Abstrakt: |
This paper examines the validity of the self-determined learning approach (heutagogy), which aspires to respond to the contemporary crisis in education. It does so through the lens of the philosophy of education. The paper explicates basic principles of heutagogy, including the principle that learners are highly autonomous in choosing what and how to explore. It also points to the philosophical roots from which heutagogy has evolved over the centuries. This examination of validation raises two main points. The first resists heutagogy and heralds the necessity and importance to the educational process of a cultural-scientific canon- a canon that is missing from the heutagogy approach. The second supports heutagogy and justifies the autonomy given to learners to find and choose their individual way of searching and learning, even at the cost of abandoning the scientific method. The paper uses Nietzsche's "three transformations of the spirit" to find an educational middle ground between supporters and opponents of heutagogy, a compromise that preserves the feasibility and importance of this way of learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |