In this dissertation I use the philosophies of William James and Friedrich Nietzsche to draw a connection between metaphysical conceptions of experience and the meaning and practice of democratic education. I argue that without a coherent conception of experience, the meaning and social function of democratic education is unclear. In response to this problem, I develop a conception of experience as events of power that allows me to suggest that the Deweyan definition of educationthe renewal of life by transmissionhelps us to understand more clearly the role, institutions, and function of education in culture today. I deploy this metaphysics of experience in an analysis of some of the educative effects of large social forces such as war and religion in a democratic culture. Finally, I suggest that my conception of experience might help us understand how to make more democratic the relationship between explicitly educational institutions and the social forms of life in which they are imbedded.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VANDERBILT/oai:VANDERBILTETD:etd-07222009-150313 |
| Date | 25 July 2009 |
| Creators | Edmonds, Jeffrey Sims |
| Contributors | Charles Scott, John Stuhr, José Medina, William J. Booth, William Gavin |
| Publisher | VANDERBILT |
| Source Sets | Vanderbilt University Theses |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.vanderbilt.edu//available/etd-07222009-150313/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to Vanderbilt University or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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