If teaching is understood as the transmission of knowledge, does that imply that knowledge can be "had"? And can we rethink pedagogy if we leave this conceptual metaphor (knowledge = possession) behind us? If we assume that knowledge is impossible to have, how does that affect the space of teaching, and authority itself? What becomes of the impossible desire to overcome our teachers, who are always "supposed to know" (Lacan)?
In the Phaedrus, Plato explains that knowledge cannot be thought, proposing a metaphor from agriculture to replace the metaphor that presents knowledge as a possession that can go from hand to hand. The good teacher, says Plato (Socrates), plants a seed that may grow into a tree. But do we really want our teachers to inseminate us? Can we try to think pedagogy without thinking of knowledge as a commodity or of teaching as an act of rape?
Avital Ronell explored these questions in a seminar called "Oedipedagogy," which I did not attend. But if there's any interest, I'd like to take up these themes in a class at The Public School. To me, due to its somewhat anti-hierarchical / anti-institutional nature, TPS seems the perfect place to explore the impossibility of teaching.
I'm willing to facilitate this class when I'm back in Germany (from the beginning of May), although for obvious reasons I cannot "teach" it. It might also be interesting to connect it with some of the threads that were meant to be explored in the Flatlands class (http://berlin.thepublicschool.org/class/2825), so it doesn't get all too theoretical - but I'm not very familiar with the initiatives mentioned in that class description.
There's a number of texts that we might read and discuss: Lacan on the 'subject supposed to know,' Ronell on Freud and Rat Man, Foucault on parrhesia, Ranciere's ignorant schoolmaster, Barenboim on music and the orchestra as a model for "equality within hierarchy," Derrida on parricide in Plato's Pharmakon, maybe Plato himself... Some fiction as well maybe... I have some more ideas, but don't want to compile a reading list; who knows what might come up.
The number of sessions will depend on the interest.
- Fechas
- August 26, 2011 at 7:00pm
September 20, 2011 at 8:00pm - Location
- Invalidenstr. 115, in the back of the building
- Facilitator
- dennis + a user's guide
Comment
update: i'd like to start this class somewhere early in july, as i won't be in berlin for most of june. perhaps begin with thinking through the notion of parrhesia, and how it relates to the teaching situation.
d.
20 May 2011 5:11AM
july sounds good.
22 May 2011 1:59PM
ok, i really feel quite bad about this, but i'll probably have to delay the class again, as it seems that in addition to my planned activities, i unexpectedly need to do a ton of editing for what will probably be my first book in the next 2 months.. i hope people will still be interested in september, when i think i'll have the time to truly dedicate myself..
(and besides, i see we already have 8 dates planned for july, so maybe it's not such a bad idea if i start this in september.)
in any case, hope to see some of you for the class about eisenstein's october sunday the 3rd!
d.
27 Jun 2011 3:03AM
hi all,
finally, this class will start, friday next week at 19.00. in the first meeting, that will be facilitated by me and Marta and Publio from 15M (Spain), we will discuss ranciere's text/lecture "the emancipated spectator". the transcript is available here: http://www.dancemakers.org/PDFs/0_Study_Group/Ranciere_Emancipated_Spect...
the lecture itself can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=5D838C57856F761E
i'd also like to invite you to a related event at the altes finanzamt at the 23rd of august, also at 19.00:
http://altesfinanzamt.blogspot.com/p/users-guide-to-millenium.html
here we'll discuss alternative educational models, also with the people from 15M.
hope to see you next week,
d.
17 Aug 2011 3:04PM
dear all,
i enjoyed our first meeting, thanks to all for coming.
as to next time, how about wednesday the 14th, again at 19.00?
we can read lacan's short text "Of the Subject who is Supposed to Know" (14 pages); a very challenging text, but for that very reason it might be good to discuss together. another option might be deleuze's masochism: coldness and cruelty, but i'd have to look into that again coz i haven't read it in a while.. i couldn't find the bell hooks text online, so for now that'll have to wait, but maybe i can get a scan somewhere. i'm also open to any other suggestions.
opinions?
d.
26 Aug 2011 6:57PM
hi luis,
perhaps the parker/peirce text is a bit too technical to take up in the course, but i found it quite interesting; it definitely overcomes some of the individualism of ranciere's proposal, but it only does so by relying on an idea of infinite community that seems to me quite anachronistic.. can we not think a thinking community without infinity? isn't it more interesting to think of a community of inquiry that is not premissed on an idea of truth as infinity?
anyway thanks - if you know of any peirce texts dealing with this please do tell, and feel free to come by next time..
d.
30 Aug 2011 10:27AM
hi luis,
yes intuition is certainly something worth discussing - but also something i know very little about (besides my intuitive knowledge). i'm also unaware of most terms you mention here; and i've read very, very little peirce...
for the next session, i think we might try to figure out lacan's notion of the "subject supposed to know." lacan is notoriously difficult, but i actually think this text is not too bad, and you can get something from it without accepting or even understanding all the presuppositions of lacanian psychoanalysis. moreover, the notion of the subject supposed to know can be very helpful for understanding how the dynamic between student and teacher operates (and again, this can be extrapolated to politics etc).
it's a lecture from his seminar book XI, which i just uploaded here: http://ifile.it/f2d087i
the part about the subject supposed to know is on p.230-243.
ok?
and how about we meet on tuesday the 20th at 20.00? (there will probably another class on wednesday the 14th.) or would another day work better for someone? i'm pretty flexible...
d.
1 Sep 2011 6:22AM
Hi dennis, something has come up and i cant make it tonight. I have found some other texts that i will send tmrw and hope very much that there is interest to shedule more meetings for this class. Best, mariechen
20 Sep 2011 5:57AM