This article examines education's place in the French Revolution of 1789 and, more specifically, how ideas about education shaped the pursuit of a democratic and participatory politics in revolutionary France. Highlighting three foci of revolutionary pedagogy - skills, habits, and dispositions - as well as the ways in which ideas about education underwrote the social, political, and cultural ambitions of the Revolution, it explores education's role in making democratic politics and a democratic society appear desirable, attainable, and sustainable. Analyzing these eighteenth century efforts to "teach democratic thinking," this article also aims to clarify what is at stake in contemporary discussions of democratic education, offers an historically-minded approach and a genealogy to current debates about the purposes and practices of education, and suggests criteria with which to consider pedagogical, institutional, technological, and social issues regarding education and its future.
Article
The Science of Liberty is Not So Simple': Teaching Democratic Thinking in Revolutionary France
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2015
Disciplines
Abstract
Language
en_US
Publisher
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
Citation Information
O' Connor, A. (2015). 'The Science of Liberty is Not So Simple': Teaching Democratic Thinking in Revolutionary France. Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning & Civic Engagement, 6(1), 136-160. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7253%2Fpartj.v6i1.1013
Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Partnerships: A Journal of Service-Learning & Civic Engagement, 6(1), 136-160. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7253%2Fpartj.v6i1.1013