Masoumeh Ramezani Fini; Narges Sajjadiyeh
Abstract
Introduction Nowadays, the educational system encounters some challenges in achieving to its aims and confliction between its moral and scientific aims. Regarding human existence and agency in the social state, critical theory can help the educational system in returning ...
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Introduction Nowadays, the educational system encounters some challenges in achieving to its aims and confliction between its moral and scientific aims. Regarding human existence and agency in the social state, critical theory can help the educational system in returning to its inclusive aims. Analyzing different dimensions of the critical theory as a philosophical view, this paper attempts to trace implications of these dimensions in the education. For this purpose, the views of Horkheimer and Adorno in various philosophical-social fields has been considered This article seeks to answer three questions: 1. What are the characteristics of a critical theory on social issues? 2. Based on critical theory, in what areas does the education system need reform to revive itself? 3. What are the ways out of the current educational challenges? Therefore this paper seeks to provide a new way out of the present situation by presenting a new formulation of the views of Horkheimer and Adorno in the form of rotations that link the status quo to the desired situation. Method The methodological approaches in this paper will be mainly linguistic analysis and deductive method. At the first part, the linguistic analysis method is applied to In the context of Horkheimer's and Adorno's thought, the concepts re-analyzed for examining the main turns proposed by critical theory and at the second part, for deducting the educational implications of these turns we apply practical deductive method. Results Comparing to previous philosophical approaches, critical theory has proposed new turns. Some of these are: turn from fatalism to human agency, turn from instrumental reason to critical reason, turn from homogenization to differences and, turn from theorizing to conjunction between theory and action. These shifts, in these turn, can cause a series of revolutions in the educational area. Among these, it can be mentioned: examining aims and comparing them with the real educational affairs, sensitivity about ideologies of domination, regarding moral considerations of technological knowledge, preparing appropriate contexts for realistic students agency and regarding layering of human identity. Discussion We can categorize these turns in three philosophical, policy making and school-class relational levels. It seems that educational system encounters challenges for their realization. Some enterprises like permission to diversity of schools and references of strategies, reinforcement of scientific institution which are external to educational system and, supporting micro-level class-school revolutions can be assumed as exit ways of those challenges. Key words: Critical education, instrumental reason, critical reason, emancipation, deductive-analytical method
