Exploring Arendt’s, Rancière’s, and Fendler’s Educational Philosophies: Imagining an Ethical Approach to Teaching for Creativity

• In Event: Roundtable Session 6
  In Roundtable Session: New Directions in Postfoundational Theorizing

Abstract

This conceptual inquiry attempts to describe an ethical approach to teaching for creativity based on the educational thoughts of Hannah Arendt, Jacques Rancière and Lynn Fendler. My advancement of such a curricular perspective is meant to critique dominant conceptualizations of creativity, ethics and teaching and to explore alternatives for thinking about the issues. The approach features teaching as an ethical practice rather than a knowledge-based endeavor. From a postmodernist lens, ethical acts depart from conformity to codes of conduct to embrace the tensionality of teaching. This ethical worldview moves our treatment of creativity beyond instrumental reasoning and rational evaluation of products and performances. Hopefully, my intervention will inspire educators to examine their practice and articulate arguments about teaching for creativity.

Author

• Thanh Ha Phung, Michigan State University