The duty to explain: A positive defence of academic freedom in the social sciences

This paper defines a university teacher’s ‘duty to explain’ as a way of developing student autonomy. This builds on the idea that in other professions, such as medicine or law, there is a duty of care towards the client to explain the full facts and risks to a patient or client. The university teacher has a similar duty towards the student to explain all perspectives and to problematise claims to knowledge. This approach makes it possible for the student, rather than the teacher, to be the person who evaluates claims to knowledge. The duty to explain is a more a positive way of understanding that the teacher should not indoctrinate the student but instead open up a range of interpretations for them to choose from. This duty also provides a defence of the role of the social sciences in society especially in contexts where academic freedom is weakly established or under pressure.

本文定義大學教師有為學生解釋的義務，其為學生發展自主能力的關鍵。就像醫生對病人進行醫藥行為，或是律師為當事人進行法律訴訟時，有必要向他們解釋，所有的事實以及他們所面臨的風險。如同醫生對病人以及律師對當事人所肩負的責任，大學教師對於學生負有類似的責任，有必要向學生解釋所傳授知識的全面觀點，而且挑戰現有的知識內容。大學教師向學生提供對於知識的不同角度的認識與理解，而學生應該有能力從其中判斷由哪種角度切入，對於知識的理解更為合理，以及接近真理。大學教師有為學生解釋的義務，更積極的來說，教師不應該只是向學生灌輸知識。取而代之，大學教師應該提供一系列對於知識理解的角度，讓學生自主選擇。這項義務也捍衛了社會科學在社會中的作用，特別是在學術自由尚未確立或面臨壓力的環境中。 Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.