Morals to maths : Coetzee, Plato and the fiction of education

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Abstract

This article examines J.M Coetzee's novel The Schooldays of Jesus in which the question of finding the ‘right education’ for a young child is a central and recurring theme. Coetzee’s novel presents us with two models of maths education. One of these is a fairly recognisable practice, and involves intellectualised forms of teaching and learning abstract concepts. The other is a rather bizarre educational programme that involves a Dance Academy in which numbers are ‘called down from the stars.’ Coetzee has been subject to some criticism for what has been described as a ‘maddening’ book about ‘silly dancing.’ Yet my article seeks to show how Coetzee’s novel opens up questions of stasis and dynamis that, in turn, have important implications for education. To develop my case, I consider Coetzee’s novel in relation to certain themes from Plato’s philosophy, particularly the images of education provided in Republic. At the end of my article, I show how my discussion of Coetzee and Plato points towards new ways of understanding the nature of moral education – as something broader and more pervasive than is often recognised by more familiar arguments in moral philosophy and education.

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