Predavanje je potekalo v angleškem jeziku.

Hannu L. T. Heikkinen is a Professor of Education in the Finnish Institute of Educational Research. He is an experienced teacher and teacher educator, and calls himself as a ‘hang-around-philosopher’ of education. Recently, his research interests have focused on sustainability education and practical wisdom as an educational goal.

The time we are living in can be called the era of ecological crises which is a complex mix of interrelated crises. In the worst scenario, the ‘nested crises’ (Kaukko et al. 2021) leads to extinction of human species from this planet. In this lecture, three seemingly simple but fundamental questions are asked: (1.) Who are responsible for the ecological crises? (2.) To whom or what is the “responsible party” accountable for the crises? and (3.) By what means can the “responsible party” repair the damage caused?

At first glance, the answers to the first and second question seem simple: in both cases, the answer is humans. On closer inspection, however, the answer is from self-evident. The third question is the even more difficult but also the most important. This paper proposes a new approach for a solution, based on a reinterpretation of the ancient concept of praxis, (Heikkinen, Huttunen, Mahon & Kemmis 2024). The new definition of praxis starts from the purpose of education, introduced by Gert Biesta: “arousing a desire in another human being to exist in the world in a grown-up way” (Biesta 2022).  To achieve grown-upness, according to Biesta, a person must constantly ask the key educational question: “Is what I desire desirable?” at three levels: (1.) Is it desirable for my own life? (2.) Is it desirable for the life with others? (3.) Is it desirable for the life we live on this planet?

The answer to question 1 refers to personal praxis. The question 2 refers to socio-political praxis. The question 3. is based on the idea of planetary well-being: “[…] a state where the integrity of Earth system and ecosystem processes remains unimpaired to a degree that species and populations can persist to the future and organisms have the opportunity to achieve well-being. (Kortetmäki et al. 2021.)” The idea of planetary well-being postulates that entities worthy moral consideration are not only human beings or even the species in this biosphere, but also the integrity of life-supporting systems and processes. Springing from this post-anthropocentric basis, the notion of ecopraxis is introduced.

Literature:

Biesta, G. (2022). World-Centred Education: A view for the present. Routledge.

Heikkinen, H., Huttunen, R., Mahon, K. & Kemmis, S. 2024. Beyond an anthropocentric view on praxis: Towards education for planetary well-being. Environmental Education Research. Early online. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2326460

Kaukko, M., Kemmis, S., Heikkinen, H., Kiilakoski, T. & Haswell, N. (2021). Learning to survive amidst two crises: Can the Coronavirus pandemic help us change our practices to prepare for the impending eco-crisis? Environmental Education Research, 27(11), 1559-1573, https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2021.1962809

Kortetmäki, T., Puurtinen, M., Salo, M., Cortés-Capano, G.,Karkulehto, S., & Kotiaho, J. S. (2023). Planetary Well-being: Ontology and ethics. In: Elo, M., Hytönen, J., Karkulehto, S., Kortetmäki, T., Kotiaho, J., Puurtinen, M. & Salo, M. (Eds.) Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Planetary Well-Being. (pp. 26-41). Routledge.