| The Ignorant Schoolmaster Five Lessons in Intellectual Emancipation ed) Jacques Ranciere ‘Tremlaaed, with an bntrodnaaion, by Kristin Ross ‘Stanford University Pest Stanford, CaliforniaLita 2f Campos Coin in Patina ams notes (Mae ia, aah ‘heigert choker asus Rave tngshte ih satowatcen. by Riso Rss. ‘nen Le se eat, Povey g (c= Haw ta 9f1 @k) ase ean sep pe ye Bae FrancePigrpy. 5. Bbxaon Ply 4 Blsaton france Poet pacin 1 Tie thorsrauanern oat This ook pied an wi ee i rig 19 Yas ete cee year oF hs iin 7 e605 04 eh 8) a! 0 Contents “Translators Introduction it Bourdieu and the New Sociology, i. Pegi Reforms, wi The Lesion of Alchuser, sw The Practice oF Equi, 29 ‘An Inteleceual Advenvure ‘ ‘Te Bxplicative Order, 4, Chance al WH, 8 "The Egunciparary Master, (2. The Citle of Pomet, «5 ‘The Ignoeane One's Lesson 19 “The lland ofthe Book, 20. Calypuo and the Lock: smith, 25. The Master and Socrates, 29, The Power of the Ienoran, 31, To Each His Orn, 35. The Bind ‘Man and His Dog. 39. Everything Is in Everything, “ Reason Besneen Equals 45 OF Braigs an Lane, 46. An Attentive Animal, 50. ‘A Wil Served bya intelligence 54. Te Principle of Yeracity 57. Reson nd Language, 60. Me Too, I'm Painter, 69, The Poets Leno 2. The Carty oF Equals, 96Comets - 4 The Sociery of Contempe 5. The Emancipator and His Monkey Notes 7s ‘Te Law of Gravity, 76, Inequality’ Pasion, 8 Rhetorical Madness, 85, The Superior Inferior, 86 ‘The Pilosopher-ing and the Sovereign Pople, 8 How to Rave Reasonably, 9, The Spech om the Aventine, 96 Emancipaocy Method and Socal Method, 102, Eman. Cipation of Men and Inseructon ofthe Puople. tos. ‘Men of Progres, 109. OF Sheep ant Men, 113. The Progressives Circle, 117. On the Heads of the People Yaa, The Triumph of the Old Master, 12. Socieay Pedagogicisd. 130, The Panecstc's Stories 15 Emancipation’ Tomb «38 143 ‘Translator's Introduction la The Ignorant Schotmaser Jacques Ranciére re- ‘counts the story of Joseph Jacotor, a achvclteacher driven into ‘exile during the Restoration who allowed that expevcace to fer- ment into a method for showing illiterate parents how they themselves could ceach their childeen how eo read. That Jaco tor’ story mighe have something to do with the post-1968 de- bates about education in France was not immediately apparent romore of the book's readers when ic appeared in 1087. How «could the experiences ofa man who hod lived all ehe great peds- {ogical adventures of the French Revolution, whose own uco- pian eeaching methods knew a brief—if worldwide and per- fectly serious —flurry of atention bebe passing rapidly into the oblivion Ranciére’s book reseues them from —how could these experiences “communicate” with edministatos fice to face withthe problems of educating immigeant North African childeen in Pats, or with intellectuals intent on mapping the Freach school systems continued reproduction of soci ine- qualities? Rancitres book explained aothing abour che failures fof the school system: i entered directly ito none of the con-ii Thamators Itradeton emporary polemical debates. Its polemics, dramatically ce- counted ia the second balf of the book, were eather those ofthe fra of the ignorineschoolnaser, Joseph Jacotor: che eects of _Jacoto's ural enethod: is face’a che hands ofthe eeformers land pedagogic inseirucions it undermined; ins flacerenc by the educational policies pot ineo effect, under the auspices of Francois Guizot and Victor Cousin, by the July Monarchy due- ing the 1830's. The names of the most listened-to theoretical voites on post'68 education——thoac of Pierre Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Milner —are not mentioned by Ranciee. Yer che ‘book's subject was obviously education. Key’oeds ike "les- sons” and “intellecual,” “ignorant” and “schoolmaster” ap- peared. if in a somewhat paradoxical arrangemens, sf its cle ‘And education was again, in the 19805, under scrutiny ia France, ‘Readers in Feance ha dificuty situating ehe book, as they have had dificuley, generally speaking, keeping up with he ‘maverick intellectual itinerary of its author. For although in 1965, Ranciére published Lire le capital with his teacher Louis ‘Anse, he was beer known for his celebrate lta ertique of his coauthor, La Lago a'Alebuser (3973), ste fo the journal he founded the same year, Réoleslogigue. Trained asa philos- ‘opher, a professor of philosophy ac the Univesity of Paris, but immersed cather unfashionably since 1974 ineatly-ninercenth century workers’ archives, Rancitre wiote books that eluded classification —books that gave voice 0 the wild journals of ar- tisans, ro the daydreams of anonymous thinkers, co worker ‘Poets ‘aed philosophers who devised emancipatory systems Alone, in she semi-ntealspaceiace of the eactered late-night _moments their work schedules allowed thee. Were these books primarily history? The philosophy of history? The history of philosophy? Some readers cook Le Mafire ignorant to be a feag- rent of anecdotal history, a curiouity ocean archival oddity. Tramsaters warcision i Esducatrs read it—some quite anxiously, given Jacotor's sf ration char anyone can lean alone—in the imperative, a6 4 contemporary prescriptive, «Kind of soicidal pedagogical How (0. A few reviewers read it on the level at which it might, J think, mose immediaely adress a American or British rade ‘cship only beginning ro come to seems withthe legacies of a decade of Reaganism ana Thatchetsm se an exty, or perhaps a fable or parable, that enacts an extraordinaey philosophical meditation on equality. Bourdiew and the New Sociology ‘The singular hiseory of each gations collectivity plays con- siderable oe in the problems of education, Though the English {tanslatin appears in very dtfereat conditions,” it may be use- ful co begin by discussing ehe book's French context, a context Still profoundly marked by the curbulence of the student up- "sings of May '68 and by the confusions and disappointments, the eversals and deserions, of ee decade that followed the all but total collapse of the Parisian intlligensia of the Lefe the “end of polities” anid the triumph of sociology. For ie was perhaps as 2 reaction ¢o the unexpectedness of the May upesings ther he 19708 fwored the elaboration of a num bet of social seismologies and above all energized soctologicsl teflection itself: the criticism of institutions and superstruc- tutes, of the muleform power of domination. In the wake of the polisica failure "6, the socal sciences awoke to the study 8f power: t0 the New Philosophers’ self-promotionsl mea takeover, to Michel Foucaule, but most imporcantly, perhaps, to the sociology of Pierre Bourdiew—the endemous influence of ‘whose work would, given the time lag and ideology of trans- lation, begin in earnest in the English-speaking works only in the ealy 19805. No less than the New Philosophers, Bourdieu hse nin’ Se yo ast ini sa mah a ra ln aex Braman’ tract - ould be sid to have profited fom both the suces and the fit tre ofthe May movernen, the frst Rraning his work the energy fd posture of etique, the second enforcing fit ce Rev tational pull of seractse If Bourdieu work had little serious impact on methodolog- ical debates tmong profesional sociologist, is elec on bi torias, anchopologiets, profesor of reach, educational re formers, ae historians, ghetto high schoolteachers, and pop: lar jouralists was, iespresd. In the inteoduetion,t0 Empire da nope (399) 2 calling Of esas edited by Rancite and the Rawls liga collective, the suchorsatib- ue the extrordinary success of Bourdiets themes of repro ‘duction and dssinccion—-che phenomenon of ther being, 00 Seal, in everyone's head—ro che imple ac that they sere, ‘Which is osay tha they offered the most thorough philosophy OF the sol, the one thae best explained t the most people the teoresical and pli sigficaion of the lst twenty year oftheir lives, Bourdieu had produced, in oohee words. 4 Aiscourceenticely in keeping with his time, stint char com: bine in the words ofthe editor, “the orphaned fervor of de- ‘nouncing the systen with the disenchanted cetude of = ewes Belore May 1968, steeped inthe theoretical and political rmompere of the Athusserian batele for revolutionary science against ideology, Bourdieu and Jean-Claude Paseron published {Ler Haiti (2984), 0 analyse of the University tat helped ful the densnciation of the institution by showing eo be en- Lirely absorbed in he reproduction of neal social snucrt, ‘The post May dissipation of hopes for socal chonge, however, served only «0 amplify the influence ofthat work, and patie. ‘thy of tbonteicl sequels, La Reprdictin (1970) and La Division (1979)? Bourdieu struceraliserigoe witha Marx Jae accene permitted an exhaustive interpetive analysis of class divisio and its inscription ~mimtely catalogued in the nist details of posture oF daily Behavior as souls cha could Carey of an existence entirely divorced fom the practical hy- Tramsats Itredction x potheses of Marxism or the navetés of hope for socal eeansfor- ‘mation. I allowed, Relies Ingiguer argues, "the denunciation Df both ehe mechanisms of demination ad the illusions of lib Rancitre, in his own crtieal contribution go the volume, ‘acked Bourdieu and the new sociology a the latest ao! most influential foom of « discourse deriving its authority from the Presumed naiveté ot ignorance of its abjects of study: in the Fealm of education, the militant inseeuctors in La Repradusion ‘ho need the legicimacy of che system's authoriey to denounce ‘the arbitrariness of that legitimacy; and the working-class ste sents excluded from the bourgeois aysteny of favors and prvi lees, who do not (and cannot) understand their exclusion, By tracing che passage ftom Les Hester 0 La Rejredution, Rat tre uncovered s logic whereby the socal cite ins by show ing democracy losing. Ie was, for example, a «0 obvious, he wrote, 19 say tha working-class youth are almost entirely ex. ‘tuded from the university system, aed that thet culural ine ferioity isa eesult oftheir economic inferiority. The socilogise attained the level of “Scie” by providing a teutolony whose systemic workings, veiled ro the agenes rapped within is stipe ‘eee evident tohim alone. The perfec circle, aesonding to Ran citre, was made "via ewo propositions 1 Workings youth eed cr he Livery eense they mma eee oh hye a 2 Thar innorsce ofthe eee fr which they ae excaded ‘sasuuctral eer prodced by he vey exten of he sym shar ‘cade them ths Rano The, "Bourdieweffce” could be summed up inthis peeece itl: “they are excluded Heease ey dow tow why heya excluded and they done Hw wy they are rcled beetase they ate excluded.” Or beter: 1 The ssn ede it eve bea ges ue ‘ized. " vesti Teanatrs Iran 2. The system brings about, Ahough the repeoduction of ese iaence, an eet of mistecognision” [By rchearsing ths eaucology, the sociologist placed himself "in the postion of exer denouncer ofa system granted the ability to hide isc forever from is agents": not only did he socio! ‘gist see what reacher (and seudene) did pot, he stw it bee the eacher and student could noe. Wasnt theultimate concer evinced by the logic ofthe new sociology, Ranciéze suggested, that of reuniting It realm, legitimating is specifiy a8 asci- ‘ence hough a naturalizing objectification ofthe orher? Pedagogical Reforms ‘The sociological theories of Bourdieu and Passeron offered something, for xeeyone. For the eolightened reader, the dis- abused Marxist, hey offered the endlessly renewable pleasure ‘of lucdiey, the’ ison of demystification and ehe unveiling of the clockwork mechanics ofa functionalisea usually reseeved for che serucuralist interpretation of fiction, But forthe progres sive educator they offered che justification for a series of as tempts to reform the socal inequities of the school system and this expecially aver Frngois Mitterand and dhe socialists were elected in 1981. AC the level of governmental elucation policy, the Mirserand administeacion was even by wo Waring Ideological tendencies, embodied in the persons who succes sively cccupied the position of Minister of Education, Alain Savary and Jean-Pierre Chevénement. Smary, imbued with something of the sponceneous, liber ‘arian ethos of May ‘68 and with the heady early moments of enacting the Socialist agends, saw his mission as that of reduc ing, through a series of reforms, the inequalities diagnosed by Bourdieu and Passeron. If pecit-bourgeos instructors, intent on izing on the distinctions conferred om thesn fy theit knowledge were, as Bourdiew and Passeron argued, compl: cently reproducing the cltonal models that acted 0 elec "i heritors” and legitimate che social infervety of the dispos- [ I _{Honercomennrenimeems “Translators Yeadon — iin seve, then, Says nes argued, anew aol om tmanity muse be eeaBishe oo ted Ung the gd Seiarin shoe nd se wegen of cling athe rop-~anderentng scowl open, earn tsp inthe school, hich would Se ate to the "Shot personaly othe chi Savy forte, fre compenatry atte to unequal opprtunicy. hed “pio. iy sone" designated tats spleen fang ea scp angi decreed Inememary sls nd igh hol sae noes Nh bothoods, aid “Phen Sava’ suceen, ChevénemensGeteney Miniter of Defense under Miter), cme to power in 198. he ae tones alt ark serge spleen reform, Ur the narcwond of “repablean slim” Cherénemstt wer red the imperatives of tcehologcameaersation aed competion Franc na pred of mold economi Si Advorating «ret co the Encylopedia, ena Tightenmenc principles of Jules Fety ad the Third Repl, he aed forthe ratosion of patina, righ earnacons Civic isttig a wd of cocoa “bade fo bea st teen the rere of seson the Solon chard French choking. Thelen em encetng ee ee af edeaton should cupe im the jute a the rade totam pein pera at abo te gues ton of Freche inthe feo sng smgaton ses noe spring But he forms of she deat wel to fei, were the poliied positions ha ested: he moe Rousesie dies Snay sping tat even republicn clic oul ead only oe exlsion and matali of talimpotne perenageo Pench out he Ealighenmen™ Tikowerse Chesenenne arguing Faas eden tem moat Be onal a et Te inelleta) ces, te somewhat bra rain en the wat bathof Sng toe ene of Chenement es Svar se painon 98 che ing earedxv Tuslator’s Inaoduction -Mitner’sconeroversal polemic, De ale. (Milner appested on the popular French literary television show “Apostrophes” «0 talk abour his book aad was invited by Chevénement 0 the rminietty to discus his ideas on education.) Milner acributed all the ills of the Erench system to 4 plor launched against “knowledge by 2" tse alliance” of stingy administrators, ly aceredited parvena high school teachers, and wellintended reforeners bent on advancing something they called “peda- ‘Rogy’"—what for Milnes amouared wo nothing more han the fempty science of teaching how co reach, These pseudo: progressive advocaes of the vaguely religious and virevous vo ‘ation of pedagogy produced, according ta Milne, «purely par- ‘sci discourse: reform after reform whose ends ly in sicrifcing fue scholarly zeseazch and passion foe a “convivial schooltoont atmosphere.” Nor the least provocayive of is assetions was ‘hac a teacher did not have to lik children co be a good teaches Heatkening back approvingly to the rigors of the Third Re- public, he argued thar schools and teachers shold dispense ‘wieh modeling the “whole sersoa and view thei cask insresd sieply and unequivocably a8 tha of transmitting knowledge, 25 “instructing,” noe “educating” The onequal ration be” tween teacher and studene was not eo be disimantled but rather celebrated, for in its inequality, a i cha of psychoanalyst and patien, ly the ey to success. Inequality predic in ce seu- deat the desire wo know. True equality in schooling meant teans- sitting dhe same knowledge eo each student In his eview of Milner's book,” Renciere concurred wich che linguis's fank characterization of the reformise progtams 35 “obscurancis” in their assumption that che est way £0 reduce inequalities in the realm of formally teansmitred kngwhedge was, to cut back on knowledge ieself; “racist Jn theis supposicion ‘hat the childeen of the working class—and especially of im- ‘migeants—should be provided with a les "abrtact” ot "cule tural” curticulucs; and “iafaneilizing” in their ideology of school as vase, waguely rpaternal enterprise base on "aurtue ing.” But the solution to all this was not, Rancieee argued, 2 I Tranter’ tmredaeion xe return to some notion of pure, scientific eansmission aa Jules ere, for sucha thing had never existed. Wasnt schooling un der che Third Republic tainced by, if nor obsesed with, 8 hy cnic project of moral formation? The terms of the debate-— Rousseau ve, Fevry—-were misleading, Easatity igh reside in teaching che sime ching to everyone, bat i was simply aot crue that every child in France now—or at any time in the past— had a righ to participate in he community of koe. Sir ierly, Milner’s notion of pure scholasy pastion, Ranciére sug- ested, masked the interest of ee aristocrats of educacion, che rmandatins a the top of the university and grant-funding hes archies, whose concern lay in peeterving, inte fice ofa rising ‘ide of hastily accredced inseuctors, the traditional privileges of the possessors of culeue ‘The Lesson of Althusser Milner and Ranciéte shared a student activist past, 2 friend ‘Ship ateachee—Lais Althusser—ani a theoretical formacion ewenty years previously, they had both belonged to the Uniun cles Etudiants Communistes, the famous "cercle d'Ulm": the small group of young theorists including Brienne Baliba, Picere Macheray, Jacques-Alain Miller, and Régis Debray, who accended Afthusser’s early seminars on Marx at the Ecole Not imube, Rancitre and Milner were among the signatories of the frst——smimeographed — ieee ofthe group's journal, the Cabins Marsites-Leninits, an issue whose vtle, “The Function of The foretical Formnacion,” ceveals its authors’ early preoccupation vwith questions of education and the satus of inellecua) dis ‘vast historical chat separates Milne's Dele From “The Funceion of Theoresical Formation’—a chasm Sled with the ‘momentous politcal defer of European worker movement i France, Yealy, Portugal, Geeace, and Spain; the defeat of Al- thusserianism itself on the barricades of May: the Right's te cuperation of May and its anarchoslbertaran ideology for thesot Tranlatrstrtcton Free Marker; and the virtual suppression of historical ateri- lism in France afte 1975 a8 the hands of the intellects cur rents of the New Philosophy and pose-seruccualism. And yee in certain of Milner’ pronauncements about education, about questions of authority ane equaley, for instance, an echo of the old master's voce, chac of Louis Alehusse, can be heaed: “The function of reaching,” Althussee wrote ia 1964, "Ws 0 eosin a determinate knowledge co subjects who do noe possess this Inonfedge. The teiching simation thus rests om the absolute condition of am inequality btuees a buosledge and a monbao- ‘edge.”™ For Milner, a for Alchusser, the fundamental pedagog~ ‘eal elation isthe one between knowledge and isons. Th same historical chasra separates Ranciee’s Le Maire ignorant from bis Lis Lgot Alder, but Ranciéze’s subject ~educs tion, oF more broslly, the status of those who posess knot edge versus the status of those who don't—and orientation to ‘ward authority remain unchanged; beth books, i ft, an ‘ounce chemselves a lessons. By wicing La Laom d Althure, Rancitee performed what he called the fee clenting ofthe tetrain” forthe kind of eect that has preoccupied him ever since: che consideration of the Philosophical and histoneal relations becween knowledge and the mates. Alchusserianism, in La Laon d’Alihutr, emerges fist and Foremost a8 a theory of elucation, For Rance, Al thusser's only political—in che srice sense of the woed—intee- vention occurred ducing the ealy moments of student unrest, ‘when a cormoversy sgatding higher education arose beeweer the student union (UNEF) and the Communist Parry. Student disconcent had begun at that poine eo focus on the ferms of the "uansmission of knowledge—che pedagogical telacion of mag: isteial professorsand decile stdents—as well a its ends: form Jing the future sulasiescf the bousgenisc. Already inthe eatly 1960's, students had begun co question che stbtrarness of ex- arninations and the ideology of individual research. In chese ‘aly, tentative effrts——theie slogan was"La Sorbonne aux > diants"—polivics appeated ina new form: in the questioning of i i E i i ] Translators niaduction 0th knowledge and is relation eo political power snd ie the ineeo ddustion ofa new line of division amo intellectuals betwece the producers and che consumers of knowledge. Althussers in tervention was swift and cleat In an article entitled "Problesnes nvidia” (196), he oulined the coctece ports for Com muinist students, They must frse develop theit knowledge of| Marxism-Leninism and then conduct scentfic analyses that would yield objective knowledge of che Univesity. What should matter ro Marxists was less the form-—the pelagogical relation in which keowledge was disseminated —than "the quilty of knowledge itself." Their eask must be that of "iis- covering new scientific knowledge capable of illuminating and The Ignonent Seboobmate forces y to confront ehat any M- ber of nihilistic, newsliberal philosophies would have us avo the founding tezm of our political modernity als. And the face of syscemmatic ateacks on the vety idea, powerful ideol- ‘pies than would nehepae tro the duntin of history orto some dimly eadiane facure, Rancitee places quslityeértually in the present. Against the seamless science of the hidden, Jac: cor’ sory reminds us est aqualiey tures ot another, very di feren logic: in division eather than consensus, ina mulipicey fof concrete acts and actual moments and situations, sicuacion®| thacerupe into the fiction of inepalitarian society without ehern- selves becoming insituions, And inthis, my endering of the title of ehe bole The vara Schntmarty i peta mislead ing. For Jacoro had no school. Equality does or, s they say ia French, “aire école.”The Ignorant Schoolmaster Five Lessons in {ncetlectual EmancipationEJ An intettectual Adventure Io 1818, Joseph Jucnoe, a leceues in French lit erature ar the University of Louvain, had an inellectual adven- ‘Along snd eventful career should have made him imuune to surprises: he had celebrated his nineteenth Bieta ia ¢789, He was at hat cime teaching rhetoric st Dijon and preparing fora carer in lw. In 1792, he served as an atillerymaa in the Republicen armies. ‘Then, wnder the Convention, he worked successively a8 instructor fr the Bureau of Gunpowder, scre- tary to the Minister of War, and substtate foe the director of the Ecole Polytecanique. When he returned ro Dijon, he caughe acalysis, sdnfogy, ancient haguages, pure mathematics, tan Scendent mathernatics, and ls. In March 1815, th esteem of his countrymen made hiea 2 deputy inspite of hrmell. The re- ‘um of the Bourbons forced him ineo exile, and by the gener- cotiy of the King.of the Netheelands be abtsined «position 26 a professor at hell-pay. Joseph Jacorot wos acquainted with the laws of hospraiey and couneed on spending some cle ays in Kowrain, ‘Chance decided differently. The unassuming lecture’ ls- Sons were, in fact, highly appreciated by his students. Among ‘hose who wanted to aval themselves of him were a geod num- ber of students who dit sor speak Pench; tor Joseph Jacocor knew no lemish, There was thus polnguage in which ie could teach them what they sought from him. Yer he wanted ro e-2 An tnulhernal Advenore spond 40 thet wishes, To do So ee minimal link of «thing in ‘umnon had 1 be established ber ween himself anl chem, At that ‘sie, a bilingual edicion of THléniague was being published in Brussels." The thing in common fad been found, and Telecoa- chus made his way into the life of Joseph Jacotor. He had the ‘book delivered ¢o the srudents and ask eher, ecoogh an in terprter, ra learn the Feench text with the help of the erans- lavion, When ehey had made ie chrough the frst half of rhe book, be had them repeat what ehey had lethed over and over, and then col them eo read through the rest of dhe book until they could recite it. This was 2 fortunate solution, bue it eas alsa, eta seal scale,» philosophical experiment ia dhe style of the ones performed during the Age of Enlightenment. And Jo soph Jacorer, in 2828, remained a man of che preceding cen- un Bur the experiment exceeded his expectations, He asked the seucdents who had prepared as instucted to writen Ereacl what they ehoughe about whar they hid res: He exgeced hotsendoasbasbatims, or maybe » complete inality to perform. How could these young people, deprived of explanaion, tiercand snd eave ce difievtiee of = anpungeenveely ne 10 them? No matter! He Bad «0 find out where the roure opened by hance had cen hen, what bad been be ese that desperate tmpitcim, Ard how surprised be wa co dacover hat the studett, lec hemselves, manag vic cificln uep 2 well as many French ‘oul have cone! Was wanting all dhe ws ncesary for ding? Were all men virally capable of waderavteig what others had done an understood” Such was the revolution that this chance experiment un- leashed in is mind. Uneil thea, he hal believed was all com- eth ac edi 24a rh arp a ee ser ann. omy orp gue Sone aera een, pnt Ringe tno {een tom il stefan arse sear [retin poi oar mse otro a aio Sect o,l g ERENT Av tetlatnal Advonare 3 _centous profesor bli: that che importa sis of the trast etn rane smth ate so a obng them, by egret, his omn lee of experts. Lie ll cone “Scien pero, he Rese ac teaching was 90 the Alightesr about caming students with ledge snd having, therm repeat ike patos, but he kre equally wel tha st dens a to avoid the cence detours wher ic il ca fue of dicnguishing the eset forthe accessory the Principle fom the comsequenc, ge x, In shom, he een Ecco the master wast plicate to dtegge the simple ele- iments etn, se eo econ ee smi in pnp ‘ith the fact simplicity tat characterize young ad iho rane minds. To each wa fo etait enring snd orm minds Simltaneouly, by leading those mings, acerding #0 a or drt pression, from the mut spe othe most Comex By rhe reoned appropriation of knowlege ad the formation sk ydpmene and este sdent was tho elevated ras igh + eel at hi soilstnation demanded, nd he wa nis Prepared vo make theo ofthe knoe appropri eat om to feach to tigate, oto over forthe cred ion design, of make instru nd machi for the new avantgarde noe hopfully tbe dew ery the ne oi the cornmon people; end in the scenic carers, fr the ‘minds ited with this particaac genus, co make new dicen tris. Undoubedty the procedures of these men 0 siece woul diverge nociceahly fan she seasoned nde the peo gies Bt tit wot no grounds fran argent aint that Grr On the canes, oe i Sse cae ssl od me ‘hodicl foundation before ee sngulrins of penis could ake Bagh. Prt use Proe es, “This is how ll onsets professor texto. This was howe Joseph Jacotot, in his thitty years st the job, had reasoned and acre. But roby chance, prin of sad ad porte 0 icine, Head given o explanacon co hisses on the fre clement of the language. He had wot expaved pes tr conjugaions to chem, Tey bad looked forthe French words dhe comeseonded co words they kee ane the Fea for tet4 Av tntlcal Adventure -rammatical endings by themselves. They had lesned to put them together co make, in turn, French seneences by them: selves: sentences whose spelling and geammar became note and more exact as they progressed through che book; but, above a sentences of wricers und not of sehookchilden, Were che rehaal= masters explication therefore superfluous? Or, if they weren', to whom and for whar were they useful? ‘The Explicative Order ‘Thus, in the mind of Joseph Jacooe, a sudden illumination Dually highlighted what is blindly taken for granced in aay system of reaching: the necessicy of explication. And yee why shoulda’ it be eaken for granced? No one craly knows anyching, brher than what be has wederstoad. And (ar comprehension £ take place, one has robe given an explication, the words of che master must shatter the silence of the Faghe meri ‘And yet that logic is not without certain doscurites. Com- sider, for example, a book in the hands of a srudene. The book ‘sande up of a setie of reatonings designed 0 make a student tunclerstand some material. But now the schoolmaster opens bis _mouth ea explain the book. He makes a series of reasonings in fonder eo explain the series of teasoningy that conatioe the book. Bue why should che book need such help? Instead of pay~ ing fac an explicator, coulda a father simply give che book co his son aid the child understand dicectly ee reaonings of the bbook? And if he doesn understand them, why would he be any more likely to understand che reining that wool explain hia what he hasn't understood? Are those eeasonings ofa dif eens satce? And iF 0, woulda ie be necessary to expla the ‘way in which to understand them? ‘So the logic of explication calls forthe principle of a regres- sion ad infinieum: thege is no reason fox whe Tedoxbling of tex sonings ever to stop. What brings an end tothe repression and ives the systeca is foundation is simply thar ehe expliator is the sole jadge ofthe point when the explication is itself exp cated, He isthe sole judge ofthat, in itself, dizzying question An Intact Advenine 5 ‘asthe student understood the reasoning thas teach him co un derstand che reasonings? This is what the master has over the father: how could the facet be certain thatthe cil fs unde. stood the book's reasonings? What is missing for che fate, ‘what will alvays be missing in che ero be foros with the cl and the book, is the singular ate of the explicitor the ae of Sistane,, The shaster's weEtet T to Know how to recognize the Se ‘Phe explcator sts up ad sbolshes this divaneelepoes mre eee Thsporegel te neh ees appre es son al nity sitar ag eee ea Invi eplate wee n ee aaa ‘How cuir we Understand this paradoxical privilege of speech over sn neopets of6 Aw bnlicual Adventure gegen om doin, poe fpeaking, begin, Now everyting happens a though e ould tu one’s with he ithe sane ncignce eas wed {p Uni nowt though the autonomous rlatonship Between ‘pprenticethip and vericaton were om tit pont Olen tor, Berton oot steer #8 Opacy fat now in Ie concerns mndrtouin, od thie word lone throw vel ot ‘verthingnderanding wht te cid canoe do without She eprint lef many ser hee seme ound all peed in cern ogre She one, Not co mention the strange ccumstance a since the emf roges Spun hse eeplatons ave ot cn being ported in nde beter to eplct, ro make moce coe prehennbl, the beer o len ttn ay dice Be coresponding pean of te sid comprehension. In ‘tad, 2 growing Complaint Begins tobe bet he expcasive Spee hing ect, Ts, of cure, ecsatesf Working te enplicons yt again to mae them ee on estan by these who ar ling Co ale cher “The elation that ceo Jseph acer snot hi the logic ofthe seaicaive spss bad wo be overturned Ex Placon s moe ney to reredy anny) ounce ar on fcative conception of che wala teis— {te eaptcaor wid nee the Incapable and nore other #2 cane Trane woos deinableasinch Toeaplin” SORERIOE ToMTMRGGE Ha oP al to sow him he cannot un- Scrand i by hse. Bee beng the sco he pedagogue pletion she mth of pages, the pale os word i Sided io ning idan ovat ones, ie mins nd Inmate ont the ape ad the incapable, he tie tnd ae sap, The eal specal i consis of ts Ene oaupued gree, On the oe bunds he ces te ste Beginnings oly ow tat te ac of ein wl Senin. On the aber, having town sel of ivan er Stet tbe ned apes hl oe ak At Intell Adventure — 7 of lieing it, Lei he carne along, the child has been groping blindly, figuring oue riddles. Now he will learn. He heard swords and repeuved chem. Bue now itis vime co read, and he vill nae understind words if he doesa’e understand syllables, and he won't understand syllable i he doesnt understand ite ters that nether the book nor his parents can make him undes- ‘agen the master's word wth, wes vides che world into two. More precisely 1 divides intli- oT, ea nT a ET rane. ‘The FoierFegsvers perceptions by chance, fe- (Gains em, interpretsand repeats them empiically, within the ‘lose circle of habic and ced. This ie the incelligence of the ‘young child and the common man. The superio intelligence knows things by reason, proceeds by method, fom the simple tothe comple, fom the part othe whol. Iie hisintelligence thar allows the master ¢0 transmit his knowledge by adapting eto the intellectual capacities of the student and allows iim 10 that ehe student has satisfactorily understood what he learned. Such is the peinciple of explication, From this point ‘0, for Jacocot, such will be the prineiple of exon sltifia- ‘To understand this we must rid ourselves of received images. ‘The stultifier is nor an aged obtuse master who crams is #0- dent’ skulls full of pootly digested knowledge, ofa malignant character moathing half-truths in order to shore up his power and the social order. On the contrary, he salt the mene eica- lous benuse hes koowledgetble, calightenels aad of ged cage Between it Fave te anaphora nes-Themtr Ter Engen, The ore widen he es he ‘Tifetence between groping blindly and searching methodically, the more he will insist on subsicuting He spi Sor the eres, the clariey of expicstions for che suthority of the Book. Above “eget startet i nt sneer name tthe pn sds ‘Sows nie te8 Aw lnelletnal Advenore all be wily, the aden must undercnd, an for tha we sn exlan cen betes, Such che concen ch nlghened Peso scr the ile one undestn” He dont unde Sand will id new ways to expan toi, ays mote rig Sous in priocpe, moe state nfrmand wah se the ha dersand ‘A eckle concen. Unfonatly, it jst hile word this slogan of the elightened—tndersand-—she case al the tobe es hit word that bynge a aero the movement of ton, st deste ie Cnc in el, tare by breaking the wolf ineligence ito wo, by nealing the ahisoneroec he roping ial ar heared inl man, terwern common eens. From the momen his fam of duality ts pronounced al the porticring of the way of taking nd thon great preocapeion fen of eed tnd progceives, is pogtess towed stalifcaron, The chi tho ets under the eto the rod bg he od ata Ii be wil spy hs ineligece fo someting ee Bu the {hid who le esplaina wl deyte hs aellgece othe work of icving: eo ndetunding, ta i 0 ay. 0 underscanding ta eeu ene mained He cr submitting tthe od, it rere ccc wos [Pmegenes Hee ene chs ees bse {owonry ifthe ation tthe problem toda purse, te wil ve nosh ieligece to open his eye we, The trate i vigane and ptine, le wil ace thatthe die Felowing bin, he will pc hits back ontrack by explaining hing again And tht the child cus 4 ew ieligenc, that of the master explains, Lace he ce bean explictor incu, He ponesies te equipment. But he wil pester he ‘il be aman of prope ‘Chance and Wil So goes the world of the explcated explcators, So would it eave gone foe Profesece Jacoeot it chance hada’e gue him it the An Intellectual Advenume 9 Presence ofa fat. And Joseph Jacotoe believed thet all rexson- ing should be based on facts and cede place 10 them. We shouln’s conclude from this chat he was » materialise. Oo the concrary, like Descartes, who proved movement by walking, but also lke his wey cayalist and very ceigious concempaceey ‘Maine de Biran, he considered the fact of a mind ae work neting tnd conscious of its activiey, co be more certain than any mas teeial thing. And ehis was whae ie wae all about: jaca hae his students hd farmed to speak and co write in French without the aid of explication. He ad communicated nothing them about his science, no explcations of che rots and Rexions of the French language. He hadn't even proceeded in the fashion of those seformer pedagogues who, Hike whe preceptor in Rouse seau’s Emile, mislead theie students the better to guide them, tnd sho cunningly erect an obstacle course for the students to leaen to negotiate themselves. He had let them alone with the texe by Féoelon, a ceanslacion~—-noe even interlinear likes Sebyntbook-—and cheic will o leacn French, He fad ony piven them the ofder to pass through 2 forest whose openings ad