Philosophy and the Study of Education: New Perspectives on a Complex Relationship

Description

Combining contributions from international academics and practitioners, this new text develops students’ ability to philosophise as well as learn about philosophy and education. It considers issues concerned with the interface between education and wider society but goes beyond this to explore education and philosophy at a micro level: the teacher–learner relationship. It challenges and empowers students to use philosophy as a tool within education, as a set of theories to understand education and as a potential means to develop solutions to problems as they occur within practice. Assuming no pre-existing philosophical background, Philosophy and the Study of Education explores complex topics including: encouraging young people to criticise and challenge all authority; the limits of a religious-based education; the desire for ‘alternative facts’ or ‘truths’; the second-class status of vocational pursuits; the inherent struggle in the teacher–student relationship; the relationship between emotion, morality and autonomy in teaching. Including discussion questions and further recommended reading, this thought-providing book will support and inspire all those on Education Studies, Childhood Studies and Youth Studies courses in developing a critical perspective and understanding the true value of philosophy within education. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents List of contributors Series editor’s preface Abbreviations 1 Introduction: Philosophy and education Introduction Learning about philosophy vs. doing philosophy Experience and description How to read and utilise this book and what to expect from it I. Reason and knowledge Chapter 2 – Socrates for teachers Chapter 3 – Philosophy with Children and self-determination in education Chapter 4 – Philosophy in Islam and its limit on teaching reason in humanities Chapter 5 – Children’s epistemic rights and hermeneutical marginalisation in schools II. The mind and body and the social Chapter 6 – Consciousness, physicalism and vocational education Chapter 7 – Emotions and effective learning Chapter 8 – The social, the natural and the educational III. Experiences and scientific accounts Chapter 9 – The student–teacher relationship: an existential approach Chapter 10 – Educational phenomenology: is there a need and space for such a pursuit? Chapter 11 – Making sense of it all? A concluding attempt Recommended reading References 2 Socrates for teachers Introduction The importance of Socrates The death of Socrates: his method and morality The refutation of relativism Relativism today The importance of public debate The current state of misology Conclusion: are you a modern Socrates? Summary Recommended reading References 3 Philosophy with Children and self-determination in education Introduction Meaning in community of philosophical inquiry Matthew Lipman’s writings on ‘meaning’ Philosophical laboratory/community of inquiry, social activism and self-determination Combing meaning in communities of inquiry and self-determination Conclusion Summary Recommended reading References 4 Philosophy in Islam and its limit on teaching reason in humanities Introduction A pedagogical concern Education from an Islamic perspective Teaching humanities and the problem among Muslim students Philosophy in Islam and the limit to reason An implication for pre-service teachers Conclusion Summary Recommended reading References 5 Children’s epistemic rights and hermeneutical marginalisation in schools Introduction Hermeneutical injustice in education Epistemic norms Epistemic rights in trust Conclusion Summary Recommended reading References 6 Consciousness, physicalism and vocational education Introduction Consciousness and hard problems The hard problems of vocational education and training Craft and education Problem-solving Intellectual versus manual.work Handwork, learning and education Embodied learning and the vocational curriculum Conclusion Summary Recommended reading References 7 Emotion and effective learning Introduction Feeling the flow Externally induced flow? Emotions as promoters of flow Emotion, empathy and flow Learning to flow Flow and the classroom Conclusion Summary Recommended reading References 8 The social, the natural and the educational Introduction The flourishing of social constructivism The lure and pitfall of the ideas of scheme and content Rorty’s denial of the notions of conceptual framework and the world Singling out ‘the logical space of reasons’ McDowell’s expanded view of experience and the natural The fundamental interweaving of the social, the natural and the educational Conclusion Summary Recommending reading References 9 The teacher–student relationship: An existential approach Introduction The neoliberal teacher–student relationship The progressive teacher–student relationship The existentialist approach Conclusion: the existential teacher–student relationship Summary Recommended reading References 10 Educational phenomenology: Is there a need and space for such a pursuit? Introduction Cognitive neuroscience Phenomenology: a first – and tentative – take on the issue Phenomenology: a second take on the issue Husserl’s phenomenology as a structural investigation A space for phenomenological research in education? Conclusion Summary Recommended reading References 11 Making sense of it all? A concluding attempt Introduction The situated-ness of human knowledge The interrelatedness of the mind and the body The difference between individual experience and scientific description So where are we? Recommended reading References Index