ABSTRACT

This chapter discusses the educational implications of H. G. Gadamer's account of hermeneutics in an attempt to show how theory and practice can be fused in the notion of a conversation. According to Gadamer hermeneutics is equally likely to affect the way that an interpreter sees his own immediate participation in a tradition, which itself influences the expectations which are brought to bear on a text as well as affecting the interpretation of the text itself. The chapter discusses briefly Jurgen Habermas's criticisms of Gadamer's work as these criticisms relate to educational theory. It focuses mainly attention for 'action research' to be classroom practice, then it might not matter so much that W. Carr and S. Kemmis construe action research as a response to the problems that teachers face. It concludes by offering a critique of the action research movement as it arises out of Habermas's work.