Tendencje nihilistyczne w pedagogice ogólnej

Abstract

The dominant meta-narrative in “ post-modern” culture – resentfu l, as it remains of grand meta- narratives – is the story of the fatigue with the search for un iversal truth, of our coming to terms with incommensurability of perspectives and multitude of worldviews, and the recognition of interpretation as the proper mode of human experience of reality. Who would ever wish to argue about values today – in an era of axiological weariness, when tolerance and political c orrectness reign supreme and hospitality and “pedagogy of the asylum” have been applauded as imperative conditions of social integration – in a much light-heartedly presumed state of “cultural pluralism” ( Włodarczyk 2009)? It goes without say- ing: there are no facts, only in terpretations – as Friedrich Ni etzsche first observed. Interpretation is our way of being – it is ascribing sense to what there is. But does that mean that all interpretations: all ac- counts of the world and all truths, are equal? Are there not an y criteria of their assessment and valuation? The essay tries to provide answers to these questions. It is al so an attempt at settling accounts with the hermeneutic current in pedagogy in which skeptical and relativi st tendencies come to the fore and culmi- nate in positions tainted by nihilism.