Pedagogikk, tid og individualisering

Education, time, and individualisation. This article makes use of the concept of time as an analytical tool in relation to educational functions. In this way one will be able to perceive that substantial problems arise whenever a spatial concept of time forms the basis for the individualising function of education. To investigate this problem further I turn to American pragmatism, first and foremost John Dewey and Richard Rorty, as they have shown us that a spatial concept of time will prevent the individual from becoming individualised and singularised. Thus, Dewey and Rorty introduce another concept of time, one that makes room for individualisation,understood as creative expression and redescription of history. Neither of these two solutions are satisfactory, it turns out, as soon as we place them in an ethical framework. The article then turns to Emmanuel Levinas, in order to articulate a concept of time that introduces a notion of education wherein time occurs through actions of responsibility. My argument is thus: Not until education includes such a concept of time as a basis can we make room for the educational function that aims to form responsible and individualised human beings.