Educating the Reasonable: Political Liberalism and Public Education

Description

Offering the first developed account of political liberal education, this book combines a thorough analysis of the theoretical groundwork of political liberal education with application-oriented approaches to contemporary educational challenges. Following in depth engagement with the shortcomings of Rawls’ theory and addressing some key objections to neutrality-based restrictions in education, the volume moves on to provide an insightful discussion of topics such as same-sex relations in sex-education, the position of migrant children and the rights of religious parents to determine the education of their children. This book outlines a political liberal account of education which provides a useful contribution to the current debates about liberalism and education in a way unprecedented  in the literature on political liberalism so far. It is  of interest to anyone working at the intersection of political philosophy and philosophy of education as well as for scholars with a broader interest in how liberalism can respond to the challenges of value pluralism. Acknowledgements Contents Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 Terminology 1.2 Questions for a Political Liberal Account of Education 1.3 Political v. Perfectionist Liberal Education 1.4 Aims and Scope 1.4.1 Cultural and Geographical Limits 1.4.2 Liberal Sectarian Limits 1.4.3 Limits of Justice 1.5 Preview References Chapter 2: Rawlsian Education: Preliminary Observations 2.1 Education in Rawls’ Work 2.2 Minimal Civic Education 2.2.1 Cooperation 2.2.2 Being Self-Supporting 2.2.3 Political Virtues 2.3 The Development of a Political Virtue: The Sense of Justice 2.4 Education as Object of Public Reason 2.5 Conclusion References Part I: Central Elements of Political Liberalism Chapter 3: Political Virtues 3.1 Virtues, Excellence, and the Aristotelian Principle 3.2 The Situationist Challenge 3.3 Social Norms in Political Theory 3.4 In Defence of Social Norms 3.5 Humean Virtues 3.6 Moral Formation in Virtue Education 3.7 Indirect Contributions to Virtue Education 3.8 Conclusion References Chapter 4: Autonomy 4.1 Varieties of Autonomy 4.2 Political Autonomy 4.3 Weak Autonomy 4.4 Self-Determination 4.5 Compulsory Education 4.6 Promoting Autonomy 4.7 The Range of Possible Life Options 4.8 Objections to Weak Autonomy 4.9 Conclusion References Chapter 5: Rights 5.1 Conceptions of Rights in Political Liberalism 5.2 Children 5.3 Parents 5.4 The State 5.5 Conclusion References Part II: Application Cases Chapter 6: Religion 6.1 Public and Private Reasons 6.2 The Burden of Religiousness 6.3 Religious Reasons as Public Reasons 6.4 Disaggregation of Religious Reasons 6.5 Public and Private Schooling 6.6 Problems of Private Education 6.7 Education and the Unreasonable 6.8 Conclusion References Chapter 7: Same-Sex Relations in Education 7.1 The Tension with Deep Religious Commitments 7.2 The Assumed Moral Superiority of Heterosexual Relationships 7.3 Natural Law Theory: A Comprehensive Doctrine 7.4 Marriage as Unjust Institution 7.5 Limitations of Political Virtues and Autonomy Requirements 7.6 Same-Sex Relations, Sex Education and Self-Respect 7.7 Transgender Students 7.8 Conclusion References Chapter 8: Immigration and Integration 8.1 Borders in the Realistic Utopia 8.2 Utopian Migration 8.3 Political Status of Immigrants 8.3.1 Political Virtues 8.3.2 Autonomy 8.3.3 Rights 8.4 Integration 8.5 Separation 8.6 Conclusion References Chapter 9: Conclusion