Philosophy and the Metaphysical Achievements of Education: Language and Reason

Description

Tracing the deep connections between philosophy and education, Ryan McInerney argues that we must use philosophy to reflect on the significance of educational practice to all human endeavour. He uses a broad approach which takes in the relationships governing philosophy, education, and language, to reveal education’s fundamental achievements and metaphysical significance. The realization of educational ideals and policies are read alongside growing skepticism regarding the theoretical and practical significance of philosophical thinking, and the emphasis on resource efficiency and measurable outcomes which characterise schooling today. It is from this context that McInerney defends the value inherent to the philosophy of education. Drawing upon contemporary continental and analytic thinkers including Nietzsche, Gadamer, and Wittgenstein, McInerney charts the role of education in shaping the child’s metaphysical transformation through language acquisition. Connecting early years and primary school education, McInerney pinpoints rationality as the crucial factor which produces critical, thinking beings. He presents the pursuit of philosophically minded education as a rational pursuit which enables us to philosophise and educate others in turn, dispensing with the epistemological and conceptual foundationalisms of the past. Cover Contents Preface Overture: What Are Philosophical Theses? 1 Education and Philosophy: A Crisis of Self-Identity 2 Education and Metaphysics: Being at Home in the World 3 Education and History: Out into the Midst of Being 4 The Structure of Educational Ideals: Transcendental Origins, Impossible Aims 5 Education and Transcendence: At Home in Unheimlich Language Coda: Waking Thinking Being References Index