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4 - Educational Sensibilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 August 2009

Jay Schulkin
Affiliation:
Georgetown University, Washington DC
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Summary

An education which does not begin by evoking initiative and end by encouraging it must be wrong. For its whole aim is the production of active wisdom.

– Alfred North Whitehead, Aims of Education

To accept and, ultimately, understand evolving conceptions of ourselves and our human past, present, and uncertain future, we need to be educated. No one blueprint should or need be proposed, except that, at the heart, there should be some sense of being experimental, self-corrective, and kind to others. Reason needs to be demythologized and placed in instrumental and incremental units (e.g., Simon, 1962, 1982).

Underlying all forms of learning are cognitive events that set the proper conditions for learning, along with a propensity for self-correction. An experimental spirit is a humbling affair; we are wrong a fair amount of the time, and we should be aware of that. Also, hypotheses are shared – they are tentative.

Our brains are prepared to understand and consider the experiences of others through prosocial dispositions, which set the stage for appreciating others (Darwin 1859/1958, 1871/1874, 1872/1965) and facilitate social skills. We are drawn to tell our autobiographies and give away what we have learned, what we know; the human narrative is a fundamental way in which we learn from and about one another. Narrative tales convey a sense of other people's experience. When this consideration is linked to self-corrective learning and inquiry, our horizons can be broadened; after all, that is why open-mindedness is a virtue.

Type
Chapter
Information
Cognitive Adaptation
A Pragmatist Perspective
, pp. 94 - 122
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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  • Educational Sensibilities
  • Jay Schulkin, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Cognitive Adaptation
  • Online publication: 08 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499982.006
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  • Educational Sensibilities
  • Jay Schulkin, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Cognitive Adaptation
  • Online publication: 08 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499982.006
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Educational Sensibilities
  • Jay Schulkin, Georgetown University, Washington DC
  • Book: Cognitive Adaptation
  • Online publication: 08 August 2009
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511499982.006
Available formats
×