Adab and Democratic Education

Abstract

In this chapter, we proffer an argument for an interrelationship between the physical–intellectual and emotional dimensions of human life. In reference to the seminal thoughts of al-Attas, we argue that educational human encounters are constituted by the rational and the emotional dimensions of human action. Of pertinence to our non-bifurcationist view of knowledge, our contention is that human encounters about credible speech and respectful human conduct, have the potential to cultivate democratic human relations—referred to by al-Attas as actions grounded in adab. In the main, the point about democratic human encounters is that such encounters cannot be blind to the physical–intellectual and the emotional aspects of human life. Rather, as we argue, expressions of adab—that is, to act with refinement and decorum—can advance and enhance democratic encounters, through consciously averting disrespect and dismissiveness.