Lecture on Heidegger's 1954 essay; outline of the Pedagogical Relation, as described by Nohl and others.

1. What calls for Thinking
&
The Pedagogical Relation
Norm Friesen
Nov. 24, 2010

2. Outline
• Heidegger: What calls on us to think?
– What
– Calls on
– Us
– To Think
The Pedagogical Relation
• asymmetrical; future-oriented
• authorization of adult; phronetic; it ends

3. What
• “What is it that directs us into thought and gives
us directions for thinking?”
• It is something that we need to be inclined to
• Language can take this inclination away:
“language plays with our speech—it likes to let
our speech drift away into the more obvious
meanings of words”
• It is something that withdraws “the event of
withdrawal could be what is most present…”
• Comes to us as a gift; we do not earn it.

4. Calls on
• “Was heisst Denken?” is called; calls on
1. What is called thinking? What does thinking name?
2. What has gone by the name of thinking in the past?
3. What are the prerequisites for thinking?
4. What commands us to think?
Call: A wish that something might happen; a
reaching out for it to happen.

5. Us
• “We ourselves are, in the strict sense of the
word, put into question by the question.”
• We are something that thinks and that points
to something.
• The meaning of this pointing is not entirely
clear: “We are a sign that is not read”
• We are not something definite and
determinate, and neither is our thinking

6. to Think
• Whatever it is, it is not what science, technology
or technical technique does:
• “Science does not think, and cannot think”
• Science, as the rational application of a method
(the scientific method) to objects in the world
does not address thinking. The scientific method
does not investigate the scientific method.
• Is not an means-ends activity: not instrumental
• Requires speaking, even though language can
mis-lead

7. Pedagogical Relation

8. A different approach to Pedagogy
• Dilthey (1971, 43): "
The discipline of pedagogy
can depart only from a description of the
educator in relation to the child“
• "The way in which one exercises one's
pedagogical responsibility can only be justified
on pedagogical grounds, not on a rationale
derived from religion, business, politics or
science" (van Manen 1991, 69)

9. Is a phenomenological approach
• Pedagogy requires a phenomenological
sensitivity to lived experience (children's
realities and lifeworlds). Pedagogy requires a
hermeneutic ability to make interpretive
sense of the phenomena of the lifeworld in
order to see the pedagogic significance of
situations and relations of living with children.
(Saevi; van Manen, 1991)

10. General Definition
• The pedagogical relation is "the loving
relationship of a mature person with a
`developing' person, entered into for the sake of
the child so that he or she can discover his or her
own life and form" (Nohl 1970, 134).
• "Our relation to a real teacher is to a person in
whose presence we experience a heightened
sense of self and a real growth and the formation
of personal identity" (Nohl 1970 in van Manen
1991,12).

11. Characteristics of the Pedagogical
Relation
1. In the pedagogical relation the adult is
directed toward the child (asymmetrical)
2. In the pedagogical relation the adult wants
the pedagogical good (for his/her future)
3. The adult is responsible
4. The pedagogical relation comes to an end
5. In the pedagogical relation the adult is
tactful, acting via phronesis

12. Directed toward the other, child
• The school and the teacher are there for
(justified in terms of) the child, the child is not
there for the teacher or school.
• You discover the child how he or she is doing, you
don’t tell them how you are (as a professional, a
parent, a taxpayer, etc.)
• The child or student needs to be recognized for
who she or he is
• The teacher cultivates an atmosphere, a way of
relating to all students/children for their sake

13. Wanting what is pedagogically good
• What is important, a guide for all action and
thinking, is the future of the child/student
• But this future is indeterminate: it has to do
with the emergence of the uniqueness of the
child
• It does not have to do with fitting the child
into predetermined social roles or meeting
social/economic demands.

14. The adult is responsible
• The child’s position of vulnerability and weakness
“authorizes” the adult to act responsibly
• The teacher’s qualification consists in knowing
the world and being able to instruct others about
it, but his authority rests on his assumption of
responsibility for that world. Vis-a-vis the child it
is as though he were a representative of all adult
inhabitants, pointing out the details and saying to
the child: This is our world. (Arendt, 1954)

15. The Pedagogical Relation comes to an
End
• Not because students leave the classroom at the
end of the school year
• It is shaped asymmetrically by what the
student/child needs to grow
• provides for the young person an example of
how life may be lived and understood, and how
the pedagogical relation may be realized.
• The child becomes an adult, the student becomes
a professional. A relationship with them may be
maintained, but it is not an asymmetrical relation
as before.

16. Tact - Phronesis
• Pedagogy (and ethical action) is not primarily a
form of thinking and logic reasoning, but rather a
certain practice/praxis directed toward the
other, the child - a certain sensitivity to the
child's unique situation and life
• Does not involve professional “expertise” as it is
commonly defined; is personal not expert
• Often requires a holding back, a non-acting/
intervening, and waiting –with a readiness to act
• “what teaching calls for is this –to let learn.”

17. Aristotle on Phronesis
• Whereas young people become accomplished
in geometry and mathematics, and wise
within these limits, prudent young people do
not seem to be found. The reason is
that prudence is concerned with particulars as
well as universals, and particulars become
known from experience, but a young person
lacks experience, since some length of time is
needed to produce it (Nichomachean
Ethics 1142 a).

18. • Arendt, H. (1954). “The Crisis in Education”
http://learningspaces.org/n/files/Arendt.pdf
• Van Manen, M. (1991). The Tact of Teaching.
Ontario: The Althouse Press.
• Nohl, H. (1970). Die Padagogische Bewegung
in Deutschland and ihre Theorie. Frankfurt.
• Van Manen, M. (1991). The Tact of Teaching.
Ontario: The Althouse Press.