Introduction: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education
Springer eBooks, 2018
This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is se... more This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is sensitive to the discursive, organizational, economic, epistemic, and political cultures of the institution. This essay will therefore not provide a grand theory of higher education that might be overlaid onto university practice. Instead, as we will argue, any viable philosophy of higher education must not only recognize but also be prepared to account for and harness the heterogeneity of theoretical, organizational, economic, epistemic, and professional perspectives that are the ground of institutions of higher learning.
This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by t... more This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by transforming itself. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s notion of “third space,” the author argues that the traditional epistemic paradigms in higher education are inadequate for conceptualizing the praxis-driven work required in honors. Honors should be understood as a form of transdisciplinarity, with the aim of producing what is defined as Mode 2 knowledge. Only from within this nonbinary professional framework is honors capable of disrupting, reimagining, and transforming the university
Educating from Failure: Dewey's Aesthetics and the Case for Failure in Educational Theory
The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2013
This essay is an attempt to add to the argument that beauty matters in education through offering... more This essay is an attempt to add to the argument that beauty matters in education through offering a reciprocal but interconnected point: if the dynamic harmony and deep connectedness of beauty need to be taken seriously, so must their aesthetic converse—the disharmony and estrangement of failure. While the discourse of philosophical aesthetics has long included categories such as the beautiful, the good, and the virtuous, the seeds for achievement of these ideals are planted in the soil of disharmony, uncertainty, and failure. Using a Deweyan account of art as experience, this essay argues that disharmony and failure are as much aesthetic categories as harmony and beauty and must be taken as seriously in teaching and learning. It further argues that failure, rather than beauty, is often more suited to providing the foundation for unlocking the unique potential of students and helping them cultivate their capacity for creative thought and action.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2016
Th is essay makes the case that one of the most signifi cant errors in aesthetic theory is its fa... more Th is essay makes the case that one of the most signifi cant errors in aesthetic theory is its failure to account for art as a creative act that emerges from the temporal fl ow of lived experience. Drawing on John Dewey's aesthetics and contemporary poetics, it articulates a view of creative action in terms of temporal experience. It begins by showing why time must be considered central to aesthetic theory, drawing a connection between time and what Dewey calls the logic of qualitative thought. It then distinguishes between time as a temporal ordering and time as a temporal quality of creative action. Finally, it argues that creative action is only possible because it is a temporally emergent process that is qualitatively experienced. As a result of placing temporality at its core, aesthetic theory shifts from a concern with the products of the art world to the practices of creative action.
The Palgrave Pivot series on the Cultural and Social Foundations of Education seeks to understand... more The Palgrave Pivot series on the Cultural and Social Foundations of Education seeks to understand educational practices around the world through the interpretive lenses provided by the disciplines of philosophy, history, sociology, politics, and cultural studies. This series focuses on the following major themes: democracy and social justice, ethics, sustainability education, technology, and the imagination. It publishes the best current thinking on those topics, as well as reconsideration of historical figures and major thinkers in education.
Critical Inquiry and the First Year: Reconceptualizing the Aims of Transitions Pedagogies
The Journal of General Education, 2019
Most first-year seminars exist to ensure that incoming students achieve what is commonly describe... more Most first-year seminars exist to ensure that incoming students achieve what is commonly described as “academic success.” While definitions of this term vary widely, it most often means socializing students into an academic culture so that they will remain at the institution, achieve a strong GPA, and graduate on time. Most first-year seminars focus on skills that either help students prepare for performing academic tasks or help students engage in academic tasks. This article introduces an alternative framework that moves beyond academic task training and advances the idea that a first-year seminar should provide a foundation for the cultivation of critical intellectual agency. This article calls this framework critical inquiry. It defines critical inquiry as the interrogation of the disciplinary cultures and practices where knowledge is produced and the pedagogical and curricular architectures where it is reproduced. As a conceptual core for first-year seminars, critical inquiry u...
Introduction: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education
Contemporary Philosophical Proposals for the University
This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is se... more This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is sensitive to the discursive, organizational, economic, epistemic, and political cultures of the institution. This essay will therefore not provide a grand theory of higher education that might be overlaid onto university practice. Instead, as we will argue, any viable philosophy of higher education must not only recognize but also be prepared to account for and harness the heterogeneity of theoretical, organizational, economic, epistemic, and professional perspectives that are the ground of institutions of higher learning.
In the last fifteen years, critical theories of mentorship have become a small, but growing, thre... more In the last fifteen years, critical theories of mentorship have become a small, but growing, thread in the mentoring literature. Despite this recent advancement, critical mentoring frameworks have yet to meaningfully impact the discourse of undergraduate peer mentoring. This essay is an attempt to address a twin concern that undergraduate peer mentoring programs need a more adequate theoretical basis for practice and that, in particular, the limited discourse on mentoring theory must be expanded to include a variety of critical theories. This paper identifies the core conceptual differences between traditional and critical theories of undergraduate peer mentorship and advances a grounded, critical framework for undergraduate peer mentoring.
Introduction: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education
Springer eBooks, 2018
This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is se... more This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is sensitive to the discursive, organizational, economic, epistemic, and political cultures of the institution. This essay will therefore not provide a grand theory of higher education that might be overlaid onto university practice. Instead, as we will argue, any viable philosophy of higher education must not only recognize but also be prepared to account for and harness the heterogeneity of theoretical, organizational, economic, epistemic, and professional perspectives that are the ground of institutions of higher learning.
This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by t... more This essay argues that in order for honors to occupy and transform the academy it must begin by transforming itself. Drawing on Homi Bhabha’s notion of “third space,” the author argues that the traditional epistemic paradigms in higher education are inadequate for conceptualizing the praxis-driven work required in honors. Honors should be understood as a form of transdisciplinarity, with the aim of producing what is defined as Mode 2 knowledge. Only from within this nonbinary professional framework is honors capable of disrupting, reimagining, and transforming the university
Educating from Failure: Dewey's Aesthetics and the Case for Failure in Educational Theory
The Journal of Aesthetic Education, 2013
This essay is an attempt to add to the argument that beauty matters in education through offering... more This essay is an attempt to add to the argument that beauty matters in education through offering a reciprocal but interconnected point: if the dynamic harmony and deep connectedness of beauty need to be taken seriously, so must their aesthetic converse—the disharmony and estrangement of failure. While the discourse of philosophical aesthetics has long included categories such as the beautiful, the good, and the virtuous, the seeds for achievement of these ideals are planted in the soil of disharmony, uncertainty, and failure. Using a Deweyan account of art as experience, this essay argues that disharmony and failure are as much aesthetic categories as harmony and beauty and must be taken as seriously in teaching and learning. It further argues that failure, rather than beauty, is often more suited to providing the foundation for unlocking the unique potential of students and helping them cultivate their capacity for creative thought and action.
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society, 2016
Th is essay makes the case that one of the most signifi cant errors in aesthetic theory is its fa... more Th is essay makes the case that one of the most signifi cant errors in aesthetic theory is its failure to account for art as a creative act that emerges from the temporal fl ow of lived experience. Drawing on John Dewey's aesthetics and contemporary poetics, it articulates a view of creative action in terms of temporal experience. It begins by showing why time must be considered central to aesthetic theory, drawing a connection between time and what Dewey calls the logic of qualitative thought. It then distinguishes between time as a temporal ordering and time as a temporal quality of creative action. Finally, it argues that creative action is only possible because it is a temporally emergent process that is qualitatively experienced. As a result of placing temporality at its core, aesthetic theory shifts from a concern with the products of the art world to the practices of creative action.
The Palgrave Pivot series on the Cultural and Social Foundations of Education seeks to understand... more The Palgrave Pivot series on the Cultural and Social Foundations of Education seeks to understand educational practices around the world through the interpretive lenses provided by the disciplines of philosophy, history, sociology, politics, and cultural studies. This series focuses on the following major themes: democracy and social justice, ethics, sustainability education, technology, and the imagination. It publishes the best current thinking on those topics, as well as reconsideration of historical figures and major thinkers in education.
Critical Inquiry and the First Year: Reconceptualizing the Aims of Transitions Pedagogies
The Journal of General Education, 2019
Most first-year seminars exist to ensure that incoming students achieve what is commonly describe... more Most first-year seminars exist to ensure that incoming students achieve what is commonly described as “academic success.” While definitions of this term vary widely, it most often means socializing students into an academic culture so that they will remain at the institution, achieve a strong GPA, and graduate on time. Most first-year seminars focus on skills that either help students prepare for performing academic tasks or help students engage in academic tasks. This article introduces an alternative framework that moves beyond academic task training and advances the idea that a first-year seminar should provide a foundation for the cultivation of critical intellectual agency. This article calls this framework critical inquiry. It defines critical inquiry as the interrogation of the disciplinary cultures and practices where knowledge is produced and the pedagogical and curricular architectures where it is reproduced. As a conceptual core for first-year seminars, critical inquiry u...
Introduction: Toward a Philosophy of Higher Education
Contemporary Philosophical Proposals for the University
This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is se... more This essay intends to create a path forward for philosophical work in higher education that is sensitive to the discursive, organizational, economic, epistemic, and political cultures of the institution. This essay will therefore not provide a grand theory of higher education that might be overlaid onto university practice. Instead, as we will argue, any viable philosophy of higher education must not only recognize but also be prepared to account for and harness the heterogeneity of theoretical, organizational, economic, epistemic, and professional perspectives that are the ground of institutions of higher learning.
In the last fifteen years, critical theories of mentorship have become a small, but growing, thre... more In the last fifteen years, critical theories of mentorship have become a small, but growing, thread in the mentoring literature. Despite this recent advancement, critical mentoring frameworks have yet to meaningfully impact the discourse of undergraduate peer mentoring. This essay is an attempt to address a twin concern that undergraduate peer mentoring programs need a more adequate theoretical basis for practice and that, in particular, the limited discourse on mentoring theory must be expanded to include a variety of critical theories. This paper identifies the core conceptual differences between traditional and critical theories of undergraduate peer mentorship and advances a grounded, critical framework for undergraduate peer mentoring.
Uploads
Papers by Aaron Stoller