Ecological approach in education – a disciplinary aporia
Abstract
This article addresses the theoretical background of the ecological approach to education and conceptualises the so-called disciplinary aporia of ecological education. In the era of the Anthropocene and the associated climate crisis and possible collapse within the Earth system, this aporia gains in importance. We are, in fact, in danger of either losing the dialectical and metacommunicative perspectives that allow for theoretical sophistication (under the pressure of ecological engagement) or overlooking the seriousness of climate alarmism (in the precipitousness of the ecological humanities paradigm). In this article, the author first characterises two variants of ecology: bioenergetic and cybernetic, as well as the philosophical concept of oikology. He then traces the ways in which ecology has been represented in pedagogical thought, both historical and contemporary. This hermeneutics of traditions and analysis of pedagogical ideas allow for the descriptive and conceptual elaboration of the fundamental aporia of an ecological approach to education arising from the theoretical (disciplinary) background of ecopedagogical interpretation. In doing so, the pitfalls to which both the traditional approach of biologically grounded ecology/ecological education and
the cybernetic paradigm of ecological humanities are exposed have been highlighted. In order to emphasise the synergy of both approaches, the author uses the categories of servant humanities and educational ecology in the conclusion. This study is embedded in the tradition that characterises pedagogy as an aporetic of educational experience.
Keywords
environmental education; ecology of mind; oikology; Anthropocene
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University of Silesia in Katowice Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9044-8156
KRZYSZTOF MALISZEWSKI – associate professor, Institute of Pedagogy, University of Silesia in Katowice, Katowice, Poland. The author’s research interests focus on the problems of cultural pedagogy, philosophical pedagogy, the history of pedagogical thought and the hermeneutic foundations of the humanities. His most recent books include Pedagogika na pograniczu światów. Eseje z cyklu „Medium Mundi” [Pedagogy at the Borderland of Worlds. Essays From the Series “Medium Mundi”] (Katowice 2015), Istota, sens i uwarunkowania (wy)kształcenia [The Essence, Meaning and Conditions of Education] (with D. Stępkowski and B. Śliwerski, Kraków 2019), Bez-silna edukacja. O kształceniu kruchego [Power-less Education. On the Education of the Fragile] (Katowice 2021).
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