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The first lecture is entitled “The Seventh Centrepiece lecture on The Philosophy
of Education” and it is the Seventh lecture given by Jude Sutton, one of the main
characters in the recently published Philosophical/educational novel “The
World Explored, the World Suffered: The Exeter lectures”.
The lecture explores The Philosophy of the Human Sciences and Theory of
Knowledge from the point of view of the philosophy of education in partly
Wittgensteinian and partly Kantian terms. Sutton claims that Philsophy is not
itself a human or social science but that an understanding of philosophy is
needed if one is to understand the meaning of many of the statements and
judgments one is confronted with in these disciplines. Sutton also rejects the
claim that one is merely using logic in the narrow sense of the term to “purify”
the dialectic of the discipline:
Sutton discusses the debate in the social sciences between the view that the aims
of those who form associations in society often do not contain an understanding
of the causal mechanisms which operate to produce the changes in society the
community needs to understand:
dedicated followers of Durkheim who insist that the insider view of participants in a society
will very likely not refer to or even understand the underlying causal mechanisms which are
responsible for what we are conscious of or experience in our societies. Other sociologist’s
also insist that sociology must disregard the cultural aims of the members of society and all
agree that we must examine the manner in which individuals gather into groups independent
of their subjective cultural aims. The philosopher’s role in this discussion is to ask, for
example, whether it makes any sense to talk about the reasons why individuals gather together
in communities independently of their experience or of the aims they are striving toward.
One can also question whether aims and experiences are necessarily
independent of the causal mechanisms operating in our society. The choice may
not be between an experts or observational view of the society and the
inhabitant of the society. The question may rather relate to the limitation of the
experts causal obsession as much as to the blind concern with aims from the
inhabitants point of view. Both causes and aims will be relevant in the
philosophical perspective.
Meaning may be a more relevant concept than causation in the logic of the
human and social sciences. Sutton has this to say on this topic:
I have talked about the importance of rule following and in doing so have incorporated the
social value of cooperation. According to Wittgenstein’s later conception of Philosophy, the
approach to talking about value is by taking the route of meaning which is a broader notion
involving truth in a complex relation which philosophers have no agreed upon formula for as
yet. Peter Winch in his work “The Idea of a Social Science” which is one of the inspirational
sources of today’s lecture, introduces the following thoughts:
“The notion of following a rule is logically inseparable from the notion of making a mistake.
If it is possible to say of someone that he is following a rule that means that one can ask
whether he is doing what he does correctly or not…the concept of a rule is that it should
enable us to evaluate what is being done.”
The notion of a rule is normative and introduces the idea of value and
understanding value(“verstehen”). Combining this notion with that of meaning
gives rise to the following reasoning:
Wilhelm Dilthey pointed out that the concept of “meaning” is a concept or category of
thinking which is only relevant to the life-world and the historical world. The idea of
“meaningful behavior” emerges as a non- observational concept, where observation means
theoretically determined by scientific concepts and theories. “Meaningful in this context
refers to the comprehension of certain concepts and ideas from within a form of life from a
first person point of view. Weber, in giving his account of “meaningful behavior” uses two
important concepts: “motive” which he defines as “a meaningful configuration of
circumstances which appear to the agent or observer as a meaningful reason for their
behavior” and “reason”
Aristotle discusses the various forms of friendship that one encounters in the
city and settles on the categorical form which involves trusting one another.
Smith feels that this pevents the Aristotelian city state from having cosmopolitan
ambitions. The lecture comments thus on this issue:
Smith
does
go
on
to
argue
that
Aristotle
believes
that
only
a
small
city-‐state
can
house
the
kind
of
trust
involved
in
the
political
form
of
friendships
required
for
the
polis
to
fulfill
its
political
functions.
He
asks
specifically
and
rhetorically
:
"Does
this
mean
that
the
city
can
never
be
a
universal
cosmopolitan
state?"
The
implied
answer
is
in
the
negative.
He
goes
on
to
confirm
this
position:
"It
appears
that
Aristotle's
polis
must
be
small
enough
to
be
governed
by
a
common
language,
common
memories,
and
common
customs.
This
may
imply
a
criticism
of
our
modern
societies,
this
may
be
a
suggestion
that
our
cities
and
nations
are
not
healthy."
The argument continues that this is not a necessary limitation since it is possible
that the universality of the logos of the political regime could permit a
cosmopolitan regime of the kind envisaged by Kant, i.e. a regime which did not
involve a world government.
The
human
activity
of
Art,
is
an
activity
of
mimesis
or
imitation.
Art
is
imitation
Aristotle
argues,
not
of
external
nature
but
rather
of
mans
mind,
in
particular
his
character,
emotions
and
actions.
But
why
does
one
desire
to
imitate?
Because
firstly,there
is
both
an
instinct
to
imitate
demonstrated
in
the
fact
that
humans
distinguish
themselves
from
animals
partly
in
the
fact
that
they
learn
from
other
humans
by
imitating
them
and
secondly
because
we
take
delight
in
imitations.
But
what
then
is
the
telos,
the
purpose
of
these
mimetic
productions?
The
creation
and
appreciation
of
art
must
be
related
of
course
to
the
flourishing
life
and
its
explorations
of
regions
of
our
mind
that
seek
for
understanding
with
universal
intent.
The
idea
of
the
good
object
is
obviously
of
major
significance
in
the
arena
of
artistic
activity
and
must
be
related
to
both
its
intellectual
and
emotional
aspects.
"Universal
intent"
here
obviously
refers
to
organising
our
experiences
such
that
we
connect
emotions
and
actions
that
should
be
connected
and
differentiate
between
emotions
and
actions
where
there
are
real
differences.
Such
organisation
also
entails
an
understanding
of
the
role
of
the
subject
and
the
role
of
the
object
in
this
process
of
trying
to
fathom
the
depths
of
the
mind.
If
we
are
to
believe
Psychoanalysis,
at
the
bottom
of
these
depths
lie
the
shipwrecks
of
our
experience
scattered
on
the
ocean
bed
and
the
connection
of
these
fragmented
experiences
are
often
not
real
or
as
Freud
put
it,
in
accordance
with
the
Reality
Principle.
Death
trumps
life
in
such
scenes
of
the
unreal.
Aesthetic objects then seek understanding with universal intent via creations
where the aim is to imitate our life as complex as it is yet at the same time
including a complex relation to the ultimate incomprehensible, namely death.
The structure of imitation translates into the act of appeciation which must now
be construed as acts of interpretation of symbols:
According
to
Adrian
Stokes
in
his
essay
"The
Invitation
in
Art":
"Structure
is
ever
a
concern
of
art
and
must
necessarily
be
seen
as
symbolic,
symbolic
of
emotional
patterns,
of
the
psyche's
organisation
with
which
we
are
totally
involved......Patterns
and
the
making
of
wholes
are
of
immense
psychical
significance
in
a
precise
way
even
apart
from
the
drive
towards
repairing
what
we
have
damaged
or
destroyed
outside
ourselves......in
every
instance
of
art
we
receive
a
persuasive
invitation...we
experience
fully
a
correlation
between
the
inner
and
the
outer
world
which
is
manifestly
structured.
And
so
the
learned
response
to
that
invitation
is
an
aesthetic
way
of
looking
at
an
object."
The aesthetic way of looking at an object must address in some way the
shipwrecks of experience which lay deep down on the ocean bed of our
experiences.