Raymond Aaron Younis

Education aims for many things, including the pursuit of knowledge and truth, the development of critical thinking and reflective practice, innovation and the cultivation of certain traits or dispositions, training and preparation for the workforce, the promotion of active, lifelong learning and personal, and inter-personal, development. However, understanding and pursuing authenticity, truth, knowledge, habits of excellence, success and wellbeing, amongst other things, in education is important, especially today, in the context of the rapid emergence of mass communication (especially information, misinformation and disinformation), and the global proliferation of virtual communities, virtual environments, and digital media. These decisive technological transformations highlight questions of authenticity, inclusion, participation, safety, privacy, security and access, among others, and deep concerns about the task of educators today. Further research on flourishing may help address important challenges in preparing students for a rapidly changing, and deeply challenging, digitalized world. This chapter focusses on significant developments, risks, threats, challenges and meaningful responses. It explores educational approaches informed by eudaimonian ethics which promote the full flourishing (and wellbeing) of young learners; it will be of benefit to all whose lives have been affected by the global convergence of education, communication, information technology, information systems and the digital age. It focusses on topics such as authentic (and inauthentic) relationships, digital addiction, (de-)humanized learning environments, virtues and vices online, ethics, innovative teaching approaches and the pursuit of flourishing.

Education aims for the pursuit of knowledge and truth, the development of critical thinking and reflective practice, innovation and the cultivation of certain traits or dispositions, training and preparation for the workforce, and the promotion of active learning and personal development, amongst other things. However, understanding and pursuing success in education is important, especially in the context of the rapid emergence of mass communication, and the global proliferation of virtual communities, virtual environments, and digital media. These decisive technological transformations also highlight questions of authenticity, inclusion, participation and access, and deep concerns about the task of educators today. Further research on flourishing may help address important challenges in preparing students for a rapidly changing, digitalized world. "Promoting Flourishing, Authentic Relationships, and Growth in Learners in the Digital Age" examines significant developments, risks, threats and challenges. It explores timely solutions that promote the full flourishing of young learners, which will be of benefit to all whose lives have been affected by the convergence of education, information, communication, technology and the digital age. It focusses on topics such as digital addiction, higher (and deeper) learning, virtues and vices, ethics, wellbeing, flourishing and non-traditional teaching methods. This book is an excellent resource for educators, administrators, policy makers, researchers, scholars and academics, among others.

The question of the limits of reason, not just within philosophy but also in the modern sciences, is arguably more important than ever given numerousrecent commentaries on “life”, “reality”, meaning, purpose, pointlessness and so on, emanating not from philosophers or metaphysicians, but rather from physicists and biologists such as Steven Weinberg and Richard Dawkins. It will be argued that such commentaries concerning the “pointlessness” of the universe, or the purpose of “life’, and other such things, are flawed and unconvincing, not least because they seem to overlook or forget a number of well known and significant philosophical contributions on the question of limits, particularly by Kant, but also by Hume, Russell and Sir A J Ayer.

There can be little doubt that informatics and communication technologies have transformed, and some would say rendered problematic, not just such ways of thinking about relations and authenticity between human subjects, but also the very question of the possibility of such relations, especially given the global phenomenon of simulation, social media, avatars, and technologically mediated communication at almost every point of our personal, interpersonal and professional relationships in the digital age. The following questions will be explored: What are the changes to and effects of ICTs on our communicative relations in the 21st century? Is it still possible to speak of authentic interpersonal encounters in the light of the emergence of informatics and communication technologies and their proliferation in the digital age, in the paths opened up by thinkers like Buber and Heidegger (for example, 2017, 2016, 2013, 2002A, 2002B, 1998, 1984, 1982, 1976A, 1976B, 1973, 1971, 1967, 1966, 1955, among many others)? And what should one do, given the acceleration and intensification of the advent of technologism in our time?

The question of the ethical life is arguably one of the most compelling, and urgent, questions of our time. As Peter Singer, among others, has pointed out, almost 10 million children die each year due to poverty, some of whom would not die if the amount of aid that we now offer increases significantly. As Singer has also pointed out, the exploitation of human beings and other animals is a major ethical and practical concern. There can be little reasonable doubt that pain and suffering abound, in the world today, due to many causes such as poverty, disease, environmental degradation and destruction and anthropocentrism among others, just as there can be little reasonable doubt that some of the pain and suffering is preventable. So, what does it mean to live ethically today? Does it mean taking the point of view of the universe, as Sidgwick put it, memorably, rather than a narrow anthropocentric or speciesist view? Does it mean living in accordance with duties or obligations, or in light of recognised virtues, or with the minimisation of pain and suffering primarily in mind? Does it entail a consideration of the interests of other species and a rejection of the principle of the sanctity of human life? Does it mean not eating animals when other healthy alternatives are available, especially when those animals have been treated in ways that are inconsistent with their interests, whatever they may be? Does it mean taking active steps to reduce poverty on our part on a day to day basis? Is ethics exhausted in some sense today? And if we could reach some consensus on these questions, what difference would the ethical life make? Some argue that speciesism and the exploitation of human beings and other animals might diminish; that pain and suffering, especially gratuitous pain and suffering, would decrease, or at the very least, not increase; or that we will become more aware of the limitations of things such as "the traditional ethic of the sanctity of life", as Singer calls it. Some argue that the ethical life is closely related to a life of relationships, reflection and deliberation, all of which deepen our understanding and enrich us personally. Others argue that the ethical life is closely related to our search for a meaningful life - that the ethical life can help us to find meaning in a world in which "meaning", defined broadly, can seem elusive, enigmatic or unsubstantial. These and related issues and questions are explored in this collection, which illustrates the relevance, vitality and dynamism of ethics today.

Though there is much interest nowadays in "aporias" there is relatively little research on the relation between these aporias and deconstruction, and further, between these two and the philosophy of education. First, it will be argued here that a sufficient understanding of the aporias must preserve the complexity of Aristotle’s own understanding and explications, or in other words, must avoid the reductive approaches one sometimes finds in some recent commentaries on studies of Aristotle’s aporias. Second, it will be argued that some critiques of Aristotelian aporias, such as a deconstructive critique, require careful scrutiny. Third it will be argued that the complex Aristotelian understanding of aporias is by no means a tired or exhausted paradigm - far from it; it has rather some significant implications for educators and in relation to educational thinking in the twenty first century, especially when understood in relation to Wittgenstein’s work on some questions, some language games, as knots in our understanding (significantly, Aristotle used just the same kind of metaphor in relation to aporias).