Investigaciones Pedagógicas (review)

Amid a context of instability as the end of First World War was, Saúl Taborda, an argentine philosopher, educator, and policy-maker, is certainly concerned by the role played by academicians and intellectuals as well as the function of imperialism to absorb the interest of US worldwide. The present review is aimed at exploring the primary limitations of Taborda's development but focuses on his main contributions from an interdisciplinary way. His stance was clear respecting to the function of democracy in educational issues. Nationalism, decline of nationhood, secularization, tension between secular and religious education, modernity were some of the most important concerns that Taborda allowed to deal in his valuable project entitled Investigaciones Pedagógicas (Pedagogic Researches). Based on his legacy, the Universidad Pedagogica spent considerable efforts and time in collating the a frame-work that at least not only passed the time-proof but also help readers to understand the current educational issues.

Undoubtedly, the dissociation between reasoning and faith was the platform for Taborda to reconsider a new innovative way for education. In sharp contrast with positivism and rationale, which characterized the academy of such a period, Taborda exerted considerable criticism against the role of capitalism and market as responsible for the crisis he was facing. If the subject, once born and socialized, seems to be circumscribed by a previous order that precedes its own existence, Taborda adds, where adaptation and crisis converge, the influence of E. Durkheim and other French scholars pave the pathways for the advent of a new methodology in education-research. This new methodology was certainly based on a profound lecture of history not only to repeat the past flaws, but also to expand the existent understanding about educational structures. Of course, almost 600 pages are very hard to synthesize in one or two sheets. In sum, the Taborda's legacy can be explained as follows: a) the educational crises, b) the dichotomy between legitimacy and authority, c) the history as a mechanism to understand the crisis' roots, d) the influence of nation-states in education, e) pedagogic as a strategy of cultural adaptation, and f) religious values and the needs for a secularized school.

Most likely, Taborda over-valorizes the ideal of democracy ignoring that its archetype is not based on expanding the rights but in the issuance of law. The modern democracy not only has nothing to do with Hellenic worldview, but also was determined by two contrasting but powerful forces, one of them was the Cromwell's revolution and the industrialism that collaborated to create an atmosphere of free choice. As Castoriadis put it, democracy in ancient Greece was thought as a form of living the city. If a law was unfair, the principle of democracy indicated that anyone and anytime can derogate it. Nonetheless, this does not mean that citizens disobey the authority of king or the senate. For that reason, democracy was not associated to the expansion of rights but to aristocracy. Ancient philosophers envisaged how pervasive would be the role of democracy, if all inhabitants of city accessed to their citizenship. Unlike ancient democracy, modern one does not allow a citizen to modify or derogate a law creating a potential totalitarianism.

In a world that was fraught of asymmetries, Greek thought, egalitarianism was considered counter-productive simply because it would create a cynic dictatorship. If the Greeks should demonstrate to be the best because the world was not created by being administered by humans, the reform and its influence from Judaism consider that God love their sons in a similar way. This created the roots of egalitarianism that ended with globalization. The capital, utilitarianism and trade are social construal given by British Empire and US to compound the Anglo-democracy. The mass consumption is based on the rationale, the market and freedom of conscience. Even though Taborda presents a mater-full book that can keep many researchers and educators up to date, his position is inconsistent because he valorizes Anglo-democracy but rejects its corner stone: the market...