Kaarina Beam

The democratic system in the U.S. is in disarray. Daily reports of hostile confrontation, fake news, alternative facts, ad hominem attacks, and increasing tribalism are distressing. But those divisions also indicate something good about our democratic system. We can, as yet, still voice our dissent, take collective public action, and engender grassroots activism without legitimate reprisal for those activities in themselves. But the public discourse is increasingly polarizing and unproductive. Is there a common ground upon which we can build discourse and seek a common public good? To what can we appeal for common ground? Do we appeal to truth or power? Philosophers have traditionally sought truth to legitimate power and parsed education as a search for truth. But, as Alasdair MacIntyre asked, "Whose truth? Which rationality?" In this talk, Dr. Kaarina Beam explores the nature of truth, the nature of truth-seeking education, and the nature of the philosophy underlying an educational search for truth in a pluralistic world.

Forged at the intersection of three orientations in philosophical thought, this project examines the contours of a philosophical framework from which we may understand and support a radical critical pedagogy suited to the contemporary ethos. Various themes common to "Postmodernist", "Feminist", and "Pragmatist" orientations in philosophy are discussed as they apply to a democratic philosophy of education. This theoretical integration supports a democratic ethic and a method of "equipollence" in education, requiring the suspension of dogmatic belief and a radical reflection on the socially embedded nature of human beings and the multiplicity of experiential truths. It is argued that this form of critical thinking is required for the postmodern ethos in which we now find ourselves and at all levels of education. By implication, the project supports an "engaged" critical pedagogy and the "philosophy for children" movement in the advancement of liberatory critical thinking