In this paper, I discuss the highly topical questions of emancipation and instrumentalism in education. I chose to anchor the discussion in a close reading of Joris Vlieghe’s proposal for a non-instrumental emancipatory education (Vlieghe, 2013, 2018; Hogson, Vlieghe, Zamojski, 2018). Vlieghe’s central thesis is that education should not be pursued for a goal external from itself, but rather for its own sake. In that sense, education is seen as autotelic. Together with Naomi Hogson and Piotr Zamojski, they claim that “a post-critical educational philosophy sees education as autotelic, that is, not in terms of any instrumental function or means to an end beyond itself. Education as such is good, and hence it should be performed for its own sake” (Hogson, Vlieghe, Zamojski, 2018, p. 15). Rancière’s work, alongside other scholars such as Hannah Arendt, are brought forward to substantiate this claim. The goal of this paper is not to critique Vlieghe’s reading of Rancière as such, but rather to explore some potential tensions and limitations implied by this educational reading of Rancière, to open a dialogue on the very important and timely questions of emancipation and equality in education. I suggest that going back to Rancière’s texts can bring about a discussion on the difficulty to think intergenerational education as emancipatory and as purely non-instrumental.

In the following, I first unfold Vlieghe’s arguments through a reading of his Rancièrian critique of Freire. Second, I discuss the potential tensions and limitations of this argumentation. I start with (1) questioning the taken for granted educational nature of Rancière’s philosophy. Then, (2) I raise questions about the choice of the subject matter when education is seen through a Rancièrian lens. Finally, (3) I ask whether Vlieghe’s critique of Freire follows the same logic as Rancière’s critique of Althusser. In conclusion, I suggest that Vlieghe’s view could work at preserving some existing hierarchies and relationships of domination without justifying them. Therefore, I suggest opening the discussion toward a childist educational approach to equality and emancipation.

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See file upload.

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