The myth of Aufheben: A comment on Matthieu Renault’s Hegelian myth of counter-violence

Matthieu Renault argues in a recent issue of Radical Philosophy (RP 2.10, Summer 2021) that justifications for the counter-violence of the oppressed which draw on Hegel’s master-slave relation are based on a myth originating from Kojève’s Paris lectures (1933-9). The Kojève myth is that history begins with the violence of the master over the slave […]
Graffiti which reads, 'Dissolve the illusion...'

A is for apocalypse

A is for apocalypseDavid J. Blacker, The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame, Zero Books, Winchester and Washington DC, 2013. 319 pp., £15.99 pb., 978 1 78099 578 6. Amidst the recent flood of lachrymose reports on the neoliberal assault upon education, this book stands out for its unflinching survey of the extent […]

Lines in class: The ongoing attack on mass education in England

Comment Lines in class The ongoing attack on mass education in England Matthew charles Andrew McGettigan’s analysis of the financial transformations of higher education (‘Who Let the Dogs Out? The Privatization of Higher Education’, RP 174) is important for comprehending the complexity of the changes universities are undergoing and their implications. As he argues, ‘it […]

The Right To Protest

News The right to protestAs Quebec erupts over plans to increase tuition fees by the equivalent of £200, and twelve people (including Professor Joshua Clover) who protested against a campus bank at University of California–Davis begin a trial that could see them imprisoned for eleven years and fined $1 million each, what of the scores […]

Pirate Radical Philosophy

Comment Pirate Radical Philosophy Gary hall Pirate … from the Latin pirata (-ae; pirate)… transliteration of the Greek piratis (pirate; πειρατής) from the verb pirao (make an attempt, try, test, get experience, endeavour, attack; πειράω). … In modern Greek… piragma: teasing [πείραγμα] … pirazo: tease, give trouble [πειράζω].1 Much has been written about the ‘crisis […]

Of course… however

Michael Bailey and Des Freedman, eds, The Assault on Universities: A Manifesto for Resistance, Pluto Press, London, 2011. 200 pp., £14.99 pb., 978 0 74533 191 1. Matthew Charles The conceptual poles that orient the collection of essays edited by Des Freedman and Michael Bailey in The Assault on Universities are, on the one hand, […]

Student problems (1964): Dossier: The Althusser–Rancière Controversy (with an introduction by Warren Montag)

Dossier: The Althusser–Rancière Controversy

Dossier Thealthusser–Rancière Controversy Introduction to Althusser’s ‘Student Problems’ Warren montag For those familiar with Louis Althusser’s published work, reading his relatively early essay entitled ‘Student Problems’ may be a surprising and even disconcerting experience. Part of the surprise lies in the fact that the essay exists at all. Although it was published in Nouvelle Critique […]

Philosophy for children

Philosophy for children Matthew charles A well‑orchestrated public relations campaign led pri‑marily by educational charity The Philosophy Shop has helped raise the profile of the philosophy for children movement in the UK significantly over the last few years. Whilst The Philosophy Shop has been promoting its ‘Four Rs’ campaign to make ‘Reason‑ing’ a central feature […]

Education Changes: the Hidden Agenda

EDUCATION CHANGES: THE HIDDEN AGENDA The proposals for Modularisation, Credit Accumulation and Credit Transfer (MOCACT) currently under consideration at universities have profound implications for students. Yet there has been virtually no consultation with student bodies. Why? Proponents of MOCACT argue that it will increase student choice; enlarge the range of qualification levels; increase freedom of […]

Revolution: The View From Paris; The View From Leeds; Dons Flunk Enterprise Test Despite Late Run; Ecology in Nicaragua

NEWS REVOLUTION THE VIEW FROM PARIS To discover the temper of a modem culture, it often pays to look at the advertising. Those guys spend an awful lot of money trying to find out about it. So, my first story from attending the World Congress on the French Revolution and other celebrations of the Bicentenary […]

A’ Level Philosophy; The Church Is In Danger

LETTERS ‘A’ LEVEL PHILOSOPHY Dear RP, Steve Brigley (RP 35) was pessimistic about the ‘A’ level Philosophy syllabus proposed by the AEB. His main concern was its failure to provide opportunities for the development of students’ own ideas and arguments, suggesting that the syllabus was likely to reproduce the elitism and obscurity which graces the […]

Television Literacy: A Critique

Television Literacy: A Critique David Buckingham The term •television literacy’ has been increasingly widely used in recent years, both by researchers investigating the relationship between children and television and by educationalists arguingfor the formal study ofthe medium in schools. This paper discusses some of the theoretical issues which are at stake in the basic analogy […]

Philosophy in Hackney

Philosophy in Hackney Nadine Cartner Nadine Cartner, a member of the Radical Philosophy collective, teaches ‘A’ level Philosophy at Hackney College in London. Below is an edited transcript of the ideas and comments of some of her students. The large majority of these students are working class, many of them black; most of them have […]

The ‘A’ Level Canon

The’A’LeveICanon Sally Minogue [This is a slightly revised version of a paper delivered at the Conference for Higher Education Teachers of English at the University of Kent, Easter 1987.] I want to begin by saying something about the institutionalisation of English in education, and we don’t need to look far for images of this institutionalisation. […]

French Socialism and Philosophy Since May 1981

NEWS French Socialism and Philosophy Since May 1981 Has the new French Socialist Government made any moves to alter the position of philosophy in French education where (in spite of a diminution of the proportion of philosophy in the syllabus in the mid-seventies) philosophy still retains a role in school education not entirely unlike that […]

Eduction for Industry

that needs to be put into question. For Althusser only repeats in Spinozist form the operation which is common to all epistemological theories of demarcation of science from other kinds of theoretical discourse. That is, to attempt to provide a philosophical justification for a particular social selection and hierarchical distribution of theoretical discourses, a certain […]