Flourishing as the Aim of Education: A Neo-Aristotelian View by Kristján Kristjánsson
In November 2022 we were delighted to welcome Kenneth (Kenny) Primrose to the Reading Network to introduce Flourishing as the Aim of Education: A Neo-Aristotelian View by Kristján Kristjánsson. Kenny is a teacher of RE & Philosophy and lead on character and ethos in a school in the North East of England. He moved there from Aberdeenshire three years ago, and previously worked in the state and independent sectors in the UK and abroad. Kenny has just finished an MA in Character Education at the Jubilee Centre in Birmingham, and is particularly interested in approaches to education which aim to make better human beings, rather than more productive and efficient societies.
Kenny proposed the following questions to open the discussion:
To what extent does Kristjánnson's theory/view of flourishing provide a helpful and normative ideal for educators, when compared to other governing aims of education?
How would an education system with flourishing as its core aim look different? (Chapter two includes radical proposals like White's, does flourishing require a radically different approach politically, institutionally and pedagogically?)
A significant difference in Kristjánnson's theory from other Aristotelian ideas is the addition of experiences of awe/transcedance, which seek to enchant a fairly flat idea of flourishing. To what extent is this a realistic and fair aim for educators, and what would this entail?
