Abstract
In this article I will investigate a perceived tension in Swedish early childhood education (ECE) policy between reevaluating certain foundational claims on the one hand and following universal moral commands on the other. I ask the question; how is it that certain commonly held assumptions are being debunked and others left undisturbed in this particular context? To this end, I look at some of the preconditions of framing the educational practice by universal moral commands so as to make visible some of its underlying ontological assumptions. Correspondingly, I look at some necessary epistemological and ontological prerequisites for understanding knowledge formation as essentially relational, such as it is construed in the policy documents concerned. I connect this with a broader trend in educational philosophy and theory, one where the destabilizing of a Cartesian notion of subjectivity has opened up for more relational conceptions of subjectivity. Next, I will take a closer look at some key passages from the policy documents where the appeal to moral universalism runs parallel with an appeal to a relational ontology. Having done so, I point to some epistemological problems with combining these two conflicting approaches on a policy level. To conclude, I formulate some final thoughts regarding how one might begin to resolve this tension within the discourse of Swedish ECE by coming to terms with what kind of ontological and epistemological foundation to rely upon. I do this by trying out the notion of a pedagogy of dosage.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
It is foundational in the sense that it concerns a set of rights grounded in the assumption that there exists a metaphysical core—beyond what is empirically tangible—that may be called humanity and that functions by interconnecting all of its disparate subjects.
References
Ansell-Pearson, K. (2011). Beyond compassion: On Nietzsche’s Moral Therapy. Dawn Continental Philosophy Review, 44(2), 179–204.
Aquinas, T. (1993). Selected philosophical writings. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bay, C. (1977). Human needs and political education. In R. Fitzgerald (Ed.), Human needs and politics (pp. 1–25). Sydney: Pergamon.
Benhabib, S. (2007). Another universalism: On the unity and diversity of human rights. Proceedings and Addresses of the American Philosophical Association, 81(2), 7–32.
Biesta, G. J. J. (1998). Pedagogy without humanism: Foucault and the subject of education. Interchange, 29(1), 1–16.
Biesta, G. J. J. (1999a). Where are you? Where am I? Education, identity and the question of location. In C. A. Säfström (Ed.), Identity: Questioning the logic of Identity within educational theory (pp. 21–45). Studentlitteratur: Lund.
Biesta, G. J. J. (1999b). Radical Intersubjectivity: Reflections on the “different” foundation of education. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 18(4), 203–220.
Dahlbeck, J. (2013). Towards a pure ontology: Children’s bodies and morality. Educational Philosophy and Theory. doi:10.1111/j.1469-5812.2011.00775.x.
Deleuze, G. (1974). Les Cours de Gilles Deleuze, Anti Oedipe et Mille Plateaux, 14/01/1974. Unpublished manuscript/lecture. Retrieved Oct. 8, 2012, from www.webdeleuze.com.
Deleuze, G. (1978). Les Cours de Gilles Deleuze, Spinoza, 24/01/1978. Unpublished manuscript/lecture. Retrieved Oct. 8, 2012, from www.webdeleuze.com.
Deleuze, G. (1988). Spinoza: Practical philosophy. San Francisco: City Lights Books.
Deleuze, G. (1990). Expressionism in philosophy: Spinoza. New York: Zone Books.
Donnelly, J. (2003). Universal human rights in theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Cornell University Press.
Douzinas, C. (2007). Human rights and empire: The political philosophy of cosmopolitanism. London: Routledge-Cavendish.
Lefebvre, A. (2006). The image of law: Deleuze, Bergson, Spinoza. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Lefebvre, A. (2011). Human rights in Deleuze and Bergson’s later philosophy. Theory and Event, 14(3), The Johns Hopkins University Press. Retrieved Feb 25, 2013, from Project MUSE database.
May, T., & Semetsky, I. (2008). Deleuze, ethical education, and the unconscious. In I. Semetsky (Ed.), Nomadic education: Variations on a theme by Deleuze and Guattari (pp. 143–157). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Melamed, Y. Y. (2011). Spinoza’s anti-humanism: An outline. In C. Fraenkel, D. Perinetti & J. E. H. Smith (Eds.) The Rationalists: Between Tradition and Innovation. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands, pp. 147–166.
Nadler, S. (2006). Spinoza’s ethics: An introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Semetsky, I. (2003). The problematics of human subjectivity: Gilles Deleuze and the Deweyan legacy. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 22(3–4), 211–225.
Semetsky, I. (2006). Deleuze, education and becoming. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Skolverket. (1999). Överenskommet! Fem internationella överenskommelser som ligger till grund för de nya läroplanerna [Agreed! Five international agreements forming the basis for the new curricula]. Stockholm: Skolverket, Liber Distributions.
Skolverket. (2011). Curriculum for the Preschool Lpfö 98 Revised 2010. Stockholm: Skolverket.
Skolverket. (2012). Uppföljning, utvärdering och utveckling i förskolan—Pedagogisk dokumentation [Follow-up, evaluation and development in the preschool—Pedagogical documentation]. Stockholm: Skolverket.
Smith, D. W. (2007). Deleuze and the question of desire: Toward an immanent theory of ethics. Parrhesia, 2, 66–78.
Usher, R., & Edwards, R. (1994). Postmodernism and education. London: Routledge.
Wallin, J. (2013). Morphologies for a pedagogical life. In I. Semetsky & D. Masny (Eds.), Deleuze and education (pp. 196–214). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Williams, J. (2013). Time and education in the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze. In I. Semetsky & D. Masny (Eds.), Deleuze and education (pp. 235–251). Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Dahlbeck, J. On Following Commands: A Philosophical Inquiry Into the Governing Values of Swedish Early Childhood Education. Stud Philos Educ 33, 527–544 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-013-9402-3
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11217-013-9402-3