The article presents philosophical and critical exploration of education in the framework of intensive informatization of modern society. The use of digital technology is nowadays a key feature of educational practices in the world. Yet despite its prominence, digital technologies in education continue to be an issue that rarely receives sustained critical attention and thought. Tackling the wider picture, addressing philosophical, cultural, economic aspects of education in digital age, the study offers to make sense what happens and what doesn’t happen, (...) when the digital and educational come together. Both positive and negative consequences of the spread of e-learning systems and technologies are analyzed. Examining contemporary education in terms of social justice, equality and meaningfulness the authors formulate the key tasks facing the philosophy of education in the modern digital era. The authors conclude that it is necessary to supplement electronic educational technologies with traditional educational practices. In particular they examine the trends and prospects of cognitive research and biotechnologies in the light of their influence on the human ideal that characterizes contemporary education. The authors argue that a serious and fruitful comprehension of education in the digital age requires a revision of the classic opposition of the subject and object, spirit and body, man and animal. (shrink)

This article shows how and why hermeneutic phenomenological research can promote knowledge and understanding in research practices in education. The main focus of the article is aimed to provide rich textual descriptions of the experiencing of selected phenomena in the life world of individuals that are able to connect with the experience of all. It gives a brief overview of hermeneutic phenomenology and discuss its use in research work in education. The paper also presents on the diverse field of application, (...) recent developments and the essence of hermeneutic phenomenological in education research. The article further examines the philosophical standpoint and establishes its linkages with various other methodologies. Finally, paper concludes with Clark Moustakas phenomenological data analysis for the analysis of the gathered data consisting three main components: phenomenological reduction, imaginative variation, and synthesis to come to the conclusion. This article demonstrates and explores the value of hermeneutics as a credible, rigorous, and creative way to address the different aspects of professional practices and how hermeneutic phenomenology is useful in studying the personal and social facets of making psychological knowledge and searching for philosophical truth as a research methods in educational research. (shrink)

It is difficult to be a philosopher in this postmodern era. This is so because philosophers, who heretofore have been the archetype of persons eager to engage in reasoned discourse, regardless of their differences, suddenly seem unable to talk to each other, primarily due to claim by postmoderns that non-postmoderns are naïve in their blindness to the fact that truth the claims cannot be true in any objective sense, and that claims to objectivity have been used maliciously throughout the ages (...) to wield oppression. After exploring some of the seductive arguments of the post-modern position, and suggesting a re-working of the non-post-modern position, this paper will conclude that philosophical educators carry a heavy responsibility for limiting the real-life damage that has been produced by this philosophical truth-storm by siding firmly with its less contentious opposite by becoming guardians of the possibility that claims can be false. (shrink)

The problems in education are facing in a super-industrial society and a few resolutions on how it would improve in the future are just a couple of questions that attract my attention as a philosopher and as an educator. My main interest mostly concerns understanding the importance and the need for today’s educational system to change to better prepare new generations for what tomorrow brings. For the basis of my thesis, my point of reference, as you might wish, I use (...) the words of Alvin Toffler from the book Future Shock, in which he greatly focuses on education, in this piece of his, even though it was published fifty years ago, he deals with and indicates the problems in education, even back then unfortunately little has been done like today, a large part of the world is facing problems with the educational system and is in a desperate need of change, at least what is known till now, there are numerous problems. (shrink)

Heidegger’s seminal lecture, The Question Concerning Technology, has greatly influenced the contemporary philosophy of technology. However, scholars have different views regarding whether Heidegger’s concept of technology is essentialist. On the one hand, Andrew Feenberg and Don Ihde have argued for this description, while on the other, Iain Thomson has claimed that, though Heidegger appears to be a technological essentialist, but does little to discredit his profound ontological understanding of the historical impact of technology. In this essay, I will focus on (...) Ihde’s critique and argue that his charge of essentialism is itself a misinterpretation of Heidegger’s understanding of technology. I conclude that the meaning of essence in Heidegger’s technology should be interpreted as that of “enduring,” and in that way, describing Heidegger’s concept of technology as essentialism is a metaphysical misinterpretation. (shrink)