Education in radical uncertainty: transgression in theory and method

lifetime ’ s work. Identity is a lifelong process – a project – of self-realisation. Moreover, it is a process of self-realisation that relies crucially on mutual recognition. Identity is formed in the space between the ‘ I ’ and the ‘ me ’ : the space between the self-a ffi rmation of the subjective self and the self that is perceived objectively by other subjective selves. We become ourselves within this inter-subjective – and linguistically organised – space. For, Auerbach network theory fails to grasp the fragility, super-complexity, and relationality of this space. He hangs on to the more homely notion of ‘ neighbourhood ’ : the crucial distinction being that ‘ I belong to the neighbourhood, whereas the network belongs to me ’ . An earthly neighbourhood with all its complex intertwining of belongingness and responsibility is, argues Bauman, what I belong to whether I like it or not. It is part of my belonging within the world. In these fi nal re fl ections by a great public intellectual and scholar there is – as always in his work – a sense of the unpredictability and precarity of our human world. For those interested in the methodology of comparison his work is of fundamental importance because of its insis-tence on the irreducible interconnectivity of the human, the social and the political. The ques-tion Bauman leaves me with is: how in a world where everything is connected with everything else – and where connectivity and con fl ict are inextricably entwined – might we fi nd the grounds to compare anything with anything? Are we not, rather, left with the incomparable di ff erences that comprise our in fi nitely varied world?