Parker Palmer's Objectivist and Community of Truth Models

Adapted from Parker Palmer's The Courage to Teach. 1998. Jossey-Bass Publishers

 

Traditional model of truth or the objectivist model

According to Palmer (1998) our knowing, teaching and learning is dominated by a traditional and mythical model of truth called the objectivist model. In this model the truth flows in a linear fashion from the object (knowledge) to the expert (teacher) and finally to the amateur (student). Experts are people who are qualified to know or to teach and amateurs are people who are qualified only to receive the truth. The object is far beyond the reach of amateur. The expert is in the center in this model, and the expert is whom the amateur uses to get access to the truth. Therefore, "in this myth, truth is a set of propositions about objects; education is a system for delivering those propositions to students; and an educated person is one who can remember and repeat the experts' propositions." (p 101).

 

Community of Truth Model

As an alternative model, Palmer proposes a "community of truth". His model is subject oriented instead of being oriented with the object. A subject is open for relationships while an object is not. In this case, Palmer put the subject (not the expert) in the center of "community". In contrast to the previous model, the flow is far from linear; it is circular and dynamic.