Providing orientation by philosophizing at school. Phenomenological and postmodern validity claims

In liberal societies it seems to be important to provide orientation by philosophizing at school. We are used to doing this by discussing classic ethics with our students. Here, skills like rational argumentation can be trained. It is the universal rationality that can be applied to different ethical issues and, thus, provide orientation. When it comes to this learning objective phenomenology and postmodernism are mostly not expected to provide assistance. Phenomenology might be seen as just dealing with perception whereas postmodernism is under suspicion for contributing to indecision, arbitrariness and relativism. In this article I will try to outline the potentials of phenomenology and postmodernism in the field of orientation. In the tradition of Husserl’s ‘epoché’ we can let students discover the perspective of a first person and what it means to be a ‘self’. Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty have not only described a certain closeness to the world which can be described as ‘dwelling’ of a lived body. They have also delineated elements of a new ‘postmetaphysical’ and at the same time ‘prehermeneutical’ metaphysics. All this can help to open the depth of self, life, and world. Postmodern thinkers claim a plurality of truths. By this means, these theories can encourage self-empowerment. At the same time, authors like Lévinas (responsibility for the other), Lyotard (the sublime), and Rorty (solidarity) describe new ways of openness towards the world which are not founded by any primal truth and thus provide orientation