Abstract

As a corrupted byproduct of socioeconomic politics, curriculum philosophy is unsuitable to solve its own problems or reform itself Leaving the educational field, I consider the foundation of education through a political philosophy frame. Using Hannah Arendt's The Human Condition to differentiate between active living and merely existing, I explore the pre-Socratic definitions of authenticity, politics, freedom, plurality, public, private, labor, work and action. With this political framework, I investigate the rise of the social realm from the fall of the public and private realms in three key historic periods: Ancient Greece's 4thCentury B.C.E. shift from democracy to empire; the institution of neo-Platonism as Catholicism in the 4th Century A.D. to redeem the Roman empire; and the 19th Century lapse into modem consumerism from Marx's inability to reconcile the economic alienation of the Industrial Revolution. I show that the rise of Western society has galvanized essentialism and fostered a disconnect with authenticity and our human senses. I identify the anxiety created by the conditioned feeling that one cannot trust one's own senses is the catalyst of existentialism. I run authenticity through the existential frame of plurality, ambiguity and existential self-validation. It becomes evident that contemplation is the missing element in curriculum philosophy. I review two curriculum initiatives that I believe foster contemplation in students: Transcendental Meditation in schools and Outward Bound educational adventure trips. I make recommendations of how to combine authenticity, Transcendental Meditation, and Outward Bound into practical curriculum philosophy.