Table Of ContentA History of Inspiration through
Metaphors of Learning
In this book, Robert Nelson reminds us that one of the most important elements
of teaching and learning is to inspire and to be inspired. Given that inspiration
itself has evolved through metaphor, the inquiry distinguishes inspirational
learning by its peculiarly metaphoric character.
We acknowledge that students respond to passion and enthusiasm and that
they seek stimulation, purpose, motivation and inspiration. But because these
triggers operate through mysterious language and arrive at their modern usage
through metaphor, we have no means of penetrating their structure or gaining
access to their powers. We mishandle educational practice through a focus on
technical process and machinery rather than the imaginary animating vision that
propagates inspired study through metaphor. This book corrects the imbalance
and argues that metaphors are intrinsic to all our educational ambitions. It
reveals the wide metaphorical backdrop of learning and teaching that works on
an unconscious level and is only revealed through analysing the language that
describes what matters most.
Inviting readers to explore learning in a non-traditional way, this book will be
of interest to researchers and students in education seeking to understand better
the nature of inspiration.
Robert Nelson writes on art, education and the history of ideas. Prior to joining
Melbourne University as Honorary Principal Fellow, he was Head of Department
of Theory of Art and Design, Associate Dean Research and Graduate Studies,
Associate Dean Teaching and Learning and Associate Director, Student Learning
Experience, at Monash University. Robert is also a poet and art critic for T he Age
and was a scene painter for the photographic artist Polixeni Papapetrou.
Routledge Research in Education
This series aims to present the latest research from right across the field of educa-
tion. It is not confined to any particular area or school of thought and seeks to
provide coverage of a broad range of topics, theories and issues from around the
world.
Lived Democracy in Education
Y oung Citizens’ Democratic Lives in Kindergarten, School and Higher
Education
E dited by Rune Herheim, Tobias Werler & Kjellrun Hiis Hauge
M ultimodal Signs of Learning
T racking semiosis in the classroom
S hirley Palframan
A Retrospective Study of a Dialogic Elementary Classroom
U nderstanding Long-Term Impacts of Discursive Pedagogies
L ynn Astarita Gatto
T hinking with Stephen J. Ball
L ines of Flight in Education
M aria Tamboukou
A History of Inspiration through Metaphors of Learning
T he Height of Teaching
R obert Nelson
F or more information about this series, please visit: w ww.routledge.com/
Routledge-Research-in-Education/book-series/SE0393
A History of Inspiration
through Metaphors of
Learning
The Height of Teaching
Robert Nelson
First published 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
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© 2022 Robert Nelson
The right of Robert Nelson to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
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Trademark notice : Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book as been requested
ISBN: 978-1-032-23050-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-23051-1 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-27543-5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003275435
Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Contents
This book at a glance vii
Synopses of the chapters viii
Acknowledgement xiii
I ntroduction: inspiration as the height of learning 1
PART 1
Motivational metaphors 23
1 Passion: how the pleasure of learning is measured
with agony 25
2 Being special: how we need to feel distinctive when
we share an interest 37
3 Focus: when is concentration limiting and distraction helpful? 47
4 Group: when do we learn better on our own than
among others? 60
5 Purpose: how a sense of mission depends upon conceit 72
PART 2
Material metaphors 83
6 Step: what is the smallest gain toward an inspiring
understanding? 85
vi Contents
7 Change: in learning, what do we want to alter and
what has to stay the same? 96
8 Support: how cultural encouragements are more
necessary than material ones 108
9 Impact: how the need to demonstrate impact damages
inspiration 116
1 0 Failure: when is it good to be resigned to not
succeeding? 129
PART 3
Aspirational metaphors 141
11 Wonder: how does the rational mind recruit
the mystical in order to learn? 143
1 2 Voice: how the sound of student voices is as
important as student influence 160
1 3 Ease: how we only learn inspiringly when we
are free of anxiety 172
1 4 Colour: how inspiration in learning is encouraged
by imaginative language 185
1 5 Perfection: how inspirational striving depends on
comfort with imperfection 202
Conclusion: how we will never recognize inspiring
cognition without metaphor 212
Bibliography of secondary sources 220
I ndex 223
This book at a glance
This book argues that inspiration is a part of learning. We learn to be inspired,
and all learning has some inspiration in it. So what kinds of learning induce the
imaginative confidence that we call inspiration? Given that inspiration itself has
evolved through metaphor, the inquiry distinguishes inspirational learning by its
peculiarly metaphoric character.
We are baffled by what animates learning and teaching because we are shy
of the metaphoric underpinnings of education. We acknowledge that students
respond to passion and enthusiasm and that they seek stimulation, purpose, moti-
vation and inspiration. But because these triggers operate through mysterious
language and arrive at their modern usage through metaphor, we have no means
of penetrating their structure or gaining access to their powers. And because we
lack insight into the innermost terms of learning and teaching, we mishandle edu-
cational practice through a focus on technical process and machinery rather than
the imaginary animating vision that propagates inspired study through metaphor.
This book corrects the imbalance. It reveals the wide metaphorical backdrop
of learning and teaching that works on an unconscious level and is only revealed
through analysing the language that describes what matters most. Metaphors are
intrinsic to all our educational ambitions, to the point that none of our higher
goals can be named without metaphor. We do not understand learning until we
understand its metaphors, and without metaphorical awareness, we put all our
energy into mechanisms that we can tangibly manipulate, even though they mat-
ter the least.
Synopses of the chapters
Introduction: inspiration as the height of teaching
Archaic texts tell us that inspiration has a supernatural source, like a muse or the
Holy Ghost. But even if so, material evidence suggests that imaginative practices—
like poetry—are learned and are stimulated by other people. The assumption that
learning and teaching are largely responsible for inspiration pervades educational
institutions. Universities boast that their programs and academics are inspired
and animated, filled with enthusiasm, encouragement and passion. These posi-
tive terms have strangely spiritual origins that belong to neither educational
research nor practice. They resist scrutiny, remaining metaphysical, rooted in
ancient vocabularies concerning the soul and expanded into widespread secular
usage only in the industrial period. They have little to do with syllabus design or
technology and lie outside all contemporary reforms of learning and teaching
that have unwittingly drawn education toward managerial practice. The language
that we want to use—for the purposes of planning better education—and the
language that we use despite these designs are at variance with one another. This
introduction reveals how the inspirational metaphors that matter in teaching are
connected to unconscious processes of special relevance to autonomous learning
and creativity.
Part 1 Motivational metaphors
1 Passion: how the pleasure of learning is measured with agony
Students tell us that they love and respond to the passion of their teachers. What
does this word mean in a world where passion is now meretriciously claimed by
politicians, service industries and governmental businesses? This chapter explores
the astonishing paradox that passion is an agonized concept, rooted in suffer-
ing and associated with death and torment, albeit of a transformative kind. The
enduring relevance of this metaphorical concept emerges from the archaic back-
drop of struggle and personal commitment. Its positive agency in learning and
teaching, however, is negated by educational structures that make teachers and
students anxious.
Synopses of the chapters ix
2 Being special: how we need to feel distinctive when we share an interest
Students are hugely motivated by the feeling that they are special. Initially, they
may feel special because they are becoming architects, engineers, economists,
scientists and so on. But in a class of 400, how special can you logically feel? Is it
illusory if you derive motivational force from feeling special? How much do we
rely on cultivating the student’s conceit by feeling talented as a distinction? This
chapter explores the paradox that the word ‘special’ derives from species, that is,
a generic category where any distinction is mediated by a feeling of commonness.
Historicizing the concept of feeling special, the chapter reveals that institutions
have only grasped the primitive development of the metaphor which is conve-
nient for marketing but not for pedagogy.
3 Focus: when is concentration limiting and distraction helpful?
An element of successful study is being focused. No matter how imaginative, pro-
grams also need focus in order to help students gain focus, and little is achieved
without it. Meanwhile distraction is seen as study-death. This chapter observes
the relatively recent metaphorical development of focus against several intuitions
suggesting that some measure of distraction may in fact be essential to imagina-
tive activity. The creative power of distraction is historicized through concepts in
humour such as diversion. While focus can be used to suggest commitment to a
cognitive purpose, it needs to be deconstructed lest the mind be prevented from
achieving imaginative elasticity.
4 Group: when do we learn better on our own than among others?
This chapter begins by analysing the charm and possible effectiveness of group
work scenarios in new pedagogy, where students are encouraged to do work-
shop activities rather than traditional tutorials. Drawing upon a study by Hannah
Wojciehowski, the investigation observes the development of the social concept
of a ‘group’ in the renaissance from the physical concept of a knot. This some-
what uncomfortable image appears to be telling because many knotty pedagogi-
cal problems arise in group work scenarios, despite their motivational potential.
5 Purpose: how a sense of mission depends upon conceit
Purpose has two meanings. One is relative and the other absolute. The purpose
of my bike is to get me to work. On the other hand, as a cyclist, I gain a sense
of purpose, meaning energy, mission, self-esteem, identity. This latter absolute
meaning is historically recent, arising from the earlier relative meaning but rapidly
gaining prestige in psychological discourse, where an absence of purpose equates
with depression. This chapter observes the paradoxes of purpose, which—if we
were to be totally rational—is infinitely deferred and ultimately ends with meta-
physical beliefs, a personal ontology for each individual.
