‘Co-Emergence’ In Ecological Continuum: Educating Democratic Capacities Through Posthumanism as Praxis
PDF

Keywords

Posthumanism
ecological continuum
education
democracy
integrative pluralism
complexity
emergence

How to Cite

Sisler, A. (2015). ‘Co-Emergence’ In Ecological Continuum: Educating Democratic Capacities Through Posthumanism as Praxis. ETHICS IN PROGRESS, 6(1), 119–139. https://doi.org/10.14746/eip.2015.1.10

Number of views: 385


Number of downloads: 250

Abstract

In this piece I argue for posthumanism-based deliberation and education toward just global ecologies. I propose posthumanism’s nonanthropocentric ethical approach and conceptual framework enables a processual multiperspectival account of rich, variegated bionetworks and their organic and inorganic materials’ interrelationships and interdependencies. Among reciprocal studies and methodologies, I consider Mitchell’s (2004) integrative pluralism in tandem with a developmental systems paradigm of co-emergence to acknowldge the dynamic epistemological continuum of complex ecologies. In terms of specific embedded learning experiences, I briefly discuss Lind’s Konstanz Method of Dilemma Discussion (KMDD)® as one specific approach in which to cultivate democratic capacities whilst embracing the destabilizing-stabilizing tendencies of posthumanistic praxis for inclusive flourishing.

https://doi.org/10.14746/eip.2015.1.10
PDF

References

Alexander, S. 1920. Space, Time, and Deity: The Gifford Lectures at Glasgow, 1916-1918. London: Macmillan & Co.

Arendt, H. 1958. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Cleveland: The World Publishing Company.

Arisaka, Y. 2001. “The Ontological Co-Emergence of Self and Other in Japanese Philosophy”. Journal of Consciousness Studies 8(5-7): 197-208.

Åsberg, C. 2013. “The Timely Ethics of Posthumanist Gender Studies.” Feministische Studien 31(1): 7-12.

Baxi, U. 2009. Human Rights in a Posthuman World: Critical Essays. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Bhaskar, J. 1993. Dialectic: The Pulse of Freedom (Classical Texts in Critical Realism). London: Routledge.

Bloom, A. 1975. “Justice: John Rawls vs. The Tradition of Political Philosophy.” American Political Science Review 69(02): 648-662.

Braidotti, R. 2013. The Posthuman. London: Bloomsbury.

Buizer, M., Arts, B., & Kok, K. 2011. “Governance, Scale And The Environment: The Importance Of Recognizing Knowledge Claims In Transdisciplinary Arenas.” Ecology and Society 16: 1-18.

Dereniowska, M. & Matzke, J. 2014. “Interdisciplinary Foundations for Environmental and Sustainability Ethics: An Introduction.” Ethics in Progress 5(1): 07-32.

De Waal, F. 2009. Primates and Philosophers: How Morality Evolved. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Dewey, J. 1916. Democracy and Education. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Docherty, T. 2011. For the University: Democracy and the Future of the Institution. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Dutton, D.G. 2007. The Psychology of Genocide, Massacres, and Extreme Violence: Why "Normal" People Come to Commit Atrocities. Westport/London: Praeger Security International.

Eden, A.H., Moor, J.H., Søraker, J., & Steinhart, E. (eds.) 2012. Singularity Hypotheses: A Scientific and Philosophical Assessment. Berlin: Springer.

Ferrando, F.. 2012. "Towards a Posthumanist Methodology. A Statement." Frame Journal For Literary Studies 25: 9-18.

Fishkin, J. 2009. When the People Speak: Deliberative Democracy and Public Consultation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Flender, C. 2011. “Quantum Phenomenology and Dynamic Co-Emergence”. In D. Song et al. (eds.), Quantum Interaction. Springer Berlin: Heidelberg.

Foels, R. & Pappas, C. J. 2004. “Learning and Unlearning Myths We Are Taught: Gender and Social Dominance Orientation.” Sex Roles 50: 743–757

Gilens, M. & Page, B.I. 2014. “Testing Theories of American Politics: Elites, Interest Groups, and Average Citizens.” American Political Science Association 12(3): 564-581.

Goldstein, J. 1999. “Emergence as a Construct: History and Issues”. Emergence 1(1): 49-72.

Goldstein, J. 2004. “Why Complexity and Epistemology?” E:CO 6(3): 2-3.

Gottlieb, G. 2002 [1992]. Individual Development and Evolution: The Genesis of Novel Behavior. New York: Oxford University Press.

Grandin, T. & Johnson, C. 2009. Animals In Translation: Using The Mysteries Of Autism To Decode Animal Behavior. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

Haraway, D. 1991. A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and SocialistFeminism in the Late Twentieth Century. Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature. New York, NY: Routledge.

Hayles, N. K. 1999. How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies In Cybernetics, Literature, And Informatics. Chicago, IL: University Of Chicago Press.

Holling, C. S. 2004. "Understanding The Complexity Of Economic, Ecological, And Social Systems." Ecosystems 4(5): 390–405.

Jung, C. G. 1969. (1936). The Archetypes of the Collective Unconscious: Vol. 9.The Collective Works of C. G. Jung. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Kim, J. 1992. “Downward Causation in Emergentism and Nonreductive Physicalism.” In A. Beckermann, H. Flohr, & J. Kim (eds.), Emergence or Reduction? Prospects for Nonreductive Physicalism. Berlin: De Gruyter: 119-138

Kohlberg, L. 1981. “The Meaning And Measurement Of Moral Judgment”. In idem (ed.), Essays On Moral Development, Vol. II: The Psychology of Moral Development. San Francisco, CA: Harper & Row.

Lind, G. 2011a. “Moral Education: Building On Ideals And Fostering Competencies.” Contemporary Issues in Education 2(1): 45-59.

Lind, G. 2011b. “Moral Competence and the Democratic Way of Living.” European Journal of Psychology 7: 569 - 596.

MacPherson, C. B. 1962. The Political Theory of Possessive Individualism. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Manson, S. M. 2008. “Does Scale Exist? An Epistemological Scale Continuum for Complex Human-Environment Systems.” Geoforum 39(2): 776-788.

McFarland, S., Webb, M., & Brown, D. 2012. “All Humanity Is in My Group: A Measure and Studies of Identification With All Humanity.” Journal of personality and social psychology 103(5): 830-853.

Mikhail, J. 2007. “Universal Moral Grammar: Theory, Evidence and the Future.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences 11(4): 143-152.

Mitchell, S. 2004. “Why Integrative Pluralism?”. E:CO Special Double Issue 6: 81-91.

Morrill, C. & Owen-Smith, J. 2002. “The Emergence of Environmental Conflict Resolution: Subversive Stories and the Construction of Collective Action Frames and Organizational Fields.” In A. Hoffman & M. Ventresca (eds.), Organizations, Policy, and the Natural Environment: Institutional and Strategic Perspectives. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

Morton, T. 2012. The Ecological Thought. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University

Nichols, S. 1988. “The Posthuman Manifesto.” Games Monthly Magazine. URL: http://www.posthuman.org/page2.html.

Pettman, D. 2011. Human Error: Species--Being and Media Machines. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Randrup, A. A. 2004. “Animal Mind as Approached by the Transpersonal Notion of Collective Conscious Experience”. Transpersonal Studies 23: 32-45.

Sayer, A. 2011. Why Things Matter To People: Social Science, Values And Ethical Life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sedgwick, E. K. 1990. Epistemology of the Closet. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Snaza, N., Appelbaum, P., Bayne, S., Morris, M., Rotas, N., Sandlin, J., & Weaver, J. (2014). “Toward a Posthumanist Education”. Journal of Curriculum Theorizing 30(2): 39-55.

Starratt, R. 2009. “A Continuing Leadership Agenda.” In P. Jenlink (ed.), Dewey's Democracy and Education Revisited: Contemporary Discourses for Democratic Education and Leadership. Maryland: Rowman & Littleman Education.

Taleb, N. N. 2010. The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. New York: Random House Trade.

Teehan, J. & DiCarlo, Ch. 2004. “On the Naturalistic Fallacy: a Conceptual Basis for Evolutionary Ethics.” Evolutionary Psychology 2: 32-46.

Wilson, J. 1993. The Moral Sense. New York: The Free Press.

Witherington, D. 2007. "The Dynamic Systems Approach as Metatheory for Developmental Psychology". Human Development 50(2-3): 127-153.

Wolfe, C. 2010. What Is Posthumanism?. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press