Abstract:
This essay invites a recovery of “wildness” as a way for philosophers to respond to the present moment which includes: an ongoing global pandemic, economic uncertainty, increasing cultural division, and a crisis in higher education broadly that persistently threatens the status of philosophy programs. Drawing on the American thinkers John William Miller and John Dewey and elaborating on their own philosophical defenses of liberal education, I propose a turn to wildness and freedom in our pedagogies through active and embodied philosophical pedagogy, including field philosophy. I offer two examples of courses that begin to invite wildness into the process of philosophical inquiry. The aim of this essay is to consider how wildness in teaching and learning and in doing philosophy might make philosophy stay alive.
Keywords:
John William Miller, John Dewey, wildness, field philosophy, pedagogy
How to cite:
Varner, Tess. “Recovering Wildness: “Earthy” Education and Field Philosophy.” Eidos. A Journal for Philosophy of Culture 5, no. 2 (2021): 22-34. https://doi.org/10.14394/eidos.jpc.2021.0015.
Author:
Tess Varner
School of Arts and Sciences, Concordia College
901 8th St. S., Moorhead, MN 56562, USA
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4544-724X
tvarner@cord.edu
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