Education at the margins of the political

Abstract

This paper argues that the political can respond to that which exceeds it without reducing it to the same, and that public education is one of the most important places where this can happen. I present a rationale for public education to assist that which exceeds the political: singularity, solitude and difference. What I maintain is that the political must welcome this excess, especially through public education, or else it would not be possible to provide the educational context for that which might be of significance to individuals without having socio-political value.

Keywords:

• Education
• Hannah Arendt
• Claude Lefort
• John Llewelyn
• Pierre Rosanvallon

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.