Jacques Ranciere's The ignorant schoolmaster is a sagacious book of philosophy that, based on the exhumation of a singular character in the history of education - Joseph Jacotot - problematizes the fundamental political issue of equality. Education, philosophy and politics are woven into the complex plot of this lofty and provocative text. This paper aims to show how Rancière disturbs the interpretive foundations which presume to make of equality the point of arrival of a pretentiously emancipatory politics, and to what extent the question remains open of how to develop an egalitarian policy - not just in the realms of education but more generally.
Equality; Explanation; Politics; Education; Philosophy