Exploring the position of Rorty’s ironist in an educational context

Abstract

This study addresses Richard Rorty's concept of "the ironist" and their place in Education. The ironist has anxieties towards language and believes our society is governed by metaphysics that use semantic arguments to validate their finality. Rorty's ironist further believes that we need to constantly redescribe all elements of our postmodern society to eventually instigate change.
My research uses this ironist perspective to examine Education as a metaphysical being and its genealogy. The research comprises of three overall areas:
The place of ironism in Education; schools currently justify their place as a "Truth" of our society through research and assessment, but these systems are a final vocabulary to be deconstructed.
The history of Education; through the challenging of language, it becomes quickly clear that the history of the words and concepts becomes essential in understanding their origins, and thus reasons why we hold them in such high regard. Deconstructing these terms may reveal ideas about governance or religion that lie at the heart of Education.
A redescription of Education; Rorty places great weight on the place of literature and fictions as methods of redescription, so to implement the grounds for change. This form of fictional redescription will be used to make a fresh start with Education, rather than simply redefine it within the vocabularies that currently exist.