The Eros of Counter Education
Journal of Philosophy of Education
Published online on July 14, 2015
Abstract
Erotic Counter Education (ECE) is the educational position of the late Ilan Gur‐ Ze'ev. In ECE Gur‐Ze'ev combines two opposing positions in the philosophy of education, one teleological and anti‐utopian, the other teleological and utopian. In light of this unique combination, I ask what mediates between these two poles and suggest that the answer lies in the concept of eros. Following a preliminary presentation of the concept of eros in ECE, I define it as a form of transcendental cognition that distinguishes between ‘what is to be perceived’, conceptual and human, and ‘what is not to be perceived’, divine and absolute. I subsequently show how the ‘nature’ of this conception of eros permits the establishment of a normative meta‐theory of education that gains its strength from critical theory and counter education.