RADICAL PEDAGOGY REQUIRES CONSERVATIVE EPISTEMOLOGY

Many defences of multiculturalist educational initiatives conjoin a 'l iberal' or 'radical' moral/political view-that education should endeav our to treat students with respect, and that respecting nondominant, ' marginalised' students requires protecting them from the hegemonic dom ination of the dominant culture-with what appears to be an equally rad ical epistemological view, according to which respecting minority stud ents and cultures requires respecting their culturally specific episte mologies, which in turn requires refraining from imposing upon them a dominating hegemonic epistemology concerning the nature of truth, rati onal justification, and so on. In this paper I argue (I) that this 'ra dical' epistemological position is fatally flawed; and (2) that, if tr ue, it would undermine, rather than undergird, the favoured moral/poli tical view. I argue, that is, that proponents of 'radical' pedagogy wo uld do better to reject the associated 'radical' epistemological view in favour of a more traditional, 'conservative' one.