Philosophical hermeneutics and a new account of «attendance and absence» in the field of education

This study aims at rethinking about the meaning and concept of "attendance and absence" as depicted in gadamerian hermeneutics in the field of education, on the one hand, and at illuminating its role and stance to meet the educational goals, on the other. In the common perception of attendance-absence concept, its meaning and role have been restricted to a certain place (e.g. classroom) and a certain time (e.g. during class time) and certain (pervasive) individuals. Relying on Hans-Georg Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics, the author tries to offer a new account of this concept. Philosophical hermeneutics speaks about the ontology of understanding and its constituents and considers necessary a set of elements for reaching such understanding; fusion of horizons, the status of understanding as play its being non-methodic is three items of the mentioned elements. "Fusion of horizons" refers to the conversation between ideas, and criticisms from "others"; "understanding as play" implies the pervasive involvement of someone in the game (activity); "being non-methodic" involves transcending the usual and quantitative methods and to observe how much horizons and reflective ideas are exchanged through discourses. In this approach, interaction is pervasive through all the mentioned elements; the interaction which is manifested sometimes through two ideas, sometimes between rules and their executive agent (human being) and sometimes through conversation between past and presence. According to the philosophical hermeneutics, whenever one of the mentioned parties is removed, no more conversation and hence understanding is possible. Accordingly, in this new account, "absence" can be considered in several forms: 1) absence of ideas; 2) Physical absence; 3) lack or absence of principles (rules of the game); 4) absence of subjects. Any failure to include each one of these forms may result in a certain type of education which has been pointed in this study.