TOWARD A SEMIOTIC THEORY OF CHOICE AND OF LEARNING

In this essay, Andrew Stables and Stephen Gough explore some of the implications for educational policy and practice of a view of living (and, therefore, of learning) as semiotic engagement. Such a view, Stables and Gough argue, has the potential to displace or circumvent essentially Cartesian models currently dominant within learning theory (cognitivism and responses to it) and within neoclassical economics (rational choice and responses to it). It thus enables synergies between theories of learning and of economic behavior, allowing for greater consistency in thinking about (but not necessarily prescribing for) both educational policy and provision, on the one hand, and curriculum and pedagogy, on the other. In addition, the authors claim that giving semiotics a foundational role in educational thinking provides a basis for the broader development of liberal political thought within a postmodern cultural context.