Reimagining Liberal Education: Affiliation and Inquiry in Democratic Schooling

Description

This challenging and provocative book reimagines the justification, substance, process, and study of education in open, pluralistic, liberal democratic societies. Hanan Alexander argues that educators need to enable students to embark on a quest for intelligent spirituality, while paying heed to a pedagogy of difference. Through close analysis of the work of such thinkers as William James, Charles Taylor, Elliot Eisner, Michael Oakeshott, Isaiah Berlin, Martin Buber, Michael Apple and Terrence McLaughlin, Reimagining Liberal Education offers an account of school curriculum and moral and religious instruction that throws new light on the possibilities of a nuanced, rounded education for citizenship. Divided into three parts – Transcendental Pragmatism in Educational Research, Pedagogy of Difference and the Other Face of Liberalism, and Intelligent Spirituality in the Curriculum, this is a thrilling work of philosophy that builds upon the author’s award-winning text Reclaiming Goodness: Education and the Spiritual Quest. Cover Contents Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE Prologue 1 Schools Without Faith PART TWO Transcendental Pragmatism in Educational Research 2 A View from Somewhere 3 Aesthetic Inquiry in Education 4 Traditions of Inquiry in Education PART THREE Pedagogy of Difference and the Other Face of Liberalism 5 Education in Ideology 6 Literacy and the Education of Citizens 7 What Is Common About Common Schooling? PART FOUR Intelligent Spirituality in the Curriculum 8 Human Agency and the Curriculum 9 Moral Education and Liberal Democracy 10 Religious Initiation in Liberal Democracy PART FIVE Epilogue 11 To the Truth, Roughly Speaking 12 Spirituality, Morality, and Criticism in Education Notes Bibliography Index