Title: Ideas to reality, notions to becoming and being
Description: The thesis is ultimately concerned with the teaching and learning of United States adolescents in institutional teaching and learning situations. It is immediately concerned with developing and grounding relevant education theory applicable to such situations. The dissertation brings mid-twentieth century continental French philosophy into conversation with the constituting foundations of contemporary developmental psychological 'ideas' of adolescence, the adolescent and adolescent thinking. It develops theory suggesting one possible explication of how historically presented United States ideas of adolescence, the adolescent and adolescent thinking may become objects of developmental research and related educational practice. The thesis draws heavily from the work of the philosopher Jacques Derrida, the philosopher and historian of ideas Michel Foucault and the psychoanalyst and social thinker Jacques Lacan. It also draws thematic focus from the work of post-colonial cultural theorists Edward Said and Homi Bhabbhi. The analytical lenses provided by this philosophical trio, and thematically piqued by the cultural theorist pair is turns upon the linked work of the genetic epistemologist Jean Piaget and the socio-historical and socio-cultural developmental psychologist Lev Vygotsky. The effort is framed by work of the ecological developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner.

One way of viewing the dissertation effort is that of placing a humanities-based theoretical effort in gently provocative counter position to developmental psychology based approaches to theorizing about adolescence, adolescent and adolescent thinking ideas. It provides one possible answer to the question, "How might mere ideas of adolescence, adolescents, and adolescent thinking be transformed into empirically demonstrable entities?" It is anticipated that the dissertation will: (1) point the way to useful syntheses of contemporary continental French thought and developmental psychological approaches to adolescence in teaching and learning situations; (2) provide one example of such a synthesis as a model; (3) expand the range of possible research into the broad and complex contextual issues which such syntheses enable, and which because decontextualized are either invisible, or when visible ignored; provide a useful model for the application of humanities to the practical domains of education practice.
Subjects: Teenagers, Education, Adolescence, Developmental psychology, Applied philosophy
Places: United States