The Logic of Emergence. An Alternative Conceptual Space for Theorizing Critical Education

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this paper is to explore complexity in the context of the political in order to bring into focus its potential to contribute to the project of Western critique in general, and education in particular. This is partly in response to concerns that that complexity is largely uncritical (e.g. Best and Kellner, 1999) and partly in response to calls for “a new critical language for education” (Gur‐Zeʹev, 2005). I have pursued this objective first, by providing some background to the idea of criticality in modern Western thought. Following this I explain where the “criticality” in complexity is located. Finally I show how the critical impetus of complexity (here I draw on the notion of “strong emergence”) may be helpful in theorizing the “project” of critical education in the light of current tensions between modern and postmodern versions of criticality (Gur‐ZeʹEv 2005)