Abstract
Many philosophers of education emphasise the impossibility to really ‘solve’ philosophical—and with that, educational—problems these days. Philosophers have been trying to give philosophy a new, constructive turn in the face of this insolvability. This paper focuses on irony-based approaches that try to exploit the very uncertainty of philosophical issues to further philosophical understanding. We will first briefly discuss a few highlights of historical uses of irony as a philosophical tool. Then we concentrate on two different interpretations of irony, formulated by Bransen and Rorty, that aim at gaining insight into how we make meaning of the world, while at the same time recognising that such an understanding would be impossible. After discussing some problematic aspects of these interpretations a third interpretation of irony is developed, based on a third view of the nature of meaning-making. Following these three interpretations, we will discuss their philosophical merits and the different kinds of insight they can produce for philosophy of education.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adelman, C. (2000). Over two years, what did Froebel say to Pestalozzi? History of Education, 29(2), 103–114.
Archard, D. (1993). Children: Rights and childhood. London: Routledge.
Biesta, G. J. J. (1998). Say you want a revolution...Suggestions for the impossible future of critical pedagogy. Educational Theory, 48(4), 499–510.
Brandom, R. B. (2000a). Articulating reasons: An introduction to inferentialism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Brandom, R. B. (2000b). Vocabularies of pragmatism: Synthesizing naturalism and historicism. In R. B. Brandom (Ed.), Rorty and his critics (pp. 156–183). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Bransen, J. (1991). The antinomy of thought: Maimonian skepticism and the relation between thoughts and objects. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
Bransen, J. (1992). Filosofie & ironie. Fantastische opmerkingen over de toekomst van een traditie. Kampen: Kok Agora.
Bransen, J. (2004). Jezelf blijven. Nijmegen: Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen.
Brehony, K. J. (2000). Introduction. History of Education, 29(2), 97–101.
Colebrook, C. (2002). Irony in the work of philosophy. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Comstock, C. (1987). “Transcendental buffoonery”: Irony as process in Schlegel’s “Über die Unverständlichkeit”. Studies in Romanticism, 26(3), 445–464.
Giroux, H. A. (1997). Pedagogy and the politics of hope: Theory, culture, and schooling: A critical reader. Boulder: Westview Press.
Goodman, N. (1989). Just the facts, ma’am!. In M. Krausz (Ed.), Relativism, interpretation and confrontation (pp. 80–85). Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press.
Gulley, N. (1968). The philosophy of Socrates. London: MacMillan and co.
Kierkegaard, S. (1989). The concept of irony; with continual reference to Socrates (H. V. Hong & E. H. Hong, trans). (Princeton: Princeton University Press).
Madden, N. A., Slavin, R. E., Karweit, N. L., & Livermon, B. J. (1989). Restructuring the urban elementary school. Educational Leadership, 46(5), 14–18.
Margonis, F. (1992). The cooptation of ‘at risk’: Paradoxes of policy criticism. Teachers College Record, 94(2), 343–364.
Neiman, A. (1991). Ironic schooling. Socrates, pragmatism and the higher learning. Educational Theory, 41(4), 371–384.
Nelson, L. (1971). Progress and regress in philosophy. From Hume and Kant to Hegel and Fries (H. Palmer, trans, J. Kraft, ed, Vol. II). (Oxford: Basil Blackwell).
Peters, M., & Lankshear, C. (1996). Postmodern counternarratives. In H. A. Giroux, C. Lankshear, P. McLaren, & M. Peters (Eds.), Counternarratives – cultural studies and critical pedagogies in postmodern spaces (pp. 1–39). New York: Routledge.
Putnam, H. (1990). Realism with a human face (James Conant, ed.) (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).
Röhrs, H. (1995). Internationalism and development of progressive education and initial steps towards a world education movement. In H. Röhrs & V. Lenhart (Eds.), Progressive education across the continents: A handbook (pp. 11–27). Farnkfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Rorty, R. (1989). Contingency, irony, and solidarity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Rorty, R. (2000). Response to Brandom. In R. B. Brandom (Ed.), Rorty and his critics (pp. 183–190). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishers.
Schweinhart, L. J., & Weikart, D. P. (1986). Early childhood development programs: A public investment opportunity. Educational leadership, 44(3), 4–12.
Schweinhart, L. J., & Weikart, D. P. (1997). The High/Scope preschool curriculum comparison study through age 23. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 12, 117–143.
Schweinhart, L. J., & Weikart, D. P. (1998). Why curriculum matters in early childhood education. Educational Leadership, 55(6), 57–60.
Slavin, R. E. (1989). Students at risk of school failure: The problem and its dimensions. In R. E. Slavin, N. L. Karweit & N. A. Madden (Eds.), Effective programs for students at risk (pp. 1–20). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Slavin, R. E. (2002). The intentional school: Effective elementary education. In S. Stringfield & D. Land (Eds.), Educating at-risk students: One hundred-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, part II (pp. 111–127). Chicago: National Society for the Study of Education.
Slavin, R. E., & Madden, N. A. (1989). What works for students at risk: A research synthesis. Educational leadership, 46(5), 4–13.
Slavin, R. E., & Madden, N. A. (1993). Succes for All: prevention and early intervention in elementary schools. In P. Leseman & L. Eldering (Eds.), Early intervention and culture. Preparation for literacy. The interface between theory and practice (pp. 269–284). Paris: UNESCO.
Smeyers, P. (2005). Idle research, futile theory, and the risk for education: Reminders of irony and commitment. Educational Theory, 55(2), 165–183.
Stalnaker, R. C. (1999). Context and content – essays on intentionality in speech and thought. Oxford: Oxford Universirty Press.
Stringfield, S., & Land, D. (2002). Editor’s preface. In S. Stringfield & D. Land (Eds.), Educating at-risk students: one hundred-first yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education (pp. vii–x). Chicago: National Society of the Study of Education.
Van Goor, R., Heyting, F., & Vreeke, G.-J. (2004). Beyond foundations – signs of a new normativity in philosophy of education. Educational Theory, 54(2), 173–192.
Vasiliou, I. (2002). Socrates’ reverse irony. Classical Quarterly, 52(1), 220–230.
Vlastos, G. (1991). Socrates. Ironist and moral philosopher. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Winch, C., & Gingell, J. (2004). Philosophy & educational policy: a critical introduction. London: Routledge Falmer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
van Goor, R., Heyting, F. The fruits of irony: gaining insight into how we make meaning of the world. Stud Philos Educ 25, 479–496 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-006-9010-6
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-006-9010-6