Hi! Here is my summary for his talk: "It sounds to us all that “Being in the world” is an inherent capacity of human beings, isn’t it? How can one be not in the world? Yes, it is, Biesta would agree with us regarding this point, I bet. However, in the speech “Being at home in the world”, the professor claims that to be in the world in a “grown-up” manner is not something that we all can do. As argued by Biesta, contrary to the common knowledge that mainly simplifies grown-up-ness as a state of maturity one will achieve when he reaches adulthood and with which he lives for the rest of his life, grown-up-ness is not at all a characteristic one would naturally possess at the age of 18. Instead, it is an “ongoing process” taking place throughout one’s life, in his myriad interactions with the world. In an effort to clarify the concept of “grown-up-ness”, Biesta associates it with other three concepts: resistance, dialogue and non-ego logical way of being. Biesta begins by claiming that “Resistance” is inevitable. When one comes into the world, he sooner or later will have (need) to face the harshness of reality, which is that people are simply not like him and things do not function the way he wants it to be. Confronting it, he might respond in two ways: determinedly exert his will till he makes it or silently withdraw from the situation. However, Biesta would say both of these reactions are somehow immature, as the former destroys the world whilst the latter destroys himself. Here some may want to question if so, what would a grown-up response look like? Biesta answers: “Dialogue”. Dialogue, as he asserts, is for one to stay in the world across experiences of resistance and for human beings to co-exist with otherness. “Ok, it sounds interesting, but how? How we can nurture among children the capacity of dialogue?”, some will say. Here Biesta emphasizes our leading them to an understanding of “non-ego logical way of being”, which basically means children should not put themselves at the center of the world while they maintain their existence in the world. To recapitulate, grown-up-ness, as defined by Biesta, is one’s ability to manage to get fully engaged in the world without considering himself the center of the universe, so that he does not destroy himself, and also, does not destroy the world".
Hi! Here is my summary for his talk: "It sounds to us all that “Being in the world” is an inherent capacity of human beings, isn’t it? How can one be not in the world? Yes, it is, Biesta would agree with us regarding this point, I bet. However, in the speech “Being at home in the world”, the professor claims that to be in the world in a “grown-up” manner is not something that we all can do.
As argued by Biesta, contrary to the common knowledge that mainly simplifies grown-up-ness as a state of maturity one will achieve when he reaches adulthood and with which he lives for the rest of his life, grown-up-ness is not at all a characteristic one would naturally possess at the age of 18. Instead, it is an “ongoing process” taking place throughout one’s life, in his myriad interactions with the world. In an effort to clarify the concept of “grown-up-ness”, Biesta associates it with other three concepts: resistance, dialogue and non-ego logical way of being.
Biesta begins by claiming that “Resistance” is inevitable. When one comes into the world, he sooner or later will have (need) to face the harshness of reality, which is that people are simply not like him and things do not function the way he wants it to be. Confronting it, he might respond in two ways: determinedly exert his will till he makes it or silently withdraw from the situation. However, Biesta would say both of these reactions are somehow immature, as the former destroys the world whilst the latter destroys himself. Here some may want to question if so, what would a grown-up response look like? Biesta answers: “Dialogue”. Dialogue, as he asserts, is for one to stay in the world across experiences of resistance and for human beings to co-exist with otherness. “Ok, it sounds interesting, but how? How we can nurture among children the capacity of dialogue?”, some will say. Here Biesta emphasizes our leading them to an understanding of “non-ego logical way of being”, which basically means children should not put themselves at the center of the world while they maintain their existence in the world.
To recapitulate, grown-up-ness, as defined by Biesta, is one’s ability to manage to get fully engaged in the world without considering himself the center of the universe, so that he does not destroy himself, and also, does not destroy the world".
I think we should make him minister for education. Before its too late.
Magnifique.
Appreciating his work in the USA, against all odds!!
Thank you for sharing. I enjoyed the talk.