Heidegger, Ethics and Ontological Education: a critical response to Nobuhiko Itani's paper 'Beyond the self'

Abstract

First paragraph: Nobuhiko Itani's paper "'Beyond The Self' as a Goal of Education' (given at a conference held at the Institute of Education, London) marks an attempt to analyse previous theories of what the author calls 'ontological education' and, in so doing, clear the way for a new conception of ontological education that is more attuned to Heidegger's philosophy. During this process Itani makes some strong claims which, in part, derive from his attempt to locate a common ground that links previous Heideggerian contributions to the philosophy of education—he questions the validity of assumptions that make up that common ground. According to Itani such contributions are engaged in the 'deconstruction of education as utility' and 'share the concept of openness to Being itself. It is not so much that Itani disagrees with these aims, but feels that earlier studies suffer by dint of failing to address their 'naïve ethical evaluations'. For Itani, a true ontological education can only take place before/after ethics.