Publication Date

8-2022

Date of Final Oral Examination (Defense)

4-14-2022

Type of Culminating Activity

Thesis

Degree Title

Master of Arts in Education, Curriculum and Instruction

Department

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies

Supervisory Committee Chair

Sara Hagenah, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

David Gabbard, Ph.D.

Supervisory Committee Member

Phil Kelley, Ph.D.

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore what potential that the concept of 'inoperativity' has in the philosophy and theory of education. I will discuss the method of critique used which aims to think through the problems in existing theory rather than discard good thinking when problems are found. The strengths and weaknesses of deschooling and democratic approaches will be at the center of this critique. As a response to the weaknesses of both, the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, focusing on the way that interiority and enjoyment are essential concepts for the philosophy of education, as well as Giorgio Agamben, the philosopher of form-of-life, will be analyzed, demonstrating that we might find something vitally important in an inoperative understanding of concepts like study and and school.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.18122/td.2001.boisestate

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