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Truth “After Postmodernism”: Wittgenstein and Postfoundationalism in Philosophy of Education

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Past, Present, and Future Possibilities for Philosophy and History of Education

Abstract

In a range of path-breaking publications that shaped his engagement with educational theory Paul Smeyers sympathetically investigated the claims and ‘atmosphere’ of postmodernism. In this chapter I investigate the backlash against postmodernism that holds it responsible for ‘post-truth politics,’ and of promoting a cynical attitude to truth and facts. I argue for an intellectual history of truth in which it is contested, not only in Continental tradition and in what some have called postmodernism, but also in the analytic tradition. I explore these issues through a reading of Wittgenstein’s place and role in the history of analytic philosophy and by investigating how he moves away from a notion of truth grounded in a form foundationalism in the Tractatus to embrace a form of anti-foundationalism in the Investigations and On Certainty.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See also The Journal of the History of Analytic Philosophy https://jhaponline.org/

  2. 2.

    See e.g., http://explore.tandfonline.com/page/ed/education-expert-panel/education-philosophy-expert-michael-peters/education-philosophy-expert-michael-peters-full-introduction

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

    Michael A. Peters

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  1. Michael A. Peters
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Correspondence to Michael A. Peters .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Education & Society, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium

    Stefan Ramaekers

  2. Centre for Education and Policy Analysis, Department of Education Studies, Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Naomi Hodgson

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Peters, M.A. (2018). Truth “After Postmodernism”: Wittgenstein and Postfoundationalism in Philosophy of Education. In: Ramaekers, S., Hodgson, N. (eds) Past, Present, and Future Possibilities for Philosophy and History of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94253-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94253-7_7

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