Philosophy & Rhetoric Nov 2016

Untology

Éamonn Dunne

Abstract

Abstract What exactly is untology? And why is it important for thinking about teaching effectively? In this article I argue that the most exciting opportunities for pursuing real change in pedagogical practices can be seen in the work of Jacques Rancière, especially in his controversial book The Ignorant Schoolmaster and (as this article traces) in his short essay “What Does It Mean to Be Un?” I argue that what is needed in educators today is an egalitarian aptitude for openness and what I am calling unlearning. Furthermore, through a close reading of Charles Baxter's short story “Gryphon,” I claim that the best teachers today are unqualified to teach. Thinking about qualification, as the current neoliberal regime would have us think about it—as a bankable phenomenon—misses the promise of education as a process of unlearning, unknowing and unbecoming. Education is untology.

Journal
Philosophy & Rhetoric
Published
2016-11-21
DOI
10.5325/philrhet.49.4.0571
Open Access
Closed
Topics
race and writing

Citation Context

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Also cites 6 works outside this index ↓
  1. Bauman, Zygmunt. 2005. “Education in Liquid Modernity.” Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies 2…
     ↗
  2. Dunne, Éamonn. 2013. “Love Foolosophy: Pedagogy, Parable, Perversion.” Educational Philosophy and Theory 45 (…
     ↗
  3. Halberstam, Judith. 2011. The Queer Art of Failure. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
     ↗
  4. Neufeld, Jonathan. 2012. “The (In)vocation of Learning: Heidegger's Education in Thinking.” Studies in the Ph…
     ↗
  5. Rancière, Jacques. 2007. “What Does It Mean to Be Un?” Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies 21 (4…
     ↗
  6. Rancière, Jacques. 2010. Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics. Ed. and trans. Steven Corcoran. London: Continuum.
     ↗
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