LECTURE SERIES “OUR SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD”
Education and the public sphere: indoctrination or critical thinking?
Lecturer David Dzalto, Ph.D.
Education is often referred to as a key factor in social development. The public sphere as a space of authentic and informed dialogue, together with education, has traditionally been perceived as a necessary precondition for a functioning democracy. Nevertheless, we are witnessing a crisis in both the public sphere and the sphere of (higher) education. How are these two spheres connected? How does a modern academy work and what are the consequences for society and democracy? How to affirm education as critical thinking (instead of education as indoctrination) in the era of corporate capitalism? Can we still talk about the real existence of academic and civil liberties, including freedom of opinion and speech? These are some of the questions that will be discussed in the lecture “Education and the public sphere: indoctrination or critical thinking?”
Prof. Dr. Davor Dzalto is a full professor at the Department of Eastern Christianity – Stockholm University College, and president of the Institute for the Study of Culture and Christianity.
