Edukation som social integration En hermeneutisk analys av den kinesiska undervisningens kulturspecifika dimension

Sammanfattning: The dissertation consists of eight studies in combination with a longer work, which links the eight studies together. The aim is two-fold: to develop a scientific approach within philosophical hermeneutics for the study of the culture-specific dimension of teaching in China, and to analyse the culture-specific dimension of teaching in China on the terms of this approach. An explicit ontological foundation makes up the base of the hermeneutic approach, and epistemology, methodology and so on are adapted in accordance with this. Implications of this hermeneutical approach for educational research is further outlined, and the hermeneutical approach is more clearly positioned in relation to so-called qualitative research. With this hermeneutical approach, cross-cultural educational research can be conducted without either universalism or exoticism, since it offers a possibility to understand phenomena in other cultures without claiming to share them. Based on this hermeneutical approach, an interpretational framework named traditional thinking is constructed as a theoretical synthesis of Chinese philosophy, that is Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese Buddhism, Moism and Legalism. With traditional thinking, the analysis of the culture-specific dimension of teaching in China generates an understanding consisting of a number of themes. The themes are: concrete activity, sociality, collectivism, relationalism, balance, order, patriotism, aesthetics, perfection, good examples, the nobility of teaching, family, hierarchy, equal competition, responsibility, talent, examination, body, improvement, critiques, effort, self-study. In this understanding, moral has a central position and refl ects on all themes. This is a social and relational morality that embraces knowledge and aesthetics, which is achieved and realised in concrete bodily activity. Morality serves a system in order, i.e. it helps keep its balance. It facilitates the functioning of the collective and gives patriotism a moral character. Perfection is the optimal moral standard, which characterises all good examples, and the striving for improvement depends on critique and effort. Since perfection is always attainable, teaching and self-study make up the human way to harmony. In this, family is a precondition for moral cultivation, just as equal competition is a precondition for a balanced hierarchy and for correct responsibility. Talent is decisive, which in turn requires examination.