An Ethical Critique of Technocratic Mathematics Education: Towards an Ethical Philosophy of Mathematics Education

Abstract

An 'ethical critique' of technocratic mathematics education is a radical alternative to standard critiques, and has three aims. (1) To analyse technocratic mathematics education by viewing it, not as a pedagogical method or educational doctrine as standard analyses do, but as a narrative with an ethical and temporal dimension. (2) To undermine the hegemonic status of technocratic mathematics education by (i) explaining its appeal, and (ii) showing why this appeal is illusory. (3) To engage with and disrupt the orientations, and practices of technocratic mathematics education, in a way that standard critiques cannot, by moving beyond the metaphysical realm of presence, to the temporal and ethical dimension revealed in the experience of our being with others.