Torill Strand

• Strand, Torill (2023). Cinema, philosophy and paideia: A Badiouan analysis of the Iranian movie “Hit the Road”. Ethics and Education. ISSN 1744-9642. 18(3-4), p. 405–422. doi: 10.1080/17449642.2023.2281213. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I here read the Iranian film Hit the Road (Panahi 2021) through the eyes of the French philosopher Alain Badiou. In doing so, I hope to illuminate the triadic link between cinema, philosophy and paideia (ethical-political education). To explore, I adopt a philosophical methodology with the double ambition to reveal the latent pedagogies of the film and to acquire insights on the distinctiveness of a Badiouan conception of cinema. My questions are to what degree and in what ways cinematic experience can be said to promote ethical-political formation. I start by portraying Badiou’s cinematic philosophy. Next, I expose how Hit the Road confronts us with a hidden real. Third, I close the paper by considering Badiou’s idea of cinema as an influential form of ethical-political education.

• Strand, Torill & Papastephanou, Marianna (2023). Education and democratization. An introduction. Ethics and Education. ISSN 1744-9642. 18(3-4), p. 231–241. doi: 10.1080/17449642.2023.2281856. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Democracy as a regime and as a way of life requires strong ethical-political sensibilities and enabling social preconditions to the creation of which education may be especially conductove. The related normative tasks that we expect from education to carry out are daunting as such. However, they become even more difficult to fulfil in the contemporary contexts of exacerbated adversities. Democracy and democratic education have fallen into various crisis and are facing multiple challenges; this worry is shared by many educational theorists. Thus, today, there is an urgent call to rethink the relationship between education and democratization. This special issues reponds to that call with educational-philosophical papers that explore yet undertheorized dimensions of the connection of civic education and democratic development.

• Bostad, Inga; Papastephanou, Marianna & Strand, Torill (2023). CODA. Justice, Education and the World of Today: Concluding Remarks. In Bostad, Inga; Papastephanou, Marianna & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Justice, Education, and the World of Today. Philosophical Investigations. Routledge. ISSN 9781032355351. p. 238–245. doi: 10.4324/9781003327332-18. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In recent philosophy of education, there have been many pleas to rethink education, along with various concepts that relate to it in important ways. It has aspired to offer a new outlook on the link between education and justice and to enrich the related discourse through the exploration of justice in, for, and through education. The plea for restoring a normativity of education through justice reflects the observation that, today, the foundational issue of justice has lost much of its power as a qualifier of appropriate education. Nevertheless, liabilities burden not only the neo-liberal ideology but also those theories that are at first sight less complicit in promoting discursive and other injustices. Various dilemmas, conflictual values, and norms are concealed or glossed over and operate as inconsistent, vague, and ambiguous grounds for educational theory, research, and policies.

• Bostad, Inga; Papastephanou, Marianna & Strand, Torill (2023). Introduction. In Bostad, Inga; Papastephanou, Marianna & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Justice, Education, and the World of Today. Philosophical Investigations. Routledge. ISSN 9781032355351. p. 1–17. doi: 10.4324/9781003327332-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This book argues for a restored normativity of education through a powerful notion of justice. Today, the foundational issue of justice seems to have lost its power as a qualifier for ethical-political education since the current educational-philosophical discourse tends to narrow down, singularize, and limit the spaces of justice in, for, and through education. Opposing this tendency, the chapters included here move beyond conventional paradigms while exploring the relationship between education and justice in the world of today. The book has three parts. The chapters in the first part explore the ontological and socio-political grounds underlying our notions of the relation between education and justice. The next part contextualizes this exploration through tangible examples. Next, the third part offers a self-reflective meta-critique by exploring how we, as philosophers of education, suffer from onto-epistemic blindness and perform symbolic violence, as we tend to promote and uphold conventional or standardized visions and missions. In short, this collection of essays offers a new eye on the link between education and justice and enriches the discourse through its multi-perspectival and more sensitive exploration of justice in, for, and through education today

• Strand, Torill (2023). What Does Educative Justice Look Like? Or: What Happened as I Read Toni Morrison’s 'Recitatif'. In Bostad, Inga; Papastephanou, Marianna & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Justice, Education, and the World of Today. Philosophical Investigations. Routledge. ISSN 9781032355351. p. 43–62. doi: 10.4324/9781003327332-5. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I here use Toni Morrison’s short story Recitatif as an entry point to elucidate Badiou’s theory of justice. In short, Recitatif tells a story about two girls of different races, but we never get to know who is black and who is white. Reading the short story, I was at first intrigued by the narrative on the two girls’ friendship and next captivated by Toni Morrison’s technique of playing with, and thereby teasing and enchanting, annoying and fascinating the reader. Third, I came to realize – because of my long-lasting and in-depth engagement with Alain Badiou’s philosophical texts – how this short story acted on my mind, and thereby interested, disturbed, challenged, and transformed my idea of what educative justice may look like. Following the itinerary of my reading, I open this chapter by introducing Badiou’s theory of justice. Next, I present the narrative of the two girls before commenting on Toni Morrison’s style of writing and method of suspending the finitude of identity politics. Third, through the lens of Badiou’s philosophical system, I explore how this short story acts on our minds and thereby promotes encounters with justice. In summing up, I respond to the question: What might educative justice look like?

• Strand, Torill (2022). What promotes justice in, for and through education today? Ethics and Education. ISSN 1744-9642. 17(2), p. 141–148. doi: 10.1080/17449642.2022.2054563. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2022). Educative justice in viral modernity. A Badiouan reading. Ethics and Education. ISSN 1744-9642. 17(2), p. 240–253. doi: 10.1080/17449642.2022.2054560. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The metaphor of “viral modernity” denotes an era characterized by communal experiences of how viruses, be they in the shape of physical, virtual or symbolic forms, permeate and shape social and cultural life. To think educative justice in viral modernity thus require a radical move beyond the surfaces of conventional paradigms in order to reach at a deep-seated understanding of the phenomena of education and justice itself. Motivated by this ambition, I here present a Badiouan reading of educative justice in relation to the aims and mission of philosophy of education. I start by briefly mapping out current educational philosophical paradigms and their ways of treating the issue of justice. Next, I contrast these orthodoxies to a Badiouan model. My overall ambition is to promote a philosophy of education that avoids philosophical doctrines, old and new, while simultaneously carrying a potential for unveiling the phenomenon of justice as educative truths-in-worlds.

• Strand, Torill (2021). A Semiotic Model of Learning. Chinese Semiotic Studies. ISSN 2198-9605. 17(1), p. 153–162. doi: 10.1515/css-2021-0008. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  My ambition with this paper is to throw some light on Charles S. Peirce’s (1839 – 1914) semiotic model of learning. Peirce developed this model in his later writings, where he integrated his phenomenology, pragmatism and semiotics while renewing all three. I start by introducing an analogy on pedagogy used by Peirce in one of his 1903 lectures on phenomenology. Next, I sketch out Peirce’s perspective on the ways in which we learn from experience. In the last section, I map out Peirce’s semiotic model, while indicating some prospects and limitations of a Peircean outlook on the paradoxi-cal attributions of knowledge and learning.

• Strand, Torill (2021). “Skam” (shame) as Ethical–Political Education. Studies in Philosophy and Education. ISSN 0039-3746. 40(5), p. 461–475. doi: 10.1007/s11217-021-09784-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I here explore the educational potential of cinema and TV-series through the eyes of the French philosopher Alain Badiou. To illustrate, I read the Norwegian web-based TV-series Skam (shame), which reached out to millions of Nordic teens by a broad distribution, easy access and speaking a language young people could relate to. The series portrays the many faces and ambiguities of shame and shaming embedded in Nordic youth culture. In bringing the question of the pedagogy of cinema and TV-series to the forefront, I here read Skam on three analytical levels. First, to explore the TV-series capability to captivate the viewers through a doubling of the real. Second, to examine Badiou’s idea of cinema as an ontological art, revolving around the question of the relationship between being and appearing. Third, I read Skam analytically, to consider Badiou’s claim that cinema is a democratic emblem. In sum, what may be the series’ potential for shaping the viewers’ ethical–political awareness?

• Schumann, Claudia & Strand, Torill (2021). Cinema, Philosophy and Education. Studies in Philosophy and Education. ISSN 0039-3746. 40(5), p. 453–459. doi: 10.1007/s11217-021-09797-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This special issue responds to the current discourse on cinema and education from a philosophical point of view. Considering the fact that young people worldwide are watching films and series via their smartphones or personal computers, we here explore the educative aspects of this popular activity. Does this wide-ranging habit mis-educate the next generation? Or does cinema carry a potential for ethical-political education, parallel to the ancient Greek tragedies and the modernist Bildungsroman? The authors of this special issue deliberate this question by exploring the intersection between cinema and philosophy and the potential powers of cinematic education.

• Strand, Torill (2021). "We are striking because we have done our homework" Two perspectives on contemporary youths' emerging ethical-political awareness. In Rosenthal, Edna; Bergua, Jose Angel & Lopez, Ivan (Ed.), Aftershocks: Globalism and the Future of Democracy. The University of Zaragoza. p. 459–470. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this paper, I use the ongoing Global Strike for Climate Change as a starting point in an exploration of the German philosopher Axel Honneth and the French philosopher Alain Badiou’s distinct ways of thinking ethical-political formation of and for the present. My aim is to compare and contrast Honneth’s political theory of recognition with Badiou’s ontological position as I ask; what may generate these youths’ emerging ethical-political awareness?

• Strand, Torill (2020). Here and Now. Rethinking philosophy of education. In Strand, Torill (Eds.), Rethinking Ethical-Political Education. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783030495244. p. 263–278. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-49524-4_18. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The TV-series “Here and Now” (HBO 2018) may be seen as an allegory of the current situation within philosophy of education. The main character is the depressed philosopher Greg Boatwright, father of four: three adopted children - from Liberia, Vietnam and Colombia - and a biological daughter, who calls herself “the boring white chick in the family”. Raising this family was to Greg and his wife a “great progressive experiment in diversity”. However, on his 60th birthday he delivers a disturbingly pessimistic speech: “It all failed”. Later he confides to his daughter: “sometimes I feel like the world’s falling apart”. Admittedly, today’s philosophy of education may fall short of such a bleak description. Nevertheless, in face of such a situation it seems pertinent to re-think philosophy of education, old and new. The aim of this chapter is to explore to what degree Alain Badiou’s anti-philosophy may represent a way of doing so. In the first part of this chapter I map out the many faces of current philosophies of education. Next, I perform a close reading of Alain Badiou’s “ethics of truths” and “logic of worlds”. In doing so, I hope to reveal the ontological assumptions that generate Badiou’s philosophical position. In the third part of the chapter I compare and contrast Badiou’s position with some contemporary philosophies of education. Referring to Greg’s pessimistic speech we may ask: Did they all fail?

• Strand, Torill (2020). Rethinking ethical-political education. Beyond the Nordic Model. In Strand, Torill (Eds.), Rethinking Ethical-Political Education. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783030495244. p. 1–10. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-49524-4_1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Abstract: Ethical-political education is an area of continuous disputes and conflicting beliefs, values and world-views related to its embedded complexity embracing social, cultural and not least political community and identity. In short, “education” is a name for those phenomena through which a community or society preserves and renews itself. The term “ethical-political education”, however, more explicitly relates to those aspects of education through which the communal and formative values and norms of a community, culture or society seem to be at stake. Discourses on ethical-political education, however, do not only mirror conflictual values and beliefs. They also carry the potential to shape, justify, uphold and direct shared images, values, norms and practices. So, taking the fact that communal beliefs, values and worldviews are at stake in an ever-changing globalized and multi-faceted world, a systematic re-thinking of the many faces of ethical political education seems today more urgent than ever. This chapter gives and overview of this book by introducing some overall perspectives on ethical-political education; a few of the hot topics of today; and the ways in which the authors of this book explore and discuss these topics.

• Papastephanou, Marianna; Zembylas, Michalinos; Bostad, Inga; Oral, Sevget Benhur; Drousioti, Kalli & Kouppanou, Anna [Show all 10 contributors for this article] (2020). Philosophy of education in a new key: Education for justice now. Educational Philosophy and Theory. ISSN 0013-1857. doi: 10.1080/00131857.2020.1793539. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Since Plato’s allegory of the cave two educational-philosophical critical modes have stood out: the descriptive (reality as it is) and the normative (reality as it should/could be). Reality resembles or is felt as an epistemic, political and existential permanent lockdown,1 a state of isolation where access to ideality is too restricted and rare. Confined to a dystopian(ized) place of limited light and scant possibility the philosopher aspires to help others ascend to a utopian(ized) place of luminosity and promise. Granted, the philosophical-educational community has, as a historical and contemporary collectivity, contrasted the ideal and the real in richer and more complex modes than those of a neat ‘descriptive versus normative’ binarism. Nevertheless, the search operation for finding the key to unlock the lockdown is persistent and evident in most and otherwise diverse educationalphilosophical endeavours, especially in difficult times. As such a time, the recent pandemic has turned the philosophical, figurative lockdown, literally, into a palpable reality that incites more thinking about the tension between the ideal and the real.

• Strand, Torill (2020). Alain Badiou and Education. In Noblit, George W. (Eds.), Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Education. Oxford University Press. ISSN 9780190264093. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190264093.013.ORE_EDU-01457.R1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The French philosopher Alain Badiou (1937 - ) is one of the most significant philosophers of our time, well known for his meticulous work on rethinking, renewing and thereby strengthening philosophy as an academic discipline. In short, his philosophy seeks to reveal and make sense of the potential of radical innovations in or transformations of any given situation. Despite the fact that he has not written extensively on education, the pedagogical theme is vital, constitutive and ongoing throughout his work. Badiou is an outspoken critic of the analytic and postmodern schools of thought as he strongly promotes the virtue of curiosity and prospects of “an education by truths” (Badiou, 2005b, p. 14). The task of philosophy, he holds, is to think these truths, which are processes that emerge from and pursue gradually transformations of particular situations. Truths are not to be confused with matters of knowledge or opinion, as they are existential, ongoing and open-ended ontological operations that do not belong to any epistemic category. Overall, the structure of Badiou’s philosophical system demonstrates an extraordinary ontological style as it concurrently stands in relation to and breaks off from the history of contemporary French philosophy, German Idealism, and Greek antiquity. His system, which is of vast complexity, is based on mathematical set theory, constituted by a series of determinate negations of the history of philosophy, and also created by the histories of what Badiou terms philosophy’s conditions; science, art, politics, and love. Badiou holds that his philosophy “circulates between … ontology (thus, mathematics), the modern theories of the subject and its own history” (Badiou, 2005b, p. 3). The first part of this entry outlines Badiou’s intellectual biography. The second part gives an account of his anti-philosophy, while the third part presents the key concepts and thus a brief overview of his highly complex philosophical system. The fourth part of this entry identifies the distinctiveness of Badiou’s philosophy for a thinking of education, while the last part points to some criticisms of, and responses to, Badiou’s grand theory.

• Strand, Torill & Legg, Catherine (2018). Peirce and Education: An Overview. In Peters, Michael (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Educational Philosophy and Theory. Springer Nature. ISSN 9789812875327. doi: 10.1007/978-981-287-532-7_571-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The philosophy of Charles S. Peirce (1839–1914) enhances our understanding of educational processes. Peirce was the founder of American pragmatism, which today is a many-faceted branch of philosophy characterized by a critique of abstractions, dichotomies and absolutes. At the turn of the last century William James’ lectures on Pragmatism (1907) won an enthusiastic response and ‘pragmatism’ soon became a popular stance among American policy-makers and experts who celebrated the practical and result-oriented aspects. However, as a philosophical position, pragmatism seems to have little in common with its widespread usage among politicians and pundits. To Peirce, pragmatism was a guiding principle and method of accurate thinking. Taking the mutual mediation of theory and praxis, knowledge and action, facts and values into account, Peirce embraced everyday experience as philosophical relevant. A Peircean outlook on education thus helps recognizing ways in which dynamics of knowledge and learning inescapably are rooted in, and a vital part of, situated experience. Moreover, while recognizing the social, experiential and provisional character of knowledge and beliefs, Peirce also promoted an ethos of science that may help to clarify and rectify educational beliefs and habitual thinking. However, Peirce’s most valuable contribution to education seems to be his semiotics – a study of the actions of signs – which helps to conceptualize and explore communicative and educational processes in terms of sign relations and sign-actions.

• Strand, Torill (2018). "En nesten uovervinnelig kjærlighet". Om lek, filosofi og kjærlighet. In Wright, Moira Von & Kvernbekk, Tone (Ed.), Barn og deres voksne. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202572549. p. 99–115. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2017). "I create silence". Revisiting the ancient dispute between poetry and philosophy. In Strand, Torill; Smith, Richard D; Pirrie, Anne; gregoriou, zelia & Papastephanou, Marianna (Ed.), Philosophy as Interplay and Dialogue. Viewing landscapes within philosophy of education. LIT Verlag. ISSN 9783643909565. p. 53–76. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  My aim with this chapter is to shed some light on the triadic knot involving poetry, philosophy and education. In doing so, I reveal the ways in which the French philosopher Alain Badiou reenters the ancient dispute between poetry and philosophy with new eyes. Through a close reading of some of Badiou’s philosophical texts on poetry I disclose his ambition to renew and strengthen philosophy; his recognition of poetry as an autonomous “thinking subject”; and his continuous emphasis that art – especially poetry – has since Protagoras been conceived as “the key to education” (Badiou, 2005, p. 1).

• Strand, Torill (2016). Alain Badiou on political education. In Papastephanou, Marianna (Eds.), Cosmopolitanism: Educational, Philosophical and Historical Perspectives. Springer. ISSN 9783319304281. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-30430-4_12. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this chapter I perform a critical reading of the French philosopher Alain Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s Republic in order to outline Badiou’s approach to political education. Despite claiming that ‘the only education is an education by truths’, Badiou never explicitly discusses his notion of education. However, Badiou’s way of turning to Plato seems to reveal an ambition to reestablish the importance of the link between truth and political education. Badiou’s hypertranslation of the Republic cannot unilaterally be read as an actualization of Plato’s classic text. It should also be read as a renewal and strengthening of the truths that originated with Plato and still characterises the Western world’s master discourse on education. It is also a comment to this discourse’s blind spots. We – the readers – are thus invited to participate in the movable thinking that originated with Plato and which is here represented and reconceived by Badiou.

• Strand, Torill (2015). Kosmopolitisme og realisme. Studier i Pædagogisk Filosofi. 4(2), p. 1–5. doi: 10.7146/spf.v4i2.23342. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  På 1960-tallet var pedagogiske fi losofer mest opptatt av humanisme, på 1980-tallet diskuterte vi postmodernisme, men nå snakker vi om kosmopolitisme. Nye migrasjonsmønstre, en digitalisert kultur og nedbygging av nasjonalstaten som politisk arena inviterer til nye måter å se, forstå og erfare verden på. Transnasjonale strømninger av folk, ideer, kunnskap og kultur kaster rett og slett om på tidligere ideer om demokrati og dannelse. 1 Artiklene i dette spesialnummeret diskuterer den «kosmopolitiske vendingen» i pedagogikken. Den kosmopolitiske vendingen viser seg først og fremst som en felles aspirasjon om å overskride snevre nasjonale forståelsesmåter og fordommer. Men også som en dyp forståelse for at vi er gjensidig avhengig av hverandre i en global målestokk. Den har også manifestert seg i en stor mengde forskningslitteratur og foreskrivende teorier om globalt medborgerskap og kosmopolitisk demokratiteori. Termen «kosmopolitisme» har opphav i det greske kosmo politês (verdensborger). Innenfor dagens menneskeog samfunnsvitenskaper brukes «kosmopolitisme» både om en ny verdensorden og om en ny måte å se verden på. På den ene siden navngir «kosmopolitisme» en framvoksende og ekstremt kompleks sosial realitet. På den andre siden er «kosmopolitisme» en felles mentalitet, en anskuelsesmåte og et framvoksende paradigme for fi losofi ske og sosiale analyser. Forholdet mellom kosmopolitisme og realisme representerer derfor en av dagens største utfordringer for akademiske analyser. Våre erfaringer og analyser er tett sammenvevd, betinger hverandre og medierer begge våre ideer om «kosmopolitisme». Kosmopolitisme er ingen objektiv størrelse. Det er heller ikke et kjent fenomen som enkelt kan beskrives eller avdekkes med systematiske analyser. Kosmopolitisme er en fl ytende betegner som vanskelig kan brukes som historisk kategori. Vi bør derfor tenke kosmopolitisme fullstendig åpent, som et tomt begrep som ikke er gitt og som heller ikke bør defi neres, verken av et gitt samfunn eller en hegemonisk diskurs. Temaet for dette spesialnummeret – kosmopolitisme og realisme – er derfor både et aktuelt og samtidig utfordrende tema. Ikke minst fordi kosmopolitisme samtidig kan tenkes som livsstil, som ideal og som perspektiv.

• Strand, Torill (2015). Thinking Democracy and Education for the Present: The Case of Norway after July 22, 2011. In Jezierska, Katarzyna & Koczanowicz, Leszek (Ed.), Democracy in Dialogue, Dialogue in Democracy. The Politics of Dialogue in Theory and Practice. Ashgate. ISSN 9781472448972. p. 177–192. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  My ambition with this chapter is to throw some lights on the close link between “democracy” and “education” and their mutual interdependence. I hope to do so by performing a three-step philosophical analysis of an event linked to the terrorist attack in Norway July 22, 2011. By drawing on the political philosophies of John Dewey, Chantal Mouffe and Alain Badiou, I read this event to illustrate democracy and education as a way of life, an ideal, and an outlook.

• Strand, Torill (2014). 'Experience is Our Great and Only Teacher': A Peircean Reading of Wim Wender’s Wings of Desire. Journal of Philosophy of Education. ISSN 0309-8249. 48(3), p. 433–445. doi: 10.1111/1467-9752.12084. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: Wim Wender’s film Wings of Desire tells a story of an angel who wishes to become mortal in order to know the simple joy of human life. Told from the angel’s point of view, the film is shot in black and white. But at the very instant the angel perceives the realities of human experience, the film blossoms into color. In this paper, I take this film to illustrate and explore Peirce’s notion of experience and his claim that “experience is our great and only teacher”. In his 1903 Harvard lectures, Peirce placed phenomenology at the heart of his philosophy, while outlining a notion of “experience” that clearly integrates his semiotics, phenomenology and pragmatism. To Peirce, experience is a “brutally produced conscious effect” that comes “out of practice” and is a “forcibel modification of our ways of thinking”. But as this modification is generated by the actions and flows of signs, it is pertinent to read Peirce’s notion of experience in relation to his notion of semiosis. Consequently, a Peircean reading of Wings of Desire not only helps to explore how experience teaches, but also the ways in which the rudeness of experience cannot be fully understood without considering the sign’s action.

• Strand, Torill (2014). Philosophy of education in the present. In Papastephanou, Marianna; Strand, Torill & Pirrie, Anne (Ed.), Philosophy as a Lived Experience. Navigating through dichotomies of thought and action. LIT Verlag. ISSN 9783643902900. p. 243–257. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: Today, philosophy of education comes forward as diverse, many-faceted and numerous engagements with issues and problems concerning both the fields of philosophy and of education. But what is the vital mission of contemporary philosophers of education, and how is this mission justified? Through a tentative reading of Alain Badiou’s ethics and philosophical manifestos, I here hope to throw some lights on these questions. To do so, I clarify Badiou’s epistemic and ontological positions and discuss the relevance of his “ethic of truths” and “democratic materialism”. To what degree may Badiou inform the potential topicality and relevance of a philosophy of education of today?

• Smeyers, Paul; Ruyter, Doret J. de; Waghid, Yusef & Strand, Torill (2014). Publish Yet Perish: On the Pitfalls of Philosophy of Education in an Age of Impact Factors. Studies in Philosophy and Education. ISSN 0039-3746. 33(6), p. 647–666. doi: 10.1007/s11217-014-9404-9. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In many countries publications in Web of Knowledge journals are dominant in the evaluation of educational research. For various purposes comparisons are made between the output of philosophers of education in these journals and the publications of their colleagues in educational research generally, sometimes also including psychologists and/or social scientists. Taking its starting-point from Hayden’s article in this journal (2012), this paper discusses the situation of educational research in three countries: The Netherlands, South Africa and Norway. In this paper an alternative for comparing research output is offered by invoking comparisons with colleagues at the international level from within the same sub-discipline. It is argued that if one would do so a different picture would emerge, even if one were to limit oneself to particular kinds of publications. The case is then made that if comparisons are regarded as a necessary part of the evaluation of an individual scholar (for appointment, promotion, tenure, and/or funding application purposes), it would be more fair to use a proxy system which is sub-discipline specific, or minimally contains some kind of correction factor in relation to the over-all quality assessment device. Debates about the relevance or irrelevance of philosophy of education in the context of educational sciences are now obscured, even poisoned by focusing almost exclusively on a particular kind of publication output. As the ‘reward’ system that is developed accordingly is possibly the most important driver of educational research, it puts the sub-discipline unduly under pressure to the extent that it possibly cannot survive.

• Strand, Torill (2014). Philosophy of Education. In Theodoropoulou, Eleni K. (Eds.), Philosophy of Education: Aspects of Praxis. Pedio. ISSN 9789605461492. p. 99–119. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2014). For alle - Folkeuniversitetets oppdrag i et mangfoldig, globalisert og kunnskapsintensivt samfunn. In Strand, Torill (Eds.), Folkedanningens vandringer. Folkeuniversitetet 150 år. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245016871. p. 281–303. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2014). Experience and education. In Thellefsen, Torkild & Sørensen, Bent (Ed.), Charles Sanders Peirce in His Own Words. 100 Years of Semiotic, Communication and Cognition. De Gruyter Mouton. ISSN 9781614517535. p. 373–378. Full text in Research Archive

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• Bostad, Inga; Papastephanou, Marianna & Strand, Torill (2023). Justice, Education, and the World of Today. Philosophical Investigations. Routledge. ISBN 9781032355351. 262 p. doi: 10.4324/9781003327332. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This edited book challenges the limits of current educational philosophical discourse and argues for a restored normativisation of education through a powerful notion of justice. Moving beyond conventional paradigms of how justice and education relate, the book rethinks the promotion of justice in, for, and through education in its current state. Chapters combine international and diverse philosophical perspectives with a focus on contemporary issues, such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, racism, and migrant crises. Divided into three distinct parts, the book explores the ontological and socio-political grounds underlying our notions of education and justice, and offers self-reflective meta-critique on education philosophers’ tendency of promoting and upholding orthodox visions and missions. Ultimately, the book offers contemporary and innovative philosophical reflections on the link between justice and education, and enriches the discourse through a multi-perspectival and sensitive exploration of the topic. It will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students in the fields of philosophy of education, education policy and politics, education studies, and social justice. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. Funded by University of Oslo.

• Strand, Torill (2020). Rethinking Ethical-Political Education. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783030495244. 290 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This book offers a variety of outlooks and perspectives on the constitutive values and formative norms of a society, reflected by discourses on ethical-political education. It also discusses conceptual and critical philosophical works combined with empirical studies. The book is divided into three parts: the first part describes contemporary youth’s tangible experience of and reflections on ethical-political issues, while the second part explores the potential powers and pitfalls of educational philosophies, old and new. The third part highlights cutting edge issues within the humanities and social sciences, and examines the prospects of a fruitful rethinking of ethical-political education in response to today’s pressing issues. By addressing current dilemmas with diligence and insight, the authors offer solid arguments for new theoretical and practical directions to promote philosophical clarification and advance research. Intended for students, teachers and researchers, the book provides fresh perspectives on the many facets of ethical-political education, and as such is a valuable contribution to educational research and debate.

• Honneth, Axel; Holmes, Inger Sverreson & Strand, Torill (2019). Tingliggjøring og anerkjennelse - et nytt blikk på et gammelt begrep. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 9788202595166. 132 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I den nye rekken av Cappelens upopulære skrifter kommer TINGLIGGJØRING OG ANERKJENNELSE. ET NYTT BLIKK PÅ ET GAMMELT BEGREP av Axel Honneth som nr. 73. Denne boka består av to såkalte Tanner-forelesninger som Axel Honneth holdt ved University of California, Berkeley i 2005. Her behandler han begrepet tingliggjøring, først brukt av nymarxisten Georg Lukács og senere av Frankfurterskolen. De brukte alle begrepet for å beskrive det patologiske ved å behandle mennesker som ting. I dag er det filosofiske begrepet lite brukt, men kritikken av tingliggjøring lever fortsatt videre i film, skjønnlitteratur og i forskning. Tingliggjøring betyr at mennesker mister den følelsesmessige evnen til innlevelse i andre personer og hendelser. Det er et brudd med den elementære anerkjennelsen som hos Honneth er en betingelse for å være menneskelig. For han er tingliggjøring et symptom på anerkjennelsesglemsel. Med introduksjon av Torill Strand (professor i pedagogisk filosofi) og oversatt av Inger Sverreson Holmes.

• Strand, Torill; Smith, Richard D; Pirrie, Anne; gregoriou, zelia & Papastephanou, Marianna (2017). Philosophy as Interplay and Dialogue. Viewing landscapes within philosophy of education. LIT Verlag. ISBN 9783643909565. 513 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Philosophy as Interplay and Dialogue is an original and stimulating collection of essays. The book covers conceptual and critical works relevant to current theoretical developments and debates. Imagine an international group of philosophers of education coming together each summer on a Greek island. This book is a product of their diligent philosophical analysis and extended dialogues. Investigating diverse material and drawing on classical thinkers and contemporary prominent theorists with fresh and critical perspectives, all essays contribute to philosophical clarifications and the advancement of educational research.

• Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (2016). Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISBN 9788202494667. 428 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Papastephanou, Marianna; Strand, Torill & Pirrie, Anne (2014). Philosophy as a Lived Experience. Navigating through dichotomies of thought and action. LIT Verlag. ISBN 9783643902900. 312 p. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Imagine an international group of philosophers of education coming together on a Greek island three years in a row to reflect and promote a conception of philosophy as a lived experience. This book is a result of their discussions and makes an original contribution to the field. The authors here present conceptual and critical works relevant to current theoretical developments and debates within the fields of philosophy and education. The articles contribute both to philosophical clarifications and the advancement of research with solid arguments for theoretical and practical redirections. To deploy their arguments, the contributors draw on classical thinkers such as Plato, Kant and Dewey, and on contemporary prominent theorists, such as Derrida, Badiou and Deleuze, with fresh and critical perspectives.

• Strand, Torill (2014). Folkedanningens vandringer. Folkeuniversitetet 150 år. Fagbokforlaget. ISBN 9788245016871. 350 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Strand, Torill (2026). Teaching Philosophy in Challenging Times: Reconstructing Hegel’s 1818 Inaugural Address as a Pedagogy of Reconciliation. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper critically explores the contemporary relevance of G. W. F. Hegel’s (1770 – 1831) conception of teaching philosophy in face of the current meta-crisis. Against the background of intersecting ecological, social, political, and epistemic instabilities, and in dialogue with Alain Badiou, Angelica Nuzzo and Slavoj Žižek’s efforts to revitalize Hegel, I ask to what extent Hegel’s thought can still inform contemporary accounts of philosophical praxis, despite the historical, conceptual, and political distance that limits any straightforward appropriation. Through a close reading of Hegel’s 1818 Inaugural Address and his 1812 report on teaching philosophy in the gymnasium, I reconstruct Hegel’s view of philosophy as an inseparable unity of content and method, in which students “learn philosophy by philosophizing”. Next, I contend that Hegel’s dialectical-speculative logic can be understood as a pedagogy of reconciliation: a mode of teaching that initiates students into a transformative philosophical practice. This practice mediates between subject and world without offering a final resolution, and in doing so reshapes both the individual and the collective “Spirit” (consciousness). A “pedagogy of reconciliation” here refers to Hegel’s way of conceiving teaching as a practical initiation into a form of philosophical praxis that helps students come to terms with an incommensurable, crisis‑ridden reality and themselves, without promising any well-ordered resolution or harmony. I close my paper by discussing to what degree Hegel’s vision can still orient a pedagogy of reconciliation with the present meta-crisis without promising any neat, teleological narrative of our time.  

• Strand, Torill (2026). A Joyful Risk: On Philosophical Writing. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  What is philosophical writing? And how should we do it? Understanding philosophical writing as a way of putting philosophy into action, or of "philosophizing," emphasizes its dynamic and creative character. From this perspective, philosophical writing is not just another academic exercise of composing an excellent research paper. It is also about adopting a style and mode of writing that opens for deep engagements with vital questions by means of actively exploring, pushing the boundaries of thought, and refining understanding. My paper opens with a story. Not necessarily the best example on how to write philosophically. But rather a personal story of my joy of writing. I then place my experience in dialogue with Badiou's idea that the philosopher is committed to the incommensurable relation between the rules of philosophy and the ordinary rules of life. So, “if you are navigating a situation in a state of wandering and risk, it is only when you encounter a paradoxical phenomenon, a point of impossibility, that you are put to the test of the real of the situation” (Badiou 2022, p. 37). Philosophical writing, understood in this sense, emerges as a response to such encounters. Acting on a desire to understand what is going on, our writing can never be one-dimensional or merely calculative. However, this kind of writing requires courage, a belief in the power of argument and reason, and a desire to say something about what it means to be human in the contradictory, diverse and multifaceted world of today.

• Strand, Torill (2026). What does justice in, for, and through education mean for a child? - World Education Blog. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  On a cold morning in northern Norway, a Sámi boy sits in a classroom, looking at a map where his people’s land is not named. The teacher talks about “our” history, “our” language, “our” culture. None of them are his. He learns about Norwegian history that day. He also learns something else: that his story is not part of what counts. On another continent, a girl in Pakistan, Malala Yousafzai, climbs onto a bus to go to school. For her, the simple act of going to school has become dangerous. She is shot by the Taliban for insisting that girls have the same right to education as boys. Later, she stands at the UN proclaiming: “One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world.”In a camp near the Sudanese border, a refugee child wakes up in a tent. School is a memory, or a promise repeatedly postponed. She has crossed lines on a map that adults drew and defended. She has lost friends, her home, and everyday routines. Her right to education is fragile. These three children do not know each other. Their languages, landscapes, and life stories differ. Still, their realities are connected by a simple but demanding question. What does justice in, for, and through education mean for a child? Although their situations are very different, they echo realities that children face in many parts of the world.

• Strand, Torill (2026). Academic Citizenship in Challenging Times. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  My ambition with this talk is to invite an intriguing discussion on academic citizenship today. To do so, I will explore the contemporary relevance of G.W.F. Hegel's (1770 – 1831) conception of academic citizenship. The background is today’s multifaceted crisis within and beyond academia, characterized by democratic recessions, censorship, and silencing – and that several contemporary philosophers call for a revitalization of Hegel to understand today’s epochal transitions (Alan Badiou, Robert Brandom, Judith Butler, Axel Honneth, Angelica Nuzzo, Slavoj Zizek). So, what is Hegel’s idea of academic citizenship? And does it have a contemporary relevance? More precisely, to what degree may Hegel’s system help to construct fruitful narratives on our academic praxes in challenging times?

• Strand, Torill (2026). The Art and Joy of Philosophical Writing. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  What is philosophical writing? And how should we do it? This seminar invites you to a communal exploration of the art and joy of philosophical writing. Understanding philosophical writing as a way of putting philosophy into action, or to "philosophize," emphasizes the dynamic aspects of philosophy. From this perspective, philosophical writing is not just another academic exercise of composing an excellent research paper. It is also about adopting a style and mode of writing that opens for deep engagements with essential questions by means of putting philosophy into action: actively exploring, pushing the boundaries of thought, and refining our understanding. To spark discussion, I open with a story. Not necessarily the best example on how to write philosophically. But rather a personal story of my joy of writing. I then place my experience in dialogue with Badiou's idea that the philosopher is committed to the incommensurable relation between the rules of philosophy and the ordinary rules of life. So, “if you are navigating a situation in a state of wandering and risk, it is only when you encounter a paradoxical phenomenon, a point of impossibility, that you are put to the test of the real of the situation” (Badiou 2022, p. 37). Acting on a desire to understand what is going on, our writing can never be one-dimensional or merely calculative. However, this kind of writing requires courage, a belief in the power of argument and reason, and a desire to say something about what it means to be human in the contradictory, diverse and multifaceted world of today.

• Strand, Torill (2026). Academic Citizenship in Challenging Times. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  My ambition with this talk is to invite an intriguing discussion on academic citizenship today. To do so, I will explore the contemporary relevance of G.W.F. Hegel's (1770 – 1831) conception of academic citizenship. The background is today’s multifaceted crisis within and beyond academia, characterized by democratic recessions, censorship, and silencing – and that several contemporary philosophers call for a revitalization of Hegel to understand today’s epochal transitions (Alan Badiou, Robert Brandom, Judith Butler, Axel Honneth, Angelica Nuzzo, Slavoj Zizek). So, what is Hegel’s idea of academic citizenship? And does it have a contemporary relevance? More precisely, to what degree may Hegel’s system help to construct fruitful narratives on our academic praxes in challenging times?

• Strand, Torill (2025). Kan demokrati læres? Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2025). A revolt in the seminar room. Or: On the art of philosophizing in the wake of generative AI. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2025). Philosophical writing between being and event. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: The idea of philosophical writing as a way of putting philosophy into action, or to "philosophize," emphasizes the dynamic aspects of philosophy. This perspective acknowledges that philosophical writing is not just another academic exercise of composing an excellent research paper. It is also about adopting a style and mode of writing that opens for deep engagements with essential questions by the means of putting philosophy into action, to explore actively, pushing boundaries of thought, and refine understanding. My aim with this paper is to explain and discuss the art of writing philosophically. I open the paper by briefly explaining the ways in which philosophical writing as an active process of philosophizing, as well as the frameworks and methods for doing so, are based on widely accepted principles and practices in the field of philosophy (AERA 2009, Aristotle 1979, Badiou 2001, Lewis 2008, Plato 1991, Vaughn 2006). Next, I discuss these principles in terms of a Badiouan concept of what it means to philosophize (Badiou 2001; 2009; 2012; 2022). In a Badiouan perspective, the philosopher commits themselves to the incommensurable relation between the rules of philosophy and the ordinary rules of life. The purpose of philosophical writing is not to develop a credo. Philosophy cannot and will not tell what particular position to take in politics or science. Truths are produced and continue to emerge in other, non-philosophical spheres of life: such as love, art, politics or science. However, philosophy – and philosophy alone – contains the resources to reveal and preserve the appearance and immanence of truths. In this way, philosophy deals with truths as creation. So, philosophy is neither the interpreter nor mediator of truths. The task of philosophy is rather to “examine the constitution, in singular worlds, of the appearing of truths, and therefore on what grounds (sic) the evidence of their existence” (Badiou 2009, p. 9). In summing up, I hope to invite an engaged discussion about the potential powers of the art of writing philosophical papers.

• Strand, Torill (2025). Philosophical writing. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2025). Sapere Aude! Academic citizenship in challenging times. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper examines the relevance of G.W.F. Hegel's conception of academic citizenship considering today’s multifaceted crisis within and beyond academia. To do so, I invite a close reading of Hegel's inaugural address, delivered at the University of Berlin 22nd October 1818, to compare and contrast his ideas with contemporary challenges. It should be said that Hegel’s inaugural address is definitely a strong manifesto for philosophy. However, as he appeals to “the spirit of youth”, which is “inherently capable of the freedom of disinterested scientific activity”, I expect that a close reading of his address will throw some light on his notion of academic citizenship and spark a discussion on the topicality and relevance of this idea today. In general, the notion of academic citizenship refers to the rights and duties of academic scholars, including their responsibilities for upholding and promoting the values that underpin academic activity and for the good of both the academic community and the wider society. As communal practices, ideas and ideals, notions of academic citizenship clearly shift according to time and place. Moreover, these practices, ideas and ideals both mirror and shape the political role and mission of a university. Tracing Hegel’s thoughts on the ethical-political mission of philosophy and their implications for the political dimensions of academic work, I engage with Hegel’s primary texts, including his Phenomenology of Spirit and Philosophy of Right, while focusing on key Hegelian concepts such as desire, recognition, and the self-alienated spirit. Additionally, I draw on contemporary interpretations by Alexandre Kojève, Judith Butler, Axel Honneth, and Slavoj Žižek, whose insights highlight both the relevance and limitations of Hegel's philosophy, particularly in relation to the spirit of distrust in challenging times. Ultimately, this paper compares Hegel's idea of academic citizenship with today's paradoxical calls for academic freedom and constraints. Hopefully, this juxtaposition sheds some lights on the current challenges, potentially revitalizing the discourse on the ethical-political mission of philosophy and its implications for academic work. References Butler, J. (2012). Subjects of desire: Hegelian reflections in twentieth-century France. Columbia University Press. Davids, N. (2022). Professing the vulnerabilities of academic citizenship. Ethics and Education, 17(1), 1–13. Elam, M., & Bertilsson, M. (2003). Consuming, Engaging and Confronting Science: The Emerging Dimensions of Scientific Citizenship. European Journal of Social Theory, 6(2), 233–251. Hegel, G. W. F. (1807/2018). The Phenomenology of spirit. Cambridge University Press. Hegel, G.W.F. (1818/1999). Inaugural Address, Delivered at the University of Berlin (22 October 1818). In: Political Writings (pp. 181 – 185). Cambridge University press. Hegel, G. W. F. (1821/2008). Outlines of the Philosophy of Right. OUP Oxford. Honneth, A. (2014). Freedom's right: The social foundations of democratic life. Columbia University Press. Kant, I. (1784). An Answer to the Question: What Is Enlightenment? In: Kant, I., & Kleingeld, P. (2017). Toward Perpetual Peace and Other Writings on Politics, Peace, and History (pp. 17–23). Yale University Press. Kojève, A. (1980). Introduction to the Reading of Hegel. Cornell University Press. Oleksiyenko, A. V. (2024). Rethinking academic citizenship for collective agency in times of crisis. Higher Education Quarterly, 78(4), https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12520 Zizek, S. (2021). Hegel: The Spirit of Distrust. In: Zizek, S., Ruda, F., & Hamza, A. (2021). Reading Hegel. John Wiley & Sons.

• Strand, Torill (2024). Reconsidering our philosophical praxes of education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The French philosopher Alain Badiou (1937 -) is one of the most significant philosophers of our time, well known for his Being and Event trilogy, in which he develops a philosophical system that elegantly deconstructs the idealism and romanticism in Heidegger. Being, to Badiou, is multiple and void. Moreover, truths are existential, ongoing and open-ended ontological operations emerging in tangible situations. Philosophy does not produce truths, but grasps them as they are thought under the four “truth-conditions” of art, science, love and politics. It is on this background we should read his axiom that “the only education is an education by truths”. My aim of this paper is to demonstrate and discuss Badiou’s distinctive philosophy of education. In doing so, I use an artwork by Pierre Huyghe – Variants – as an example. On the background of a diligent reading of Badiou’s logic (Being and Event, I - III), I explore the characteristics of his philosophy. How does Badiou’s notion of education differ from more conventional notions? What may be the implication of philosophy to contend with its “outside”? What may be the implication for our philosophical praxes of education? My paper is divided into three parts. I start with a brief presentation of the artwork Variants, which is installed in a Norwegian sculpture park (Kistefos). Next, I briefly sketch out Badious philosophical system while asking what it mean for truths to emerge under the condition of art. Third, I revisit Variants to further explore the possible implications of a Badiouan philosophy of education that contends with the world of today.

• Strand, Torill (2024). Is there a Nordic Philosophy of Education? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  At the NERA conference in 1996, the Nordic Society for Philosophy of Education was constituted with the purpose of fostering dialogue between philosophers of education in the Nordic countries. Immediately, the establishment of a Nordic network sparked a lively and intriguing debate on the mission, topicality and relevance of the work of Nordic philosophers of education. This debate raised thought-provoking questions, such as; “What do Nordic philosophers of education do?” “How do they do it?” and “To what degree do the work of philosophers of education help to strengthen the topicality and relevance of Nordic educational research?” (Løvlie, 2003; Nordenbo et al, 2006; Smeyers et al, 2013; Strand, 2012). A vital and underlying aspect of this debate is the discipline’s self-understanding, which also concerns the question on to what degree we can speak of a Nordic model of philosophy of education, distinguished from for example the Anglo-Saxon, Continental or Australasian model. To explore and discuss these questions, I perform a three-step theoretical review of papers published by Nordic philosophers of education in peer reviewed educational-philosophical journals over the last decade. The first step contains a summary of the topics treated and the methodologies adopted. The outcome is a descriptive model of the field, including an overview of what Nordic philosophers of education do and how they do it. Next, I perform a semiotic meta-analysis on the many faces of Nordic philosophy of education. Adopting Bottici’s (2011) concept of the imaginal, I explore the imagined commonalities of Nordic philosophers of education. What exemplars, paradoxes and ambiguities do they contain? What may be their inner and outer dilemmas, barriers and openings? In the third and final step, I discuss the destiny of Nordic philosophies of education. Inspired by Badiou's (2016) outlook on a philosophical institution, I deliberate how Nordic philosophies of education attest to what Hegel terms “the concrete universal”, the synthesis of the universal and the particular. How do influential cultural and national particularities of Nordic philosophies of education testify to the imperative of universal address, continuation, and renewal? Hopefully, my paper helps to reinvigorate intriguing debates on the mission, topicality, and relevance of the work of Nordic philosophers of education.

• Hogstad, Kjetil Horn; Bostad, Inga; Lie, Elin Rødahl; Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Harboe, Turid Løyte [Show all 9 contributors for this article] (2024). Humaniorafagenes perspektiver kan styrke utdannings­forskningen. Full text in Research Archive
• Granlund, Lise; Strand, Torill & Aspelund, Ingrid (2023). Livepodd: Kan demokrati læres? Eller er vi naive i vår tro på at utdanning kan dempe de anti-demokratiske kreftene i samfunnet? Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2023). Political education through cinema. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Political education through Cinema A Badiouan analysis of the Iranian movie “Hit the Road” I here explore the pedagogies of the Iranian film Hit the Road (Panahi 2021) through the eyes of the French philosopher Alain Badiou. My ambition is to use this film to illustrate Badiou’s conception of the triadic link between cinema, philosophy and ethical-political education. Hit the Road tells a story of a family of four on a mysterious road trip towards the end of a dirt road that leads nowhere. “We’re being followed,” mother whispers as she looks in the side mirror. The grumpy father in the back wrestles an apparently toothache and a broken leg, while the silent elder son drives the car. A sick stray dog rests in the trunk, while an energetic six-year-old brother leaps around like an untrained puppy, babbling his observations on life, the universe and everything. He surely drives his family to distraction, but some of his jabber reminds of Psalm 8:2 “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies …”. This funny, tragic and touching film is written and directed by Panah Panahi, son of the distinguished Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi who was recently imprisoned for six years in a campaign by the Iranian authorities to silence this political form of art (Zeydabadi-Nejad 2010). So what may be the potential pedagogy of this film? To explore, I adopt a philosophical methodology with the dual ambition to describe Alain Badiou’s philosophy of cinema and to acquire deeper insights on the triadic link between cinema, philosophy and ethical-political education (Badiou 2005, 2013, 2015, 2022). I start by briefly introducing Badiou’s theory of cinema as an impure art, revolving around the contradictions of the world and the relationship between being and appearing. Next, I present the narrative of Hit the Road, while commenting on how it uncovers that which has been silenced, or covered over (Badiou 2022). Third, I further examine Badiou’s idea of cinema as an influential form of ethical-political education. I close the paper by considering Badiou’s claim that cinema is a democratic emblem. Cinema is for everybody. In addition, there are no distinctions between elitist and vulgar forms. Cinema, to Badiou, is therefore a question of democracy (Badiou 2013, 2015). Since the task of philosophy is to examine the contradictions of the contemporary world and to propose an orientation, philosophers of education should go to the cinema, take part in its democratic dialectics, and participate in this current form of ethical-political education. References Badiou, Alain (2005). Handbook of Inaesthetics. Stanford: Stanford University Press Badiou, Alain (2013). Cinema. Cambridge: Polity press Badiou, Alain (2015). Cinema and philosophy. Retrieved November 2022 from https://youtu.be/Arwso3fy50M Badiou, Alain (2022). The Immanence of Truth. Being and Event III. London: Continuum Panahi, Panah (2021). Hit the Road (Jadde Khaki). London: Picturehouse Entertainment Zeydabadi-Nejad, Saeed (2010). The Politics of Iranian Cinema. London: Routledge

• Strand, Torill (2023). Cinema as Political Education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this paper, I explore the Iranian film Hit the Road (Panahi 2021) through the eyes of the French philosopher Alain Badiou. In doing so, I adopt a philosophical methodology with the dual ambition to explore the pedagogies of this film and to acquire insights on the distinctiveness of Badiou’s conception of the triadic link between cinema, philosophy and paideia (ethical-political education). Hit the Road tells a story of a family of four on a mysterious road trip. “We’re being followed,” mother whispers as she looks in the side mirror. The grumpy father in the back wrestles an apparently toothache and a broken leg, while the silent elder son drives the car. A sick stray dog rests in the trunk, while an energetic six-year-old brother leaps around, babbling his observations on life, the universe and everything. His numerous whims drives his family to distraction, but some of his jabber reminds of Psalm 8:2 “Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies …” This funny, tragic and moving film is written and directed by Panah Panahi, son of the distinguished Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi who recently was imprisoned for six years in a campaign by the Iranian authorities to silence this form of art (Zeydabadi-Nejad 2010). The Iranian authorities seems to consider the political power of cinema as quite strong. So what may be the latent pedagogy of this film? How can we link the film to paideia? To explore, I adopt a philosophical methodology with the dual ambition to describe Alain Badiou’s philosophy of cinema and to acquire deeper insights on the triadic link between cinema, philosophy and paideia (Badiou 2013, 2015, 2022). Next, I expose how the narrative of Hit the Road uncovering a silenced or hidden real, while confronting us with some ethical-political paradoxes (Badiou 2022). I close the paper by considering Badiou’s claim that cinema is a democratic emblem. Cinema is for everybody and there are no distinctions between elitist and vulgar forms. Cinema is therefore a question of democracy (Badiou 2013, 2015). Since the task of philosophy is to examine the contradictions of the contemporary world and to propose an orientation, philosophers should therefore “go to the cinema, take part in its democratic dialectics, and participate in this form of contemporary education” (Badiou 2015).

• Strand, Torill (2023). The paradoxical attributions of a new tonality. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Today, there is an urgent call for a new tonality in the discourse on education. While the ideals of economic and personal growth are slowly destroying the planet we inhabit and its inhabitants along with it, education – often seen as the solution to this problem – is slowly being suffocated by the very same ideals. To move beyond this destructive logic of growth, we have to retune the way we think of education. The new tonality needs to take us away from the logic of progress and rather propose a logic of presence. However, to what degree is it possible to escape the underlying logic of progress in education?

• Strand, Torill (2023). You Be My Body for Me. The role of the body in (digital) education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Today, there is an intensified debate on the potential pitfalls and possibilities of digital education. One concern regards the bodily presence as a precondition for socio-political experience in educational settings. Another is the importance of the presence of the body (rather than just the mind) for learning. However, today’s debate tends to overlook students who benefit exceedingly from digitization. For some of these students, digital education is even a precondition for participation and inclusion. So, a concern is how to understand the educational and political challenges of the “absent body” in a way that does not overlook and exclude the many-faceted experience of vulnerable and marginalized groups. In that regard, I want to offer three tentative comments to your lecture in regards to our conceptions of 1) the phenomenon of education 2) Detachment and attachment, and 3) the political

• Strand, Torill (2023). Cinema, Philosophy and Paideia. A Badiouan analysis of the Iranian movie “Hit the Road”. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2022). «The only education is an education by truths». Alain Badiou on art, philosophy and education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The French philosopher Alain Badiou (1937 - ) is one of the most significant philosophers of our time, well known for his Being and Event trilogy, in which he develops a philosophical system that elegantly deconstructs the idealism and romanticism in Heidegger. Being, to Badiou, is multiple and void. Moreover, truths are existential, ongoing and open-ended ontological operations emerging in tangible situations. Philosophy does not produce truths, but grasps them as they are thought under the four “truth-conditions” of art, science, love and politics. It is on this background we should read his axiom that “the only education is an education by truths”. The aim of this colloquium is to explore Badiou’s notion of education. In doing so, we ask what it means for “truths” to emerge under the conditions of art, science, love and politics. What may be the implication of philosophy to contend with its “outside”? Moreover, what may be the implication of Badiou’s claim that “the only education is an education by truths”?

• Strand, Torill (2022). Thinking educational justice. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic cuts in the very fabric of human existence. To think educational justice within this situation, however, does not only require a rethinking of educational practices in face of today’s challenges. It also requires a radical move beyond the surfaces of conventional paradigms in order to reach at a deep-seated understanding of the phenomena of education and justice itself. Motivated by this ambition, I here present a Badiouan reading of the phenomenon of education, justice and the task of philosophy of education. I start by briefly mapping out current educational philosophical paradigms and their ways of treating the issue of justice. Next, I trouble these orthodoxies in order to rethink the link between philosophy of education and true life. My question “Is another outlook possible?” thus motivates the third and final part of the paper, in which I take a closer look at a Badiouan reading of the phenomena of education, justice and the task of philosophy. My overall ambition is to avoid philosophical doctrines, old and new, while simultaneously thinking a philosophy of education to which the true life is present.

• Strand, Torill (2022). What does educative justice look like? Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: I will here use my experience of reading Toni Morrison’s short story Recitatif as an entry point to elucidate Badiou’s theory of justice. In doing so, I ask; what does educative justice look like? Do we dare to see what is going on? Recitatif tells a story about Twyla and Roberta, two eight-year-old girls placed in Room 406 at St. Bonaventure shelter. “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick. That’s why we were taken to St. Bonny’s”, Twyla says. Spending four months together “really wasn’t bad”. However, “It didn’t start out that way”. “The minute I walked in and the Big Bozo introduced us, I got sick to my stomach. It was one thing to be taken out of your bed early in the morning – it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race”. In short, Recitatif tells a story about two girls of different races. Twyla and Roberta are both poor and wards of the state. Moreover, racial identity seems crucial to both. However, we never get to know which of these girls is black and which white. Reading the story, I was eager to guess, to assume, even to insist, but I was never sure. I still not have a clue, despite the fact that the story follows Twyla and Roberta as they grow up and become adults who occasionally meet. As I read, Recitatif came forward as a puzzle, a riddle, a mystery that played with me. Educative justice seems to be the name of that game. Reading the short story, I was at first deeply intrigued by the narrative on Twyla and Roberta’s ethical-political education. Next, I became captivated by Toni Morrison’s style of writing; her technique of playing with, and thereby teasing and enchanting, annoying and fascinating the reader. Third, I came to realize – because of my long-lasting and in-depth engagement with Alain Badiou’s philosophical texts – how this short story acted on my mind, and thereby intrigued, disturbed, challenged and transformed my idea of how educative justice looks like.

• Strand, Torill (2022). What does Educative Justice look like? Or: What happened as I read Toni Morrison’s ‘Recitatif’. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: The aim of my paper is to explore the phenomenon of educative justice. In doing so, I use my experience of reading Toni Morrison’s short story Recitatif as an entry point to explain Badiou’s theory of justice. Recitatif tells a story about Twyla and Roberta, two eight-year-old girls placed in Room 406 at St. Bonaventure shelter. “My mother danced all night and Roberta’s was sick. That’s why we were taken to St. Bonny’s”, Twyla says. Spending four months together “really wasn’t bad”. However, “It didn’t start out that way”. “The minute I walked in and the Big Bozo introduced us, I got sick to my stomach. It was one thing to be taken out of your bed early in the morning – it was something else to be stuck in a strange place with a girl from a whole other race”. In short, Recitatif tells a story about two girls of different races. Twyla and Roberta are both poor and wards of the state. Moreover, racial identity seems crucial to both. However, we never get to know which of these girls is black and which white. Reading the story, I was eager to guess, to assume, even to insist, but I was never sure. I still not have a clue, despite the fact that the story follows Twyla and Roberta as they grow up and become adults who occasionally meet. As I read, Recitatif came forward as a puzzle, a riddle, a mystery that played with me. Educative justice seems to be the name of that game. Reading the short story, I was at first deeply intrigued by the narrative on Twyla and Roberta’s ethical-political education. Next, I became captivated by Toni Morrison’s style of writing; her technique of playing with, and thereby teasing and enchanting, annoying and fascinating me. Third, I came to realize – because of my long-lasting and in-depth engagement with Alain Badiou’s philosophical texts – how this short story acted on my mind, and thereby intrigued, disturbed, challenged and educated my idea of how educative justice looks like.

• Strand, Torill (2021). Thinking educational justice in viral modernity. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The coronavirus has sparked an intense philosophical debate on how the virus cuts in the very fabric of human existence (Agamben 2020, Butler 2020, Castrillon & Marchevsky 2021, Žižek 2020). The pandemic revealed our physical fragility, destabilized our economy and isolated us from family and friends. The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic clearly connects us to a global community of destiny and inflicts our mindsets. The Covid-19 pandemic has thus reinvigorated the discourse on “viral modernity”, which refers to “the nature of viruses and the ancient and critical role they play in evolution of culture” (Peters, Jandric & McLaren 2020, p. 3). In general, viruses act as pharmakon, both as remedy and as poison, as they form part of the system and processes of their host (Dupré & Guttinger 2016). From the perspective of microbiology, viruses are submicroscopic agents that infect all types of life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms. From the perspective of computer science, a virus is a computer program that replicates itself by writing its own code into the host program. From the perspective of the informational sciences, however, viruses may take the shape of information and may influence our ideas on what counts in the world (Baker et al 2020). Viruses, in the shape of physical, virtual or symbolic forms, may well infect human bodies, social networks and minds. When speaking of a “viral modernity”, contemporary philosophers thus refer to “the profound interaction between the sociological and the ecological, understanding them as part of the same metabolism” (Malabou 2017, p. 1). This discourse is reflected in the ways in which contemporary philosophers of education address today’s burning issues, such as “environmental ethics” (Stables 2020), “pandemic education” (Sturm, Gibbons and Peters 2020), “education in a post-truth world” (Horsthemke 2017) or “what it means to be human” (Oral 2020). To think educational justice within viral modernity, however, does not only require a rethinking of educational practices in face of today’s challenges. It also requires a deeper and more radical redefinition of humanity as part of a larger living and technological system. Consequently, viral modernity calls for a considerate rethinking of the phenomena of education and justice itself. My aim with this paper is to respond to this call.

• Strand, Torill (2020). Thinking a Pedagogy for Justice Now: Political philosophy of Education in a Time of Pandemic. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2019). Tingliggjøring som anerkjennelsesglemsel - en introduksjon, Tingliggjøring og anerkjennelse - et nytt blikk på et gammelt begrep. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202595166. p. 7–30. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Axel Honneth (1949 -) reformulerer her det nymarxistiske begrepet om «tingliggjøring» i lys av sin anerkjennelsesteori. Tingliggjøring handler om at noe blir gjort til eller betraktet som en ting uten å være det. Som for eksempel når abstrakte tanker, ideer eller egenskaper sees på som om de var konkrete. Eller som når levende mennesker blir omtalt eller behandlet som objekter. I følge Honneth er slike tingliggjøringsprosesser betenkelige fordi de genererer, opprettholder og legitimerer uheldige mentale representasjoner og sosiale praksisformer: Tingliggjøring gjør tenkning patologisk og menneskelig samhandling følelseskald. Tingliggjøring er en prosess som rett og slett vil forenkle, overse, og dermed gjøre oss blinde for, de mange aspektene, nyansene og kulørene i en menneskelig verden. Vi glemmer vår humanitet. Nettopp derfor åpner Axel Honneth denne teksten med å sitere Adorno og Horkheimer (2011): «All tingliggjøring er glemsel».

• Strand, Torill (2019). Cinema & Philosophy - some notes on the educational aspects. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Cinema is today a new allegory of the cave; a place in which any contradiction of the contemporary world may be assumed. Since the task of philosophy is to 1) examine these contradictions and 2) propose an orientation, philosophers of education should go back into to the cave. - Go to the cinema - Participate in the democratic dialectics - Take part in contemporary education

• Strand, Torill (2019). Educating Humanity: On anti-politics and ontological awareness. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2019). Truth and Education. Revisiting Plato’s allegory of the Cave. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Plato’s allegory of the cave portrays a move towards insight, wisdom or knowledge of the common good. We may label this process paideia (Jaeger, 1973), Bildung (Humboldt, 1993) or simply education. In this seminar, we re-visit Plato’s allegory of the cave while exploring to what degree – and in what ways – the allegory may portray ethical-political education of and for the present. In doing so, we compare and contrast Martin Heidegger’s (1940) transitional reading with Alain Badiou’s (2012) hyper-translation. To Heidegger, Plato’s ambition is to illuminate his doctrine of truth. He argues that Plato constituted a turning point in the history of philosophy, introducing a new way of thinking the experience of truth (aletheia). In his 1940 essay on The Doctrine of Truth, however, Heidegger paints Plato as an educationalist. What is vital for the history of truth is in fact an illustration of the essence of education. Following Badiou, Plato’s allegory of the cave carries three dimensions that together portray this educational process: The situation, the event and the subject. The situation is “the cave of illusion”, in which the artificial images and the shadows of the simulacra are taken to signify the world. The event is the unexpected turning of the head; the unpredictable escape; the surprising ascension into the open air; and the experience of the sun and the beauty of the objects of the world outside. The subject is an operation that may produce something new. In other words, a subject is a process that gradually unfolds the imports of the event. In short, the allegory of the cave seems to imply that education is a process related to truth, a process that may or may not emerge from a situated event.

• Strand, Torill (2019). Anti-politics and ontological awareness. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I here explore ways of thinking the ontological and historical conditions for ethical-political education of and for the present. In doing so, I compare and contrast Alain Badiou’s ontology with Axel Honneth’s political theory of recognition while using the ongoing Global Strike for Climate Change as an example. Here and now, as I am writing this, hundreds of thousands of students from all over the world have walked out of their classrooms in a call for more action to fight climate change. Today, crowds of youths are flooding the streets of our cities, from Sydney to Berlin, from Bangkok to New Delhi, Oslo and London. But how should we read the historical and ontological conditions that generate these youths emerging ethical-political awareness? Following Badiou, the Global Strike for Climate Change is sign of a political event. First, because it addresses an issue that at every moment concerns people all over the world. Second, because it summons and reveals the endless character of the situation. Third, because it puts the state – in both the ontological and historical senses of the term – at a distance by assigning a measure to its superpower. “For way too long, the politicians and the people in power have gotten away with not doing anything to fight the climate crisis, but we will make sure that they will not get away with it any longer. We are striking because we have done our homework and they have not,” Greta Thunberg, a 16-year old Swedish activist, says. My focus, however, is not so much the tangible aspects of the strike, but rather the anti-political, or what comes before these youth’s ethical-political awareness. How should we think the historical and ontological conditions for such an emerging awareness? Moreover, is it possible to envision an ethical-political education that considers these conditions?

• Strand, Torill (2019). Here and Now: Rethinking philosophy of education. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2018). ‘Skam’, Shame and Bildung. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: In what ways do the Norwegian web-based TV series Skam (Shame) depict the link between the many faces of individual, social and cultural phenomena of ‘shame’ and the formative processes of ‘self-cultivation’ (Bildung)? Do we trust this depiction? Does the web-based series signify a new type of public education (Volksbildung)? If so, may the series help to re-think Bildung for contemporary societies? I here explore these questions through a semiotic reading of the fourth season. Skam portrays the daily lives of High School students at the affluent West of Oslo. The main characters are five girls, “the losers of the school”. To represent the youth’s own stories, the production of the series was based on hours-long individual interviews with the target audience. A new web-based episode was published daily and the characters’ fictional Facebook conversations and Instagram photos were displayed while airing. The fourth season follows the character Sana and focuses on Islamic religion, forbidden love and cyberbullying. Iman Meskini (19) – the actress who played the character – admits that she is now a role model for many Muslim girls. In my semiotic reading of clips from Sana’s daily life I draw on contemporary political theories and philosophies of shame, Bildung and the relationship between the two. At the first and initial level of interpretation I focus on the multiple meanings of Sana’s headscarf in relation to the many faces and ambiguities of shame. As the root of the noun ‘shame’ (shãm) denotes the parts of the body that modesty requires to be concealed, we may assume that Sana’s vailing may signify ambiguous feelings or states of shame, or ways of being shamed through values embedded in the Western or Islamic culture. But is it necessarily so? At the next level, I focus on how Sana stages herself through the non-color black: Sana’s black clothing, black lipstick and her motto “black is my happy color” seem to carry multiple meanings. As the Greek word for ‘shame’ - ‘aischyne’ - links shame to the aesthetics, Sana’s black may signify a darkness that simultaneously obscures and discloses shame and shaming. Black indicates a void, but also a multiplicity: Sana’s black staging may thus be read as signs of her ethical political formation in terms of both personal and cultural stasis and maturation. At the third analytic level, however, I explore the potential message and import of a speech: In the very last episode Sana throws a party to celebrate Eid al-Fitr (the breaking of the Muslim fast). Arriving at the party, her friends greet her Eid Mubārak and give a speech: “Dear Sana, this speech is to you … because what you invite us to today overturns US presidents tomorrow”. This personal speech touches on urgent ethical-political issues and sums up the plot of the fourth season. But it may also signify an ambition of the creators to ‘educate’ their target audience. Thus, we may again ask to what degree the series help to re-think Bildung for contemporary societies? Does the web-based series signify a new type of public education (Volksbildung)?  

• Strand, Torill (2018). Play - philosophy- love. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2018). “An almost invincible love”: On play, philosophy and education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In order to throw some lights on a possible way of thinking the relationship between a child’s play, imagination and the work of Bildung I here perform a three-step analyses of a scene from Margret Olin's documentary "Childhood" (2017). One of the scenes shows a 6 year old boy sitting on the floor next to a lot of small animals and cars placed in a long line. The boy throws a glance at his teacher: - They are on their way to the evil’s castle - Yes? - Isn’t this a lot of soldiers and warfare equipment? - Yes - They are on their way to the wicked […] - But aren’t there anyone who can help? - The only thing that can stop them is an almost invincible love. That's the only thing that can stop them - Yes - But you get three things to make it. It's a tooth that is completely loose like a human in the mouth with the starving crocodile. And then you have to find a skeleton from a famished dragon. And then one must find the one eye of a zombie. - Yes - And if you mix that together, it becomes love […] Why a philosophical exploration of play? My ambition is neither to follow the philosophical traditions that romanticize children’s play (i.e. Froebel 1826, Rousseau 1762) nor to associate play with learning (i.e. Locke 1693, Froebel 1826 and Dewey 1917). Neither is my ambition to underline the link between play and aesthetic experience (i.e. Kant 1790, Schiller 1795, Gadamer 1960) or to highlight the relationship between play and social competence (Mead 1934). My ambition is rather to tentatively explore ways of thinking the relation/non-relation between play and education through the eyes of Alain Badiou: To what degree – and in what ways – may we assert that this 6 year old boy’s play represents a privileged space? Does this playful episode produce, express or communicate something? And if so, is it possible to justify the idea that there may be some (impossible) relations between play and education?

• Strand, Torill (2018). Rethinking philosophy of education. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2018). Here and Now: Rethinking philosophy of education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The TV-series “Here and Now” (HBO 2018) can be seen as an allegory of the current crisis within philosophy of education. The main character is the depressed philosopher Greg Boatwright, father of four: three adopted children - from Liberia, Vietnam and Colombia - and a biological daughter, who calls herself “the boring white chick in the family”. Raising this family was to Greg and his wife a “great progressive experiment in diversity”. However, at his 60th birthday he delivers a disturbingly pessimistic speech: “It all failed”. Later he confides to his daughter: “sometimes I feel like the world’s falling apart”. In face of such a crisis it is pertinent to re-think philosophy of education, old and new. The aim of this paper is to explore to what degree Alain Badiou’s anti-philosophy may represent a way of doing so. To Badiou, an “anti-philosophical” practice is first of all faithful to the present situation. Next, it articulates the means of philosophy. Philosophy is thus turned towards and against itself in order to renew and strengthen its task. In the first part of this paper I perform a close reading of Alain Badiou’s “logic of worlds” in order to clarify his ontological positions and “ethic of truths”. Next, I compare and contrast Badiou’s position with some contemporary philosophies of education. Referring to Greg’s pessimistic speech we may ask: Did they all fail? To what degree may Badiou’s anti-philosophy inform the potential topicality and relevance of a philosophy of education of and for the present?

• Strand, Torill (2017). The thinking university. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Philosophers, such as Kant, Humboldt, Jaspers and Habermas, hold that a university is a place for thinking and thus for Bildung (education). However, today their ideas of a thinking university – and thus of higher education – seem contested. My aim with this paper is to explore the triadic knot between thinking, education and a university. In doing so, I perform a close reading of Alain Badiou’s conception of “thinking” in relation to classic notions of a “thinking university”. I start by introducing a brief outline of classical and contemporary ideas of a university. Next, I perform an in-depth reading of Alain Badiou’s “Being and Event” and “Logic of Worlds” in order to explore his notion of “thinking”, or “thoughts in motion”. In doing so, I compare and contrast Badiou’s notion of “thoughts in motion” to earlier and contemporary conceptions of “thinking”. The third and last section focuses on the triadic knot between thinking, education and a university. With Alain Badiou I here ask: What does it mean to think within and beyond a 21st century university? And to what degree may such thinking be regarded as educative?

• Strand, Torill (2017). Educating Humanity. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Throughout the Republic, Plato offers elusive imageries of the importance of our understanding of goodness, in which the allegory of the cave is the most famous. It seems that Plato wants to tell us that morality can never be understood, and justice not achieved, without an understanding of goodness. In this view, the allegory of the cave proposes an image of a potential formative process that may advance goodness and humanity.

• Strand, Torill (2017). Shame and Bildung. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2017). The thinking university - Thoughts in motion. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: What does it mean to think within and beyond a 21st century university? And to what degree may such thinking be regarded as educative? Philosophers, such as Kant, Humboldt, Jaspers and Habermas, hold that a university is a place for thinking and thus for Bildung (education). However, today their ideas of a thinking university – and thus of higher education – seem contested. It is held that they are rooted in dated notions of “a university” and of “thinking”, and therefore mirror conventional notions on the relationship between thinking, education and a university. My aim with this paper is to explore the triadic knot between thinking, education and a university. In doing so, I perform a close reading of Alain Badiou’s conception of “thinking” in relation to cutting edge research on “education” and a “university”. I start by introducing a brief outline of contemporary notions of a university, of education and the relationship between the two. Next, I perform an in-depth reading of Alain Badiou’s “Being and Event” and “Logic of Worlds” in order to explore his notion of “thinking”, or “thoughts in motion”. In doing so, I compare and contrast Badiou’s notion of “thoughts in motion” to earlier and contemporary conceptions of “thinking”. The third and last section focuses on the triadic knot between thinking, education and a university. With Alain Badiou I here ask: What does it mean to think within and beyond a 21st century university? And to what degree may such thinking be regarded as educative?

• Strand, Torill (2016). Xenia - the rituals of hospitality. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2016). Educating Humanity: Revisiting Plato’s Republic. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite Plato’s dated view of society and thus an arguably highly problematic perspective on formal education and training, the French philosopher Alain Badiou (1937 - ) holds that “Plato must be restored”. But why does Badiou turn to Plato? What does he seem to gain from Plato’s dialogues? And in what ways may his way of re-reading Plato relate to ethical-political education? In exploring these questions, I take Badiou’s hypertranslation of the allegory of the cave as an exemplary illustration of Badiou’s claim that “…the only education is an education by truths”. In doing so, I read Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s allegory at three analytical levels. First, I point to how this allegory pictures education as a move away from illusio, beyond doxa and towards noesis. Second, how the allegory illustrates a generic truth procedure that not only troubles Socrates, Amantha and Glaucon’s conventional beliefs of education, but also the very foundation of their beliefs. My third reading, however, focuses on the ways in which Badiou’s hypertranslation re-writes, discusses and amplifies generic truth procedures. Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s allegory of the cave may thus be taken to illustrate how the work of philosophy may give new impetus to the potential powers of generic truths. I here argue that Badiou’s hyper - translation of the Republic should not unilaterally be read as an actualization of Plato's classic text. It should also be read as a renewal and strengthening of the truths that originated with Plato and still characterizes the western world’s master discourse on education. It is also a comment to this discourse’s blind spots. We – the readers – are therefore invited to participate in the movable thinking that originated with Plato and which is here re-presented and re-conceived by Badiou.

• Strand, Torill (2016). Alain Badiou on political education: Revisiting Plato’s Republic. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: Despite Plato’s dated view of society and thus an arguably highly problematic perspective on formal education and training, the French philosopher Alain Badiou (1937 - ) holds that “Plato must be restored”. But why does Badiou turn to Plato? What does he seem to gain from Plato’s dialogues? And in what ways may his way of re-reading Plato relate to ethical-political education? In exploring these questions, I take Badiou’s hypertranslation of the allegory of the cave as an exemplary illustration of Badiou’s claim that “…the only education is an education by truths”. In doing so, I read Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s allegory at three analytical levels. First, I point to how this allegory pictures education as a move away from illusio, beyond doxa and towards noesis. Second, how the allegory illustrates a generic truth procedure that not only troubles Socrates, Amantha and Glaucon’s conventional beliefs of education, but also the very foundation of their beliefs. My third reading, however, focuses on the ways in which Badiou’s hypertranslation re-writes, discusses and amplifies generic truth procedures. Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s allegory of the cave may thus be taken to illustrate how the work of philosophy may give new impetus to the potential powers of generic truths. I here argue that Badiou’s hyper - translation of the Republic should not unilaterally be read as an actualization of Plato's classic text. It should also be read as a renewal and strengthening of the truths that originated with Plato and still characterizes the western world’s master discourse on education. It is also a comment to this discourse’s blind spots. We – the readers – are therefore invited to participate in the movable thinking that originated with Plato and which is here re-presented and re-conceived by Badiou.

• Strand, Torill (2016). “I create silence”. Reentering the ancient dispute between poetry and philosophy. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In his essay on “The Age of the Poets”, Alain Badiou asserts that “… the poem can assume within thinking the operations left vacant by philosophy”. But what does he mean by saying that? And how does he conceive the link between poetry and philosophy? In the essay, Badiou questions an era (“the age of the poets”) in which philosophy is sutured. This kind of suturing, Badiou claims, has paralyzed philosophy. Badiou’s ambition is clearly to save philosophy from its paralyzed state and also to recognize poetry as an independent “thinking subject”. Consequently, he reenters the ancient dispute between poetry and philosophy with new eyes. My overall ambition with this paper is to throw some lights on Badiou’s recognition of poetry in his ambition to renew and strengthen philosophy. I will also offer a short comment on the way in which Badiou reminds us that art – especially poetry – all since Protagoras has been conceived as “the key to education".

• Strand, Torill (2016). The Paradoxical Attributions of Democratic Will Formation. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

• Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (2016). Introduksjon. In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 13–28. Full text in Research Archive
• Kvernbekk, Tone; Kvamme, Ole Andreas & Strand, Torill (2016). Universitetet. In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 282–292. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2016). Pedagogikkens samfunnsoppdrag. In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 330–341. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2016). Læring. In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 84–97. Full text in Research Archive
• Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (2016). Avslutning. Hva er pedagogikk? In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 405–414. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2016). Globalt medborgerskap. In Kvamme, Ole Andreas; Kvernbekk, Tone & Strand, Torill (Ed.), Pedagogiske fenomener. En innføring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202494667. p. 355–365. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2015). Hvorfor humaniorastudier? Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2015). Skolens samfunnsoppdrag. Bør vi tenke utdanning, danning og demokratisk deltakelse på nytt? Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2015). Xenia - the rituals of hospitality. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In Homer’s epic poems, giving and receiving xenia (the rituals of hospitality) is a recurrent theme. Over and over again Homer describes how these rituals created and expressed a reciprocal relationship between guest and host and also political alliances. In the Iliad the Trojan War was a result of a violation of xenia. In the Odyssey, every household is depicted in conjunction with hospitality. To the ancient Greeks, generosity, kindness and courtesy shown to strangers were considered both a right and a duty; their ability to abide to the laws of xenia or theoxenia signified dignity. Plato portrays Homer as the protos didaskalos (“first teacher”) and the hegemon paideias (“leader of Greek culture”). But what did Homer teach, and how did he teach it? In this paper I place Homer’s way of teaching xenia in the intersection between contemporary philosophy, literature and politics, as I here read Homer’s epic poems through the lenses of Alain Badiou. Badiou describes the power of literature as a “transition from knowledge to thought”. This transition happens, first, through literature’s encounter with the real; next, by the way the real is marked by that which has never taken place and will never happen. The acts of poetry and prose thus generate imaginaries that may “pierce a hole in knowledge”. In this way, literature carries the potentiality to name “a real to which politics remains closed”.

• Strand, Torill (2014). Badiou on Education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: In this paper I perform a critical reading of the French philosopher Alain Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s Republic in order to outline Badiou’s approach to political education. Despite claiming that “the only education is an education by truths” Badiou never explicitly discusses his notion of education. However, Badiou’s way of turning to Plato seems to reveal an ambition to re-establish the importance of the link between truth and education. I start by portraying Badiou’s way of reimagining and renewing Plato’s classical text. In Badiou’s hypertranslation, Socrates and his companions are joined by figures such as Beckett, Pessoa, Freud and Hegel. And these figures do not simply agree with Socrates: they dispute, debate, discuss, contest and argue. Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s Republic thus demonstrates thoughts in motion. Next, I read these “thoughts in motion” against Badiou’s logic. In doing so I point to how Badiou – especially in his Logic of Worlds – models the potential powers of such thinking. Through his key concepts “conditions”, “event”, “fidelity” and “truths” Badiou models thinking (thoughts in motion) as a dialogical, productive subject. However, to be beneficial, thinking must be directed towards truths. To Badiou, truths – or rather generic truth procedures – “pierce a hole in knowledge” as they interrupt, disturb and are subtracted from the circulating rule of opinion. As Badiou states that “the only education is an education by truths”, it is exactly this notion of education he depicts by his hyper-translation of Plato’s Republic. In the main part of the paper I take the way Badiou re-writes Plato’s allegory of the cave to illustrate Badiou’s notion of education. At the first analytic level, this allegory pictures education as a trajectory, a move away from illusio, beyond doxa and towards noesis. At the next level, the allegory illustrates thoughts in motion; a generic truth procedure that not only trouble Socrates, Amantha and Glaucon’s conventional beliefs of education, but also the very foundation of their beliefs. At the third level, however, the very ways in which Badiou’s hyper - translation re-writes, discusses and amplifies generic truth procedures, illustrates how the work of philosophy may give new impetus to the potential powers of generic truths. Truths are generic in the sense of truth-procedures that reveal or unfold something entirely new, something that cannot be grasped or apprehended by the already established categories of the discourse, and thus goes beyond the situation: “Created in one world, it is in fact valid for other worlds and virtually to all”. In other words, Badiou’s hyper - translation of the Republic cannot unilaterally be read as an actualization of Plato's classic text. It should also be read as a renewal and strengthening of the truths that originated with Plato and still characterizes the western world’s master discourse on education. It is also a comment to this discourse’s blind spots. We - the readers – are thus invited to participate in the movable thinking that originated with Plato and which is here re-presented and re-conceived by Badiou.

• Strand, Torill (2014). Folkedanningens vandringer. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  I 1864 tok studentene ved Universitetet i Oslo demokratioppdraget på alvor og stiftet «Studenternes Forening for fri Undervisning». Formålet var «at skaffe ubemidlede Personer, Voxne og Børn, fri Undervisning eller veiledning i de til alminnelige Dannelse henhørende Fag» (Morgenbladet 1865). Kunnskap skulle være for alle, ikke bare de privilegerte. Men hvordan tenke forbindelsen mellom kunnskap, danning og aktivt medborgerskap i dag? I forlengelse av forelesningen vises dokumentaren «Folkeopplysning: Oppdragelse, deltagelse, deling?»

• Papastephanou, Marianna; Strand, Torill & Pirrie, Anne (2014). Philosophy as a lived experience. In Papastephanou, Marianna; Strand, Torill & Pirrie, Anne (Ed.), Philosophy as a Lived Experience. Navigating through dichotomies of thought and action. LIT Verlag. ISSN 9783643902900. p. 9–20. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Imagine an international group of philosophers of education coming together on a Greek island three years in a row to reflect and promote a conception of philosophy as a lived experience. This book is a result of their discussions and makes an original contribution to the field. The authors here present conceptual and critical works relevant to current theoretical developments and debates within the fields of philosophy and education. The articles contribute both to philosophical clarifications and the advancement of research with solid arguments for theoretical and practical redirections. To deploy their arguments, the contributors draw on classical thinkers such as Plato, Kant and Dewey, and on contemporary prominent theorists, such as Derrida, Badiou and Deleuze, with fresh and critical perspectives.

• Strand, Torill (2014). CRITICAL THINKING RECONSIDERED Plato’s Meno meets Alain Badiou. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In order to explore some aspects of critical thinking I here put Alain Badiou’s conceptual apparatus into play in a critical reading of Plato’s Meno. The inspiration for doing so is Badiou’s “contemporary Platonism” (Bartlett, 2011) and his fresh hypertranslation of Plato’s Republic (Badiou, 2012) . Consequently, in this paper I will not present a scholarly and somewhat anachronistic interpretation of Plato. I would rather let Plato’s Meno face Badiou’s conceptual apparatus in order to reconsider our ways of thinking about critical thinking. It should therefore be said already by now that “critical thinking” will not here be explored as a cognitive practice. On the contrary, my ambition with this paper is to use the meeting between Plato’s dialogue and Badiou’s logic as a tool to explore thinking as a dialogical, productive subject in regards to education : What does it mean to think critically? How should we understand the object of critical thinking? Who is the subject of thought? What may be the work of such thinking? And what is thought?

• Strand, Torill (2014). ‘…the only education is an education by truths’ Alain Badiou on education. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2014). Alain Badiou on political education. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  ABSTRACT: In this paper I perform a critical reading of the French philosopher Alain Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s Republic in order to outline Badiou’s approach to political education. Despite claiming that “the only education is an education by truths” Badiou never explicitly discusses his notion of education. However, Badiou’s way of turning to Plato seems to reveal an ambition to re-establish the importance of the link between truth and political education. I start by portraying Badiou’s way of reimagining and renewing Plato’s classical text. In Badiou’s hypertranslation, Socrates and his companions are joined by figures such as Beckett, Pessoa, Freud and Hegel. And these figures do not simply agree with Socrates: they dispute, debate, discuss, contest and argue. Badiou’s hypertranslation of Plato’s Republic thus demonstrates thoughts in motion. Next, I read these “thoughts in motion” against Badiou’s logic. In doing so I point to how Badiou – especially in his Logic of Worlds – models the potential powers of such thinking. Through his key concepts “conditions”, “event”, “fidelity” and “truths” Badiou models thinking (thoughts in motion) as a dialogical, productive subject. However, to be beneficial, thinking must be directed towards truths. To Badiou, truths – or rather generic truth procedures – “pierce a hole in knowledge” as they interrupt, disturb and are subtracted from the circulating rule of opinion. As Badiou states that “the only education is an education by truths”, it is exactly this notion of education he depicts by his hyper-translation of Plato’s Republic. In the main part of the paper I take the way Badiou re-writes Plato’s allegory of the cave to illustrate Badiou’s notion of education. At the first analytic level, this allegory pictures education as a trajectory, a move away from illusio, beyond doxa and towards noesis. At the next level, the allegory illustrates thoughts in motion; a generic truth procedure that not only trouble Socrates, Amantha and Glaucon’s conventional beliefs of education, but also the very foundation of their beliefs. At the third level, however, the very ways in which Badiou’s hyper - translation re-writes, discusses and amplifies generic truth procedures, illustrates how the work of philosophy may give new impetus to the potential powers of generic truths. Truths are generic in the sense of truth-procedures that reveal or unfold something entirely new, something that cannot be grasped or apprehended by the already established categories of the discourse, and thus goes beyond the situation: “Created in one world, it is in fact valid for other worlds and virtually to all”. In other words, Badiou’s hyper - translation of the Republic cannot unilaterally be read as an actualization of Plato's classic text. It should also be read as a renewal and strengthening of the truths that originated with Plato and still characterizes the western world’s master discourse on education. It is also a comment to this discourse’s blind spots. We - the readers – are thus invited to participate in the movable thinking that originated with Plato and which is here re-presented and re-conceived by Badiou. References Badiou, A. (2012). Plato’s Republic. Cambridge: Polity Press Badiou, A. (2009). Logic of Worlds. Being and Event II. Bloomsbury: Continuum Bartlett, A. J. (2011). Badiou and Plato. An Education by Truths. Edinburgh: Edinburg University Press

• Strand, Torill (2013). Kritisk tenkning revurdert. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Her vil jeg utforske noen aspekter ved det vi kaller «kritisk tenkning». Det gjør jeg ved å benytte meg av den franske filosofen Alain Badious begrepsapparat i en lesning av Platons dialog Menon. På den måten blir Platon mer aktuell og relevant. Min ambisjon er ikke først og fremst å tolke Platon. Men heller å bruke Platons dialog som redskap for å utforske noen metaforer om kritisk tenkning: Hva betyr det å tenke kritisk? Hvordan tilegner vi oss slik tenkning? Hva er den kritiske tenkningens objekt? Hva er tenkningens subjekt? Hva er den kritiske tenkningens arbeid? Og til slutt: Hva er tenkning?

• Strand, Torill (2013). Peirce's New Rhetoric: Prospects for educational theory and research. Educational Philosophy and Theory. ISSN 0013-1857. 45(7), p. 707–711. Full text in Research Archive
• Strand, Torill (2013). Experience is Our Only Teacher. A Peircean Reading of Wim Wender's Wings of Desire. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Wim Wender’s film Wings of Desire tells a story of an angel who wishes to become mortal in order to know the simple joy of human experience. Told from the angel’s point of view, the film is shot in black and white. But at the very instant the angel perceives the realities of human experience, the film blossoms into color. In this paper, I take this film to illustrate and explore Peirce’s notion of experience and his claim that “experience is our only teacher”. In his 1903 Harvard lectures, Peirce placed his phenomenology at the heart of his philosophy, while outlining a notion of “experience” that clearly integrates his semiotics, phenomenology and pragmatism. To Peirce, experience is a “brutally produced conscious effect” that comes “out of practice” and is a “forcibel modification of our ways of thinking”. But as this modification is generated by the actions and flows of signs, it is pertinent to read Peirce’s notion of experience in relation to his notion of semiosis. Consequently, a peircean reading of Wings of Desire not only helps to explore how experience teaches, but also the ways in which the rudeness of experience cannot be fully understood without considering the sign’s action.

• Strand, Torill (2026). Justice in, for, and through Education. UNESDOC Digital Library. doi: https:/unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000398163.locale=en. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Education is the place where societies reproduce and renew themselves. It is where new generations encounter the cultural norms and values they inherit, revise, or reject. It is where ideals of equality and justice not only can be taught, but also lived, maintained, revived and reinforced. In that sense, education is a place where the very plural morphology of justice can be experienced, learned, negotiated and renewed. From Plato and Aristotle to Rousseau and Kant, theorists of justice rarely ignored the link between justice and education. Today, however, there is a strange disconnect where education is left to measurements, while political philosophies of education tend to abstract from real-world-experiences and the lives they shape. One danger is the exclusion of children’s real lives from the sphere of pedagogy. Another danger is the promotion of philosophical theories and doctrines that obscure justice as a tangible real-world challenge. This think piece questions this fracture and proposes to reclaim education as a sphere of justice in its own right – a normative domain adhering to distinct discourses, experiences and negotiations of justice. Doing so requires encountering education on its own terms: as a historical field of real antinomies, worldly challenges, and material constraints where a plural morphology of justice appears, not as a tidy ideal but as situated ethical-political orientations and realist demands that interrupts, questions, and obliges.

• Nolet, Ronald; Hatlem, Marianne & Strand, Torill (2013). Barnehagen som læringsmiljø og danningsarena: rapport fra en pilotstudie. Høgskolen i Østfold. ISSN 9788278254097. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Prosjektet «Barnehagen som læringsmiljø og danningsarena» startet opp høsten 2011 på oppdrag fra Kunnskapsdepartementet (KD) som et nasjonalt pilotprosjekt hvor departementet gav bestillingen til 6 fylker via Fylkesmennene (FM) og høgskolene. Høgskolen i Østfold fikk da i oppdrag av Fylkesmannen i Østfold å lede en av pilotene fra oppstart desember 2011 til avslutning i desember 2012. Denne rapporten er slutt artiklene fra denne piloten. Formålet med pilotprosjektet var å styrke barnehagen som læringsmiljø og danningsarena ved at barnehager i et samarbeid med universitet og høgskoler gjennomfører utviklingsprosjekt som danner grunnlag for god praksis omkring læring og danning i barnehagen. Bakgrunnen for pilotprosjektet om barnehagen som læringsmiljø og danningsarena var endring i barnehageloven og endring i Rammeplan for barnehagen (KD, 2011). Denne endringen utfordret barnehagen til nye forståelser og praksiser gjennom innføringen av nye begreper, noe som gjorde at departementet så behovet for støtte til barnehagen i form av økt kunnskap og kompetanse gjennom utviklingsarbeid. Prosjektrapporten består av 10 erfaringsbaserte artikler en fra hver barnehage. Og en teoribasert artikkel fra høgskolen i Østfold.

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