Overview

The theory of cosmopolitanism is built on a paradoxical commitment to a universal idea of humanity and to a respect for human pluralism. Toward an Imperfect Education critiques the assumed ""goodness"" of humans that underwrites the idea of humanity and explores how antagonistic human interactions such as conflict, violence, and suffering are a fundamental aspect of life in a pluralistic world. This book proposes that the inescapable difference between humans compels our ethical and political observations in education. Todd persuasively argues that facing humanity in all its complexity and imperfection ought to be a central element of the cosmopolitan project to create a more just and humane education. Informed primarily by poststructural philosophy and feminist theory, she focuses on how sexual, cultural, and religious difference intersect with universal claims made in the name of humanity. Individual chapters develop a novel framework for dealing with antagonism in relation to human rights, democracy, citizenship, and cross-cultural understanding.

Full Product Details

9781594516221

Table of Contents

Reviews

This book is thrilling! Toward an Imperfect Education is the best treatment I have seen in philosophy of education today that takes up key conceptions amid the ethos of our time. ... What I most appreciate is the call to face ourselves and our social and educational world in my term 'flawed as we surely are.,... An engaging and thought provoking read throughout. -- Lynda Stone, UNC

This book is thrilling! Toward an Imperfect Education is the best treatment I have seen in philosophy of education today that takes up key conceptions amid the ethos of our time. ... What I most appreciate is the call to face ourselves and our social and educational world in my term 'flawed as we surely are.'... An engaging and thought provoking read throughout. -- Lynda Stone, UNC

Author Information

Sharon Todd is Professor of Education at Stockholm University and Mälardalen University. She is author most recently of Learning from the Other: Levinas, Psychoanalysis, and Ethical Possibilities in Education (SUNY Press, 2003).

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