The impossible constellation: On the conceptual possibility of post-critical educational utopias

Abstract

In this paper, we will take our cue from the metatheoretical question about the role of utopia within educational theory. In this endeavour, we will build upon some debates in the German and Italian contexts which have insisted that a “utopian vector” is a constitutive dimension of the modern discourse in educational theory and philosophy, to the extent that reflection on education is “autonomous” (but not independent) from other sources (such as the sciences of education). In this wake, by valorizing the idea of utopia as a thought experiment, we will explore in what sense science fiction, understood as speculative fiction, may represent a vehicle for educational theorising, and we will show how it operates both within the 'technical' and in the critical understanding of educational theory, Against this backdrop, we will zoom in on the postcritical understanding and investigate the differences in its take on utopia in comparison with both the scientific-technological views (such as Skinner’s) and the critical outlooks.