Learning-practiceThe ghosts in the educational machine

Learning-practiceThe ghosts in the educational machine

David R. ColeUTS

David R. ColeUTS

What are we doing?What are we doing?

EpistemologyPedagogy - identity work?DiscoursePhilosophy of educationTracking bodies

EpistemologyPedagogy - identity work?DiscoursePhilosophy of educationTracking bodies

Why ghosts?Why ghosts?

Practice and learning are ‘empty vessels’

This emptiness invites otherness - redundancy - power concerns…

Practice and learning are ‘empty vessels’

This emptiness invites otherness - redundancy - power concerns…

What are the prime-connectors

What are the prime-connectors

Practicelanguage

Learningcontext

“Gothic affect theory”…

Practicelanguage

Learningcontext

“Gothic affect theory”…

Mapping the journeyMapping the journey

From the philosophy of mind to educational postructuralism

“‘Theory’ in the classroom operates in terms of what Tomkins calls the ‘fear/terror’ couplet of affect. As a shield wielded by the academic, theory serves to protect our bodies and psyches against our fear and the students’ terror induced by the highly theoretical text,” (Probyn, 2004, p. 35).

From the philosophy of mind to educational postructuralism

“‘Theory’ in the classroom operates in terms of what Tomkins calls the ‘fear/terror’ couplet of affect. As a shield wielded by the academic, theory serves to protect our bodies and psyches against our fear and the students’ terror induced by the highly theoretical text,” (Probyn, 2004, p. 35).

Starting pointsStarting points

Post dualistic positionEmpiricist & rationalistHow does the body work in

practice & learning?Questions about habit, pre-

figuration, representation & ‘subjectification’…

Post dualistic positionEmpiricist & rationalistHow does the body work in

practice & learning?Questions about habit, pre-

figuration, representation & ‘subjectification’…

Gilbert RyleGilbert Ryle

Closing the gap between ontology & epistemology

Addressing the conjunction of language & practice

Category errors?

Closing the gap between ontology & epistemology

Addressing the conjunction of language & practice

Category errors?

Dispositional sentences

Dispositional sentences

Ryle (1949) proposed a solution to the [ghost in the machine] in his dispositional sentences that he explained were to be: “at once narrative, explanatory, and conditionally predictive, without being a conjunctive assemblage of detachable sub-statements,” (p. 135).

Ryle (1949) proposed a solution to the [ghost in the machine] in his dispositional sentences that he explained were to be: “at once narrative, explanatory, and conditionally predictive, without being a conjunctive assemblage of detachable sub-statements,” (p. 135).

Problems with dispositional

sentences

Problems with dispositional

sentencesEducational psychology

(the self)Who is talking?How should one assess

dispositions?How are attitudes

connected to language? (affect)

Educational psychology (the self)

Who is talking?How should one assess

dispositions?How are attitudes

connected to language? (affect)

Ludwig WittgensteinLudwig Wittgenstein

InvestigationsQuestioning

of the rational self behind judgement & language

No private language

InvestigationsQuestioning

of the rational self behind judgement & language

No private language

Language-gamesLanguage-games

Suppose you came as an explorer into an unknown country with a language quite strange to you. In what circumstances would you say that the people there gave orders, understood them, obeyed them, and rebelled against them and so on? The common behaviour of mankind is the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language (Wittgenstein, 1963, section 206).

Suppose you came as an explorer into an unknown country with a language quite strange to you. In what circumstances would you say that the people there gave orders, understood them, obeyed them, and rebelled against them and so on? The common behaviour of mankind is the system of reference by means of which we interpret an unknown language (Wittgenstein, 1963, section 206).

NamingNaming

“only someone who already knows how to do something with it,” writes Wittgenstein (1963), “can significantly ask a name,” (section 31) and later, ‘[W]hen one says, “He gave a name to his sensation” one forgets that a great deal of stage setting in the language is presupposed if the mere act of naming is to make sense,’ (Wittgenstein, 1963, section 257).

“only someone who already knows how to do something with it,” writes Wittgenstein (1963), “can significantly ask a name,” (section 31) and later, ‘[W]hen one says, “He gave a name to his sensation” one forgets that a great deal of stage setting in the language is presupposed if the mere act of naming is to make sense,’ (Wittgenstein, 1963, section 257).

Problems with language-games &

naming

Problems with language-games &

namingWhat is lying?How can poetry/aesthetics

move us?What are the drives in

language>practice?Is the rational ego replaced by

the irrational/unconscious? Or to what extent should it be reduced to a surface-effect?

What is lying?How can poetry/aesthetics

move us?What are the drives in

language>practice?Is the rational ego replaced by

the irrational/unconscious? Or to what extent should it be reduced to a surface-effect?

Learning + practiceLearning + practice

Position that takes account of power concerns that might take hold and use the conjunction l + p for their own purposes…

Argument that explains the ways in which language and context carry meaning and subjective principles

Conjunctive synthesis.

Position that takes account of power concerns that might take hold and use the conjunction l + p for their own purposes…

Argument that explains the ways in which language and context carry meaning and subjective principles

Conjunctive synthesis.

William LabovWilliam Labov

some of the rules of language, that Labov called “variable rules” generate systematic, endogenous variation (Labov, 1971). For example, in small urban communities, social networks develop that use language as a “badge of identity” (De Landa, 1993, p. 14). These identities circulate around the community and define power relationships, allegiances and structures that maintain and transform the local dialect.

some of the rules of language, that Labov called “variable rules” generate systematic, endogenous variation (Labov, 1971). For example, in small urban communities, social networks develop that use language as a “badge of identity” (De Landa, 1993, p. 14). These identities circulate around the community and define power relationships, allegiances and structures that maintain and transform the local dialect.

Language redundancy

Language redundancy

“the collective assemblage is the redundant complex of the act and the statement that necessarily accomplishes it. But this is still only a nominal definition; it does not even enable us to justify the previous position that redundancy is irreducible to a simple identity or that there is no simple identity between the statement and the act. If we wish to move to a real definition of the collective assemblage, we must ask of what consist these acts immanent to language that are in redundancy with statements or constitute order-words,” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 80).

“the collective assemblage is the redundant complex of the act and the statement that necessarily accomplishes it. But this is still only a nominal definition; it does not even enable us to justify the previous position that redundancy is irreducible to a simple identity or that there is no simple identity between the statement and the act. If we wish to move to a real definition of the collective assemblage, we must ask of what consist these acts immanent to language that are in redundancy with statements or constitute order-words,” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 80).

Order-wordsOrder-words

Incorporeal actsCyborgsBecoming-other…Transveral communicationAssemblages and schizo-

analysisHoles in space & time…

Incorporeal actsCyborgsBecoming-other…Transveral communicationAssemblages and schizo-

analysisHoles in space & time…

Machinic phylumMachinic phylum

“…the machinic phylum develops as a location of intensity for the order-words; it is “materiality, natural or artificial, and both simultaneously – it is matter in movement, in flux, in variation, matter as a conveyor of singularities and traits of expression. This has obvious consequences: namely, this matter flow can only be followed,” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 409).

“…the machinic phylum develops as a location of intensity for the order-words; it is “materiality, natural or artificial, and both simultaneously – it is matter in movement, in flux, in variation, matter as a conveyor of singularities and traits of expression. This has obvious consequences: namely, this matter flow can only be followed,” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 409).

Circulation of order-words

Circulation of order-words

Description of ‘best practice’ (teacher talk)

Ryle’s dispositional sentences (attitudinal affects)

Wittgenstein’s language-games (relational affects)

D & G’s machinic phylum (synthetic affects)

Description of ‘best practice’ (teacher talk)

Ryle’s dispositional sentences (attitudinal affects)

Wittgenstein’s language-games (relational affects)

D & G’s machinic phylum (synthetic affects)

Curriculum-constructionCurriculum-

constructionCurriculum innovation (working

with knowledge)Exploring the affective

environments created by knowledge (attitudinal affects)

Matching knowledge needs with knowledge production (relational affects)

Unpacking the domain of knowledge production (synthetic affects)

Curriculum innovation (working with knowledge)

Exploring the affective environments created by knowledge (attitudinal affects)

Matching knowledge needs with knowledge production (relational affects)

Unpacking the domain of knowledge production (synthetic affects)

Teacher trainingTeacher training

Embodiment of pedagogy (holistic learning)

Examination of teacher-beliefs (attitudinal affects)

Testing of pedagogic strategies with cohorts (relational affects)

Reflective practice that is responsive to learning (synthetic affects)

Embodiment of pedagogy (holistic learning)

Examination of teacher-beliefs (attitudinal affects)

Testing of pedagogic strategies with cohorts (relational affects)

Reflective practice that is responsive to learning (synthetic affects)

Concluding remarksConcluding remarks

A ghost never dies, it remains always to come and to come-back.--Jacques Derrida (1994), Specters of Marx

A ghost never dies, it remains always to come and to come-back.--Jacques Derrida (1994), Specters of Marx

…ghosts in machines always appear as malfunctions, glitches, interruptions in the normal flow of things. Something unexpected appears seemingly out of nothing and from nowhere. Through a malfunction, a glitch, we get a fleeting glimpse of an alien intelligence at work. Janne Vanhanen (2001) Loving the Ghost in the Machine

…ghosts in machines always appear as malfunctions, glitches, interruptions in the normal flow of things. Something unexpected appears seemingly out of nothing and from nowhere. Through a malfunction, a glitch, we get a fleeting glimpse of an alien intelligence at work. Janne Vanhanen (2001) Loving the Ghost in the Machine

referencesreferences

De Landa, M. (1993). Virtual environments and the emergence of synthetic reason. Retrieved 4/8/08 from: http://www.t10.or.at/delanda/delanda.htm

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia. London: The Athlone Press.

Derrida, J. (1994). Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International. New York: Routledge.

Labov, W. (1971). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Probyn, E. (2004). Teaching Bodies: Affects in the Classroom. Body & Society, Vol. 10(4): 21–43.

Ryle, G. (1949). The concept of mind. London: Hutchinson. Vanhanen, J. (2001). Loving the ghost in the machine. CTHEORY, (EJ):

http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=312#bio Wittgenstein, L. (1963). Philosophical investigations. Oxford:

Blackwell.

De Landa, M. (1993). Virtual environments and the emergence of synthetic reason. Retrieved 4/8/08 from: http://www.t10.or.at/delanda/delanda.htm

Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism & Schizophrenia. London: The Athlone Press.

Derrida, J. (1994). Specters of Marx: The State of the Debt, the Work of Mourning, and the New International. New York: Routledge.

Labov, W. (1971). Sociolinguistic patterns. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Probyn, E. (2004). Teaching Bodies: Affects in the Classroom. Body & Society, Vol. 10(4): 21–43.

Ryle, G. (1949). The concept of mind. London: Hutchinson. Vanhanen, J. (2001). Loving the ghost in the machine. CTHEORY, (EJ):

http://www.ctheory.net/articles.aspx?id=312#bio Wittgenstein, L. (1963). Philosophical investigations. Oxford:

Blackwell.