Ori Rotlevy

Fatalism, naïveté, and liberation: a conversation with Zeev Degani on the philosophy of education

Hilla Ben Ari, “Dawn”, 2011, from the video, photo: Amit Yasur

Dr. Zeev Degani, principal of the historic Israeli high school “Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium” for seventeen years, has established himself as a prominent advocate for democracy, humanism, and freedom of expression in Israeli society, while opposing militarism, nationalism, and religious coercion. The following conversation considers Degani’s philosophy of education and his attempts to implement it. Drawing both from his academic background and work with Paulo Freire, as well as his life-long experience as an educator, Degani reflects on education as a medium in which naïveté allows liberation from the chains of fatalism. The discussion concerning the application of his philosophy presents high schools as a fascinating arena embodying the problematic relations between theory and praxis.

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Dr. Ori Rotlevy is a scholar of ethics, political philosophy, and philosophy of education. His recent publications explore the relationships between freedom and collective action in contexts of resistance, social criticism, tradition, secularization, and education. He heads the Philosophy Track at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium and lectures in the International Liberal Arts program and in the “Philosophy, Science and Digital Culture” M.A. program at Tel Aviv University, where he also serves as a research fellow at The Mandel Center for Public Humanities. His latest article, co-authored with Itay Snir, “Affirming educative violence: Walter Benjamin on divine violence and schooling” was published in Ethics and Education.