Turning the arrow: education after the age of the world-view

In this essay, I aim to make clear that modern education does not stand on neutral or natural ground but actually is more intimately connected to the “logic” of what Martin Heidegger has referred to as the “age of the world view” than what is often assumed. My focus will be on the philosophical analysis of this issue, situating the discussion firmly within Continental philosophy in conversation with Continental educational theory. The work presented in this essay is “groundwork” aimed at providing an opening towards education after the age of the world view. If in the age of the world view education is perceived in terms of learners who stand in a learning relationship with the world around them so that they are positioned as individuals who view the world and have a view on and about the world, education after the age of the world view turns the relationship in the other direction so that self and world appear altogether differently. I show how this allows for a return of both world and self and for an education in which learning no longer plays a central role.