Conceptual Criticism about Philosophical Education

In the face of contentious histories of philosophy, philosophical didactics can shed light on philosophical education in critical and innovative ways. Two case studies will be used to examine and question the relationship between philosophy and its history: Rorty’s Dewey and Cavell’s Emerson. By analyzing them as philosophical figures of thought and distinguishing between hostile and critical philosophical ways of reading, on the one hand, and conservative and innovative philosophical ways of reading, on the other, it is possible to elucidate approaches that are capable of eliciting a particular kind of conceptual critique about philosophical education, which can be called “philosophical sincerity.”