Joe explained what he meant by FIDUROD in his book, Knowledge and Critical Pedagogy: An Introduction, in a section he titled, “Playing with the Queen of Hearts: the Joker Ain’t the Only Fool in FIDUROD.” (See pages 21-24).

The title of the section held my fascination for the longest time. Somehow, I just knew that someone who had synthesized Hermes into his definition of bricolage also embedded multiple meanings in that title. I kept asking myself, “Who is the other fool?” Needless to say, given we are working with a multidimensional critical complex bricolage, there are multiple meanings. One day I had a sudden epiphany; I had solved the puzzle (along with several interpretations). But I don’t want to be a puzzle spoiler so I’ll refrain from giving the answers. And there are no doubt many more interpretations than what I’ve discovered. As I've said before, Joe was no amateur bricoleur. . . and some of the interpretations can be very funny.

Joe devised FIDUROD to escape all of the criticisms using the word “positivism” generates. And he has contextualized it to the point that it would be difficult to place his description of this deficient epistemology simply under the label positivism. He explains that the letters in FIDUROD form an acronym for the main attributes of the world view under which knowledge is produced today.

F=Formal

I=Intractable

D=Decontextualized

U=Universalistic

R=Reductionistic

OD=One-Dimensional

Thus, we have rigidly produced knowledge that is out of context from the variety of situations it’s a part of, “grounded on the assumption that the world is basically an inert, static entity,” focused only on the things that are easiest to measure and things that we can perceive with our five senses, based on the belief that there is one true reality and we can describe it, and based on the assumption that the knowledge created this way is universal and can apply everywhere or to everyone. We live in what I refer to as FIDUROD Land.

As I describe this today I can see the absurdity of it. More absurd is how it operates in my daily life. In order to get a full understanding of how this epistemology keeps you imprisoned, I recommend reading the entire book. Joe has contextualized how this epistemology works in every dimension of our lives. This awareness is helpful for discovering new routes through the jungle.