BdSpinoza

Spinoza en opvoeding – er gaat dit jaar een boek over verschijnen

In hac vita igitur apprime conamur ut corpus infantiae in aliud quantum ejus natura patitur eique conducit, mutetur quod ad plurima aptum sit quodque ad mentem referatur quae sui et Dei et rerum plurimum sit conscia atque ita ut id omne quod ad ipsius memoriam vel imaginationem refertur, in respectu ad intellectum vix alicujus sit momenti. Ethica 5/39s

Wij proberen in dit leven dus in de eerste plaats het lichaam van een kind – voor zover zijn aard het toelaat en daaraan bijdraagt – te veranderen in een lichaam dat tot zeer veel in staat is en dat, verbonden met de geest, zich van zichzelf, van God en van de dingen zeer bewust is. De voorstellingen die deel uitmalen van zijn geheugen of de verbeelding hebben dan in vergelijking met het verstand nauwelijks enig belang.
[Vert. Henri Krop. Daar dit enigszins merkwaardig klinkt (wie of wat is zich bewust?), haal ik er ook de vertaling van Corinna Vermeulen bij:]

In dit leven streven we er dus bovenal naar dat het lichaam van de babytijd - voor zover zijn aard dat toestaat en bevordert - verandert in iets anders, wat tot zeer veel in staat is en wat in verband staat met een geest die zich van zichzelf, God en de dingen in de hoogste mate bewust is. En dus streven we ernaar dat alles wat betrekking heeft op zijn geheugen of verbeelding in verhouding tot het verstand nauwelijks enig belang heeft.

Naar aanleiding van het hoofdstuk van Piet Steenbakkers over Spinoza in Erik de Bom (red.), Een nieuwe wereld. Denkers uit de Nederlanden over politiek en maatschappij (1500 – 1700) [cf. blog] nam ik mij voor om eens na te gaan of en zoja wat over Spinoza en opvoeding is geschreven en daarover dan een blog te maken.

Steenbakkers vatte Spinoza op dit punt aldus samen: “Door de wisselwerking tussen wetten, instellingen en opvoeding kan een samenleving ontstaan waarin burgers ook zonder dwang de wet gehoorzamen en elkaars rechten respecteren.” (blz. 242, cf. ook 241 en 243). Over Spinoza & opvoeding ging ik dus op onderzoek uit. De opzet van dit blog is niet om uitvoerig inhoudelijk over Spinoza’s educatieve ideeën te schrijven, maar om in eerste instantie maar eens te rapporteren over wat ik vond.

Dat is een bescheiden hoeveelheid artikelen en hoofdstukken, maar ik ontdekte ook dat er eind dit jaar een boek over Spinoza & educatie zal verschijnen. Van Johan Dahlbeck die zich tot dé scholar op dit terrein ontpopt. Daarover zo dadelijk meer en aan het  einde meer over dat aanstaande boek. Maar eerst over enige andere studies die ik breng in volgorde van verschijnen:

• William Louis Rabenort, Spinoza as educator. [New York, Teachers College, 1911. vi, 87 p. 24 cm.] [archive.org - hathitrust.org - infomotions.com]   [cf. blog]  [In 2010 in Brazilië in het Portugees vertaald: William Louis Rabenort, SPINOZA COMO EDUCADOR. UNIVERSIDADE ESTADUAL DO CEARÁ. FORTALEZA - 2010; hier PDF met alleen PREFÁCIO, APRESENTAÇÃO DO AUTOR & CAPÍTULO I: A POSSIBILIDADE DA EDUCAÇÃO]

• Peter Ronald Glass,  Spinoza on freedom knowledge and education. PhD thesis, Institute of Education, University of London, 1993.

Abstract. This thesis, through an examination of the Philosophy of Spinoza, represents a critique of the conception of freedom embodied in recent philosophy of education and the education system. In Chapter 1 I show that for Spinoza man's good is to realise his own nature; and this lies in becoming free, where we transcend our spatiotemporal circumstances. I distinguish between relative and absolute freedom. The former is where we become more free within the here and now. The latter involves participation in a realm that is untouched by the spatio-temporal. We can be free with respect to the content of our states and with respect to their acquisition. This is achieved through knowledge as the constitutive expression of freedom. In Chapter 2 I show in general terms what this involves. We go beyond the first stage of knowledge to Reason and Intuition. I also show the connection between freedom and eternity. In Chapter 3 I propose that we must understand Nature in Mechanistic and Organic terms if we are to view it from no particular standpoint and that we need to understand exactly how things are placed within nature. We must acquire a methodology to help us form ideas for ourselves. In Chapter 4 I explain that freedom must be realised through understanding ourselves as part of Nature and we must form affects that lift us out of the common order and which enable us to be more free within the common order. In chapter 5 I look at some implications for education of Spinoza's ideas: its neglect for the imagination, the light it throws on writings on Autonomy, the importance of critical thinking and the importance of a Spinozan education in putting the here and now in a correct balance with the eternal. [Cf abstract en PDF] .

• Genevieve Lloyd, “Spinoza and the education of the imagination”. In: Amelie Rorty (ed.), Philosophers on Education: New Historical Perspectives. Routledge, 1998, 2^e 2002, 3^e 2005. p. 157-72. In z'n geheel te lezen – althans momenteel - bij books.google  en hier op de website van een Oekraïense Universiteit het PDF van het hele boek.

• Tapio Puolimatka, “Spinoza's Theory of Teaching and Indoctrination.” In: Educational Philosophy and Theory 33, 3-4 (2001), 397-410 [PDF hier te downloaden]
Tapio Puolimatka is van Departamento de Educação, Universidade de Jyväskylä, Finlândia [cf.]

• Heidi Ravven, “Spinoza and the Education of Desire.” In: Neuropsychoanalysis 5 (2003) [cf. academia.edu Deze tekst verscheen ook als

• Heidi Ravven, "Spinoza's Moral Psychology: The Educatiuon of Desire," In: Heidi Ravven, The Self Beyond Itself: An Alternative History of Ethics, the New Brain Sciences, and the Myth of Free Will. The New Press,  2013 [books.google rechtstreeks]

• Herman De Dijn. “Spinoza, Wisdom and academic education.” In: Filip Buekens (ed.), Wisdom and Academic Education. Tilburg, Univ van. Tilburg, 2006, pp. 76-82. [PDF]

• Nimrod Aloni, “Spinoza as Educator. From Eudaimonistic Ethics to an Empowering and Liberating Pedagogy.” Educational Philosophy and Theory. 40.4 (2008): 5, pp. 531-544 [Cf.]

Abstract. Although Spinoza's formative influence on the cultural ideals of the West is widely recognized, especially with reference to liberal democracy, secular humanism, and naturalistic ethics, little has been written about the educational implications of his philosophy. This article explores the pedagogical tenets that are implicit in Spinoza's writings. I argue (1) that Spinoza's ethics is eudaimonistic, aiming at self-affirmation, full humanity and wellbeing; (2) that the flourishing of individuals depends on their personal resources, namely, their conatus, power, vitality or capacity to act from their own inner natures; and (3) that the combination of the Spinozian conceptions of humanism, liberal democracy, eudaimonistic ethics, and the enlightened and sovereign individual constitute together the grounds for a comprehensive empowering and liberating pedagogy. [Cf.]  

Ik noteer hier van Nimrod Aloni, die verbonden is aan het Kibbutzim College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel, ook "Humanistic Education: From Theory to Practice." In: Wiel Veugelers (ed.), Education and Humanism. Linking Autonomy and Humanity. Sense Publishers, ROTTERDAM / BOSTON / TAIPEI, 2011 [PDF] Daarin komt overigens niets over Spinoza voor.

De filosoof en pedagoog Nimrod Aloni schreef ook
Enhancing humanity: The philosophical foundations of humanistic education. Dordrecht: Springer. 2007 

• Alain Calosci, Education et Identité de Piaget a Spinoza. Editions L'Harmattan (7 avril 2011), pp. 94 [Cf. en Amazon ]

• Bobbie Sue Schindler, “Spinoza and Virtue: The significance of habituation to a virtuous character to the ethics of the Ethics.” Portland State University McNair Research Journal 2012/ PSU McNair Scholars Online Journal: Vol. 6: Iss. 1, Article 10. [PDF]

• Luís Machado de Abreu, "O lugar da Pedagogia em Spinoza." In: Filosofia E Educação 5 (1):8-24 (2013) [cf.]

Abstract: As we peruse the pages of the histories of education and pedagogy, we cannot be surprised when we verify that they don’t reserve a place for Spinoza. The purpose of this short essay is to reveal that the pedagogical question, in general, and the question about the teaching of philosophy are not disdained by the thinker of Amsterdam, nor there is any sign of indifference about those questions. It is intented to show in what way some attitudes of the philosopher, along with topics of his thought, serve to explain the absence of an effective concern about the pedagogical theme. However, Spinoza’s system comprehends pedagogical principles of primordial importance to the educative process. [PDF]

• Steve Shanna, Michele Bauer, Rachel Cunneen, Jaki Troy & Courtney Van Blerk, “A love towards a thing eternal: Spinoza and the classroom.” In: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education , volume 43, Issue 5, 2015, pp. 450-462

There is a growing concern about the struggles of early career teachers and an understandable questioning of the preparation being offered by teacher education courses. Are our preservice teachers being given workable strategies and techniques to allow them to survive the early years? Is it strategies and techniques that are primarily at issue here? Could it be that there is something more fundamental, to do with an underlying philosophical understanding about human nature, the desire to learn and the need to relate? I want to suggest that instruction about strategies and techniques is too often built on an insecure and incompatible foundation of assumptions about the nature of the world of sentient beings and their relationships. Ontology matters. Philosopher Spinoza divided the world of thought into ideas that were adequate – contributing to our well-being, potency and happiness – and those that were inadequate – leading us to feel weak, at the mercy of outside forces, and sad. I want to argue, with Spinoza, that inadequate ontologies lead to a sense of impotence and frustration, and that adequate ideas – a stronger ontology – can underpin and sustain a more durable pedagogy. I explore this idea by looking at some classroom events through a Spinozean lens. [Cf.]

En dan nu het werk van Johan Dahlbeck 

Johan Dahlbeck is Senior Lecturer in Child and Youth Studies in the Faculty of Education and Society, Malmö University, Sweden.  

Vorig jaar waren er twee conferenties over educatie, waarop Johan Dahlbeck thema’s uit zijn studie over Spinoza & educatie inbracht.
Van 26-29 maart 2015 was er aan het New College te Oxford een Conferentie, 50th Anniversary Conference, “Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain (PESGB). Daarin bracht hij het Conference Paper

• Johan Dahlbeck, “Spinoza's ethics of self-preservation and education”

ABSTRACT
The present paper marks an attempt to outline a coherent understanding of moral education from a Spinozistic point of view. One of the major challenges facing this task is the apparent tension between Spinoza’s normative moral theory—expressed in a language of traditional morality—and his denial of a free will and of the reality of good and evil. In order to resolve this tension, I will first have to take a closer look at some of the fundamentals of Spinoza’s moral theory. I will do this via some recent work on Spinoza’s ethics suggesting that his ethical account is at the very core of his metaphysical system. Having done so, I will then focus on drawing out some implications of his moral theory for a Spinozistic account of moral education. In doing so I will connect Spinoza’s ethics of self-preservation with the notion of teaching as the art of offering the right amount of resistance. I aim to do this by way of Michael LeBuffe’s model of the optimistic nutritionist.  [Cf.]

In september 2015 hield de European Educational Research Association [ECER] een conferentie over "Education and Transition." Daarbij bracht Johan Dahlbeck [van de Malmö University] het paper in:

• Johan Dahlbeck, "Spinoza’s Anti-Humanism and Ethics of Education.” [Cf.] Daarvan heeft hij het PDF online gezet.

Abstract: Given the growing interest (across disciplinary boundaries) in Spinoza's work in recent years, there is surprisingly little written on the subject of Spinoza and education. There are a handful of journal articles, such as Aloni's "Spinoza as educator" (2008), Derry's "The unity of intellect and will" (2006), Puolimatka's "Spinoza's theory of teaching and indoctrination" (2001) and Dahlbeck's "Educating for immortality" (2014), and a few notable anthology chapters, such as Genevieve Lloyd's "Spinoza and the education of the imagination" (1998), but overall the literature on Spinoza and education is quite limited. This paper seeks to add to this work, focusing on initiating a discussion on some of the normative consequences of formulating a philosophy of education based on Spinoza's ethics of self-preservation. In doing so, it connects with a recent trend in Spinoza scholarship focusing on the ethical core of his philosophy, such as LeBuffe's From Bondage to Freedom (2010), Kisner's Spinoza on Human Freedom (2011) and Kisner and Youpa's Essays on Spinoza's Ethical Theory (2014).

Verder verscheen vorig jaar van hem:

• Johan Dahlbeck, “Educating for Immortality: Spinoza and the Pedagogy of Gradual Existence.”  In: Journal of Philosophy of Education 2015; 49: 347.  [Cf.]

•  Aanvulling 3 juli 2016: gisteren werd door Springer online gezet Johan Dahlbeck, "A Spinozistic Model of Moral Education." In: Studies in Philosophy and Education - pp 1-18  [bij academia.edu geeft de auteur alleen 't  abstract]

Dan tenslotte het a.s. BOEK

• Johan Dahlbeck, Spinoza and Education. Freedom, understanding and empowerment. [Series: New Directions in the Philosophy of Education] Routledge – 2017 [September 19th 2016] – 200 pages [Amazon heeft 27 Sep 2016]
NB op 3 juli 2016 blijkt de hier gegeven link naar de pagina bij Routledge dood te lopen. Op de site van de uitgever zijn naam van auteur en van boek niet meer bekend. Zou het voornemen tot uitgeven teruggenomen zijn?

This book offers an educational reading of Spinoza’s moral theory, setting up a critical dialogue between educational theory and recent studies which highlight the centrality of ethics in Spinoza’s overall philosophy. By placing his work in a contemporary educational context, chapters explore a counterintuitive conception of education as an ethical project, aimed at overcoming the desire to seek short-term satisfaction and troubling the influential concept of the student as consumer. Dahlbeck demonstrates that Spinoza’s moral theory can be seen as furthering an educational ideal, where notions of freedom and

Johan Dahlbeck is Senior Lecturer in Child and Youth Studies in the Faculty of Education and Society, Malmö University, Sweden.

Er is nog geen cover, zodat ik er alvast een voor heb bedacht:

Aanvulling 15 sept. 2016

Inmiddels is er een cover en wordt bevestigd dat het dec. 2016 gaat verschijnen. Cf. dit blog.

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Ter aanvulling nog dit:

[1] Een week na dit blog, op 16 februari 2016, werd een dissertatie verdedigd door
DENISE GENDRON, "La conception de l’éducation de Spinoza, La supériorité de l’idée du conatus sur l’idée vraie innée du TRE pour parfaire la raison" [cf.]

[2] Het tijdschrift Educational Philosophy and Theory wil met een Special Issue komen: Thinking with Spinoza about Education: A new materialist ethics. Daarvoor deed het een oproep voor het inzenden van papers (tot 15 maart 2016).
De focus is op een heel andere wereld...:
"This special issue will take up recent reworkings of Spinoza’s (1632-1677) Ethics to address the turn to materialism and the non-human in research on teaching and learning. Spinoza has recently come into focus in the social sciences through the insightful reworking of his ideas by scholars such as Gilles Deleuze, Etienne Balibar, Antonio Negri and feminist scholars such as Jane Bennett, Rosi Braidotti, Elizabeth Grosz, Claire Colebrook and Catherine Malabou. These scholars plug into Spinoza’s ideas in order to propose a more than human ethics, and they thereby set the stage for new directions in the philosophy of teaching and learning." [Cf.  & PDF]

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Verdere aanvulling 11 jan. 2017

Eind 2016, maar gedateerd 2017, verscheen bij Springer het volgende boek, waarvan de uitgever stelt: “Extends the little known work started but never finished by the late L. S. Vygotsky.”

Wolff-Michael Roth & Alfredo Jornet, Understanding Educational Psychology. A Late Vygotskian, Spinozist Approach. Springer, 2017 – books.google

  Zie ook dit blog over Vygotsky

spinoza | 10-02-2016 | 19:21 | Link | Reacties (1)