Beyond Presence: Epistemological and pedagogical implications of 'strong' emergence

Abstract

In this paper we argue that the notion of strong emergence offers a challenge to the idea, currently dominant in schooling, that knowledge somehow relates to a pre-existing world, present in itself. We do this first by providing an account of strong emergence, showing how it brings into question the assumption of determinism. Following this we explain the epistemological consequences of this failure of determinism and in so doing developan "emergentist" epistemology which has some compatibilities with deconstruction. Finally, we show that the emergentist critique of determinism makes it possible to imagine a form of schooling which is no longer concerned with questions about how best to teach the child about a pre-existing world (which, largely, are questions about whether this would or should be presented or represented in schools). Instead it becomes possible to imagine a form of schooling which is concerned with questions about responsibility and response.