Ironie in de filosofie van opvoeding en onderwijs

Abstract

Many philosophers of education emphasise the impossibility to really 'solve' philosophical - and with that, educational - problems these days. Philosophers have been trying to give philosophy a new, constructive turn in the face of this insolvability. This article focuses on efforts that are referred to as 'ironic'. Two different interpretations of irony, formulated by Bransen and Rorty, are taken as a starting point. After discussing some problematic aspects of these interpretations an alternative approach is developed, in which irony refers to the continuous oscillation between an assertion and its presuppositional context. The benefits of all three ironic approaches are illustrated with examples that are extracted from educational policy development. Though ironic approaches do not offer any final solutions, they do have the potential to generate new problems, and make taken-for-granted principles accessible for discussion.