1 Some Reflections on Working-Class Ontology and Epistemology—or Why Teaching in Higher Education Needs to Be More Concrete
Abstract
Based on my own experiences with having one foot in academia and the other in construction, I reflect on how the tendential form of work among the working class affects their ontology and epistemology, and discuss what this may mean for teaching and learning in higher education. I attempt to write from both a working-class and middle-class perspective. This I do because it was the clashing of my working-class and middle-class experiences that caused me to reflect on forms of work in relation to ontology and epistemology; I need to present both perspectives to make sense of the argument.
Based on my own experiences with having one foot in academia and the other in construction, I reflect on how the tendential form of work among the working class affects their ontology and epistemology, and discuss what this may mean for teaching and learning in higher education. I attempt to write from both a working-class and middle-class perspective. This I do because it was the clashing of my working-class and middle-class experiences that caused me to reflect on forms of work in relation to ontology and epistemology; I need to present both perspectives to make sense of the argument.
Keywords: autoethnography; critical realism; epistemology; higher education; ontology; working class
Document Type: Original Article
Publication date: 01 January 2021
- Philosophy and Theory in Higher Education is an international refereed scholarly journal committed to advancing understanding of the role(s) and purpose(s) of higher education. The journal strives to be inclusive in scope, addressing topics and issues of significance to a wide range of scholars and practitioners concerned with the relationship between higher education and society. Rigorous submissions informed by diverse philosophical and theoretical orientations, including, but not limited to, critical theory, existentialism, feminism, queer theory, post-colonialism, Marxism, liberalism, poststructuralism, postmodernism, and posthumanism will be welcomed. PTIHE aims to stimulate critical analyses of policy and practice in higher education, with an emphasis on inter-disciplinarity and international perspectives. The content will be primarily philosophical and theoretically-based research papers. Analytical papers that reflect on empirical projects will also be featured in the journal. Short responses to previous articles as well as essay reviews of new works in the field will be considered to promote ongoing critical dialogue within the journal. Proposals for special issues, with thematically linked papers, are encouraged.
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