L'Education a l'Heure de la Crise: A Ia Recherche de l'Equilibre

Abstract

The author perceives contemporary educational thought as polarized along two major axes: utilitarianism and holism. Utilitarianism is the result of a conglomeration of doctrines influenced by Cartesian dualism, Newtonian mechanism, and social Darwinism; all of these share a fragmentary and reductionist view of reality. In opposition to that view, holism, in both its rational and intuitive forms, tends to see reality as a global and unified whole. The traditionalist position, in search of a renewed foundation where relativism prevails, oscillates between these two major axes. The author suggests the Taoist principles of yin and yang, the complementary poles of reality, as a background for his analysis. He presents a cyclical model of change in which interaction between the yin and yang polarities results in a cultural evolution wherein equilibrium and disorder alternate. The evaluation of recent trends in education is analyzed and epistemological issues are raised. Finally, the author underlines the potential influences of both the utilitarian and holistic axes on the outcome of the current crisis in education.