Philosophical Spirituality : New Paradigm in Dialogical Teacher Education

Date of Award

2006

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

College/School

College of Education and Human Services

Department/Program

Educational Foundations

Thesis Sponsor/Dissertation Chair/Project Chair

Jaime Grinberg

Committee Member

Mark Weinstein

Committee Member

Jeremy Price

Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to develop a theory and a model for our post post-modern times regarding educational knowledge and dialogical pedagogy, which I identify as “philosophical spirituality.” I first examine philosophy as a method of inquiry (chapter 1) and spirituality as a mode of Being (chapter 2). Throughout these first two chapters, I illustrate how and why these two can and should complement each other. Having persuasive definitions of philosophy and spirituality, I suggest that a methodological symbiosis of the two will advance our dialectical search and creation of knowledge, as I understand it in terms of meaning (chapter 3). Here I argue that what we need is a new paradigm of educational knowledge; one that requires a perennial synthesis of the scientific with the phenomenological, the positivist with the existential and the rational with the intuitive. Such a synthesis is necessary for the whole person who wishes to lead a meaningful life while dealing with dilemmas and seemingly paradoxical situations. I then demonstrate how dialogical pedagogy can facilitate this epistemological synthesis in the educational context (chapter 4). The dissertation ends with an auto-ethnographical narrative in which, after examining what spiritual leadership and transformation is, I analyze my professional experiences in the realm of teacher education, where I conduct a course following the model of dialogical philosophical spirituality. By writing this account, I offer an organic notion of knowledge that relates theory and practice (chapter 5).

Comments

Print version available at Sprague Library.

Full text available at ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global

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