Reconstruction of Three Desires in Education: CHEN Zening’s Research Shared at PES 2024

The Philosophy of Education Society is an international forum that promotes the philosophic treatment of educational practice, policy and research, advances the quality of teaching the philosophy of education, and cultivates fruitful relationships between and among philosophers, philosophers of education and educators. The 2024 annual meeting of the Philosophy of Education Society is held at the Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel, March 7-11, 2024. This year’s theme is “Information, Misinformation, Disinformation.”

CHEN Zening, a master student from SOE, participated in the conference from March 7 to March 11 and delivered a presentation on her research titled “Chaos and Reconstruction of the Three Desires in Education: A Dialogue with Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs”. Maslow divides the hierarchy of human needs and provides a general perspective for understanding learners. However, reflecting on the application of this theory in education, its pyramidal way of understanding learners' needs, and the wide-spread misunderstanding of the idealized highest level of "self-actualization" have caused certain hidden dangers in education.

At the conference, CHEN Zening reconstructs the types of desire, divides it into "survival desires" "enjoyment desires" and "love and wisdom desires", and presents a harmonious picture of three desires, concluding with corresponding suggestions in order to provide a new way of understanding learners. The presentation garnered positive reception and lively engagement and interaction.

Written by CHEN Zening

Edited by CHEN Ruoxi