Greater Humanities for Education

Abstract

This article deals with the fragmentation of the Humanities, a proposed solution to it, and its applicability to Education Sciences. Section §1 examines some of the historical roots of both the divide between Humanities and Natural Sciences, as well as that between the Humanities and Social Sciences. The goal will be that of drafting a genealogy of the issue, and not that of providing the reader with a thorough diachronic recount. Once the need for a common direction is established, Clifford’s proposal is examined and supplemented with Burawoy’s epistemological partition of social sciences (Section §2). Finally, the resulting template will be applied to education in general and, more specifically, to Education Sciences, in order to see if they fit the Greater Humanities vision. In particular, the case of Italy’s Scienze della Formazione post-academic movement will be tested for compliance. Its overarching research programme, as outlined by Margiotta, will elicit a closer look at the ties between Education and unitarian projects devised for the Humanities.

Keywords

• Greater Humanities
• Education sciences
• Epistemological divide
• Consrtuctivism
• Italy