| The intent of this dissertation is to explain the significance of normative theory to the critical pedagogical tradition; more specifically, why human flourishing ought to be the normative foundation of critical pedagogy. I present my argument through three standalone articles, which are connected by the theme that human flourishing is the normative foundation of critical pedagogy. Each paper critiques or analyzes different angles and issues within critical pedagogy; however, each paper focuses on the importance of normative theory to critical pedagogy and why human flourishing provides a sufficient normative foundation for critical pedagogy.;The first article entitled "Education is Inherently Political...Or Is It? Critical Pedagogy and the Over-Politicizing of Education", deconstructs the assumption that education is political, and thus the purpose of education should be human emancipation. First, I argue, education is not inherently political. Second, even if education were political it would not justify politicizing education only for human emancipation. Critical pedagogy makes these two misconceptions of education, so I argue, because the tradition rests upon a weak normative philosophy of education. Moreover, as I explain, the failure to normatively ground critical pedagogy causes scholars to over-politicizing education by assuming the sole purpose of education is human emancipation.;The second paper is entitled "A Critical Pedagogy against Consumer Capitalism: A Normative Approach" In this paper, I argue, critical pedagogues have extensively criticized the commercialization of education; however, their argument remains at the level of critique. In order to move beyond critique two philosophical issues need developing: 1) a normative conception of deep socialist democracy and 2) a normative conception of human flourishing. In order to explain how these two points can sharpen critical pedagogy's critique of consumer capitalism, I start by clarifying keys terms. Then, I explain the general argument critical pedagogy makes against the commercialization of education; and why their arguments are philosophically inconsistent. Finally, I outline a normative framework for a critical pedagogy against consumerism, which is based upon the normative principle that consumerism is wrong when consumer practices undermine democracy and/or children's ability to live a flourishing life.;The third paper is entitled "Educating the Spirit of Activism: A "Critical" Civic Education". This paper argues that often when philosophers of education address the issue of civic education, they focus on the characteristics individuals should possess in order to participate in a democracy; these skills include the ability to listen carefully and reasonably reflect, and weigh evidence, articulate one's demands and concerns in the public sphere, etc. However, little consideration is given to the type of collective sensibility necessary to move from a non-ideal to an ideal society. This paper aims to broaden our conception of civic education by detailing the type of citizen that is necessary to create and maintain an ideal society (a deep socialist democracy). I propose that civic education needs to be 'critical' in the sense that it should prepare students to develop a sense of justice, or a spirit of activism. This paper will explain that developing the spirit of activism entails providing individual's knowledge on social movements, and opportunities to participate within them. In order to educate children to have a spirit of activism, we must analyze the way in which the value of autonomy (and the problem of feasibility) constrains the way teachers can develop a thick sense of justice. |
