Eco-Rational Education

Simone Thornton Lectures in Philosophy, at the School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong, and is an Honorary Research Fellow, at the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland. Her research intersects social and political philosophy, educational philosophy, and environmental education, with a focus on developing ecologically rational forms of education.

‘At the core of Simone Thornton’s concerns is the development of eco-rational thinking as central to environmental education aimed at purposeful engagement in identity formation towards ecological citizenship. Eco-Rational Education: An Educational Response to Environmental Crisis innovatively addresses complex concepts and pressing issues and provides a compelling argument for dialogic education that engages students with Indigenous and non-indigenous socio-political concepts to open conversation on diverse ways of knowing and being in the world. Eloquently written, Thornton offers a pedagogical framework that challenges educators to reposition environmental education as a cross-curriculum learning priority for synthesising curriculum with place-responsive practice and, as such, has published a very timely book that makes a significant contribution to re-visioning education as the socio-cultural reconstruction of the greater community.’Gilbert Burgh, Honorary Associate Professor in Philosophy, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland, Australia.‘Thornton’s ground-breaking Eco-Rational Education: An Educational Response to Environmental Crisis provides a compelling account of why we must upend some deep-seated philosophical and educational assumptions in order to implement effective environmental education in schools. By skilfully interconnecting the ideas of a surprisingly diverse range of scholars, including Albert Camus, Val Plumwood, Mary Graham, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Plato, and James Baldwin, Thornton argues that educational institutions must reject the notion that a key aim of education is the development of individuals with a rational capacity that enables them to dominate nature and ‘the other’—a form of epistemic violence. Thornton’s book is not merely a critique. It also offers an innovative and practical alternative, namely a type of eco-rational education, which draws on ideas from pragmatism, Philosophy for Children, and place-based learning to provide teachers with specific methods they can use to foster transformative environmental education.’Jennifer Bleazby, Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Society and Culture, Monash University, Australia.

• Introduction 1. Albert Camus: insights into moral education 2. Economic rationality and ecological failure 3. The myth of reversal: identity, history, and the colonial imagination 4. Truth, certainty, and the limits of knowledge 5. History: lessons in time and identity formation 6. Dwelling in uncertainty 7. A pedagogy of lucidity