The hermeneutic paradox: The secret power of education as self-education

Abstract

The dialectic of power is one of the fundamental questions of pedagogy. Recognizing that power is a multidimensional phenomenon that manifests itself differently in different contexts, a number of disciplines and paradigms have exposed the dynamics of power at work in pedagogy and in the broader social and cultural contexts of education. A hermeneutic approach to power seeks to cultivate sensitivity and attunement to the interpretive experience of power as a lifelong and collective endeavor of (self-)education. Different situations of detecting, interpreting, critiquing, exercising, accepting, and resisting various manifestations of power in our lives all call for engaging in (self-)education as a constant seeking for the right measure, as a permanent formation (Bildung) to discernment, conversation, and responsibility. Learning and teaching to live with and think about power is an essential way of being in the world with ourselves and Others. The international, collaborative research project “Philosophy, Education, Power, and Violence” exhibited in this journal brings together diverse reflections and case studies on the dialectic of power in the spirit of fostering hermeneutic synodality as a model for the empowering experience of (self-)education.