In this chapter, I explore Hannah Arendt’s views of education as love in relation to the task of contemporary early childhood education. The backdrop for the essay is a contemporary interpretation of what Arendt called the twofold flight. Her concern for human alienation from the world and from the earth is echoed with the current societal challenges and discussed in relation to the contemporary educational task. I will first turn to Arendt views of education as love to discuss the notion of love in relation to contemporary Swedish early childhood curriculum. Arendts perspective on love of the world, amor mundi, is then discussed further through Simone Weils’ idea of rootedness, as it aligns with Arendt’s statement of humans being bound to each other and to the earth. Love and rootedness are suggested to offer perspectives through which contemporary education can enable and encourage alternative endeavors to the modern tendencies of the twofold alienation. Amor mundi as an aim and as an approach can remind us of what we have in common and need to nourish, in order for us and the earth as our home to survive. For education to prepare the children for the renewal of our common world, amor mundi needs to also encompass a love for the earth. The essay concludes that interdependency and belonging become crucial to acknowledge in an education supporting our ability to live together in and with our common world, both today and in the future.

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Is There Life on Mars? Educating the Dwellers of the Universe Towards Amor Mundi

  • Jenni Nilsson

摘要

In this chapter, I explore Hannah Arendt’s views of education as love in relation to the task of contemporary early childhood education. The backdrop for the essay is a contemporary interpretation of what Arendt called the twofold flight. Her concern for human alienation from the world and from the earth is echoed with the current societal challenges and discussed in relation to the contemporary educational task. I will first turn to Arendt views of education as love to discuss the notion of love in relation to contemporary Swedish early childhood curriculum. Arendts perspective on love of the world, amor mundi, is then discussed further through Simone Weils’ idea of rootedness, as it aligns with Arendt’s statement of humans being bound to each other and to the earth. Love and rootedness are suggested to offer perspectives through which contemporary education can enable and encourage alternative endeavors to the modern tendencies of the twofold alienation. Amor mundi as an aim and as an approach can remind us of what we have in common and need to nourish, in order for us and the earth as our home to survive. For education to prepare the children for the renewal of our common world, amor mundi needs to also encompass a love for the earth. The essay concludes that interdependency and belonging become crucial to acknowledge in an education supporting our ability to live together in and with our common world, both today and in the future.