A Pedagogy for the Suppressed

Book excerpt: Education, Philosophy This is a book very much of the moment. It presents a third way of teaching ethics for a modern world rife with the forces of suppression. Critiquing both neo-conservative and “neo-liberal” fashions, it puts forward in their place a pedagogy inspired by art and based on interpretation theory, dialogue, and dialectic. A Pedagogy for the Suppressed encompasses the broadest and deepest issues of our times, linking them to an authenticity that includes a basic understanding of the historical mutability of human “nature.” “Written as if the author were addressing the reader in an intimate series of five dialogues, the book reads as a discussion. References are kept to a minimum and philosophical distinctions are explained in plain language. No person with a high school education would be puzzled by the literacy level. Examples are taken from the author’s extensive and varied fieldwork amongst historical reenactors, the dying or death-defying, UFO believers and cult members, and his three-year work with families and teens as an ethics consultant. In short, philosophy engages reality in the context of a more authentic experience of both teaching and learning.” – Lynn Eddy, VP of Acquisitions, Strategic Book Publishing