The Meaning of Teaching and Learning: The Metapractical Perspective

To explicate the relations between teaching and learning, as well as the notions of the both, this paper relies on the spirit of ‘loving of learning’(好學) presented in the opening passages of The Analects of Confucius. This spirit is considered to have been a cornerstone of East Asian educational thoughts and practices, persisting continuously to the present day. The spirit of ‘loving of learning’ described in The Analects posits that the pursuit of learning is a process of internalizing the ‘Dao’(道) as the ‘form of life’, and fundamentally an practices for the cultivation of one’s mind and body. Learning is conceptualized as a practical discipline for cultivating one’s inner self, then teaching and learning are intrinsically inseparable. The statements of connections of teaching and learning in the Book of Rites (禮記) provides a clear illustration of this relationship, showing that teaching is the enactment and culmination of learning. Contrary to metaphysics, ‘metapraxis’, literally means ‘the practice of practice’, offers a theoretical perspective for understanding this unique character of teaching and the inner connection between teaching and learning.