziehungswissenschaft als experimentelle Wissenschaft von der menschlichen Natur. In Geulen, E.; Pethers, N. (Hrsg.): Jenseits von Utopie und Entlarvung. Kulturwissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Erziehungsdiskurs der Moderne. Freiburg i.Br., Berlin, Wien: Rombach, S. 27-47.
Kuhn, T. S. (1977). Eine Funktion für das Gedankenexperiment. In L. Krüger (Hrsg.), Die Entstehung des Neuen. Studien zur Struktur der Wissenschaftsgeschichte (S. 327-356). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
Tenorth, H.-E. (2013): Natur. In: Keim, W., Schwerdt, U. (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Reformpädagogik in Deutschland (1890-1933). Teil 1: Gesellschaftliche Kontexte, Leitideen und Diskurse. Frankfurt a. M.: Peter Lang, S. 425-448.

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