Enlightenment and Counter-Enlightenment in the Learning Sciences

Consequential research in the learning sciences aims to tackle real-world educational problems. Two pressing problems that currently face learning scientists are post-truthism and institutional racism. In this short paper, I argue that efforts to address each of these problems rely on conflicting philosophical underpinnings rooted in the enlightenment and counter-enlightenment movements, respectively. Although there is no immediate solution to this problem in sight, I believe that unpacking its roots and implications is worthwhile, nonetheless, because it can help explicate the intellectual foundations underlying a large swath of learning sciences literature.