Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors.

Foreword. (Paul Hirst).

Introduction. (Nigel Blake, Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith, and Paul Standish).

Part I: Social and Cultural Theories.

1 Pragmatism and Education. (Jim Garrison and Alven Neiman).

2 Critical Theory and Critical Pedagogy. (Nigel Black and Jan Masschelein).

3 Postmodernism/Post-structuralism. (Michael Peters and Kenneth Wain).

4 Feminism, Philosophy and Education. Imagining Public Spaces. (Maxine Greene and Morwenna Griffiths).

Part II: Politics and Education.

5 Liberalism and Communitarianism. (Eamonn Callan and John White).

6 Democratic Citizenship. (Penny Enslin and Patricia White).

7 Education and the Market. (David Bridges and Ruth Jonathan).

8 Multicultural Education. (Pradheep Dillon and J. Mark Halstead).

Part III. Philosophy as Education.

9 The Activity of Philosophy and the Practice of Education. (Pádraig Hogan and Richard Smith).

10 Critical Thinking. (Sharon Bailin and Harvey Siegel).

11 Practical Reason. (Joseph Dunne and Shirley Pendlebury).

Part IV: Teaching and Curriculum.

12 Higher Education and the University. (Ronald Barnett and Paul Standish).

13 Information and Communication Technology. (David Blacker and Jane McKie).

14 Epistemology and Curriculum. (Andrew Davies and Kevin Williams).

15 Vocational Education and Training. (Paul Hager and Terry Hyland).

16 Progressivism. (John Darling and Sven Erik Nordenbo).

Part V: Ethics and Upbringing.

17 Parents and Children. (Paul Smeyers and Colin Wringe).

18 Autonomy and Authenticity in Education. (Michael Bonnett and Stefaan Cuypers).

19 Changing Notions of the Moral and of Moral Education. (Nel Noddings and Michael Slote).

20 Education in Religion and Spirituality. (Hanan Alexander and Terence H. McLaughlin).

References.

Index.

About the Author

Nigel Blake teaches at the Open University, Paul Smeyers at the University of Leuven in Belgium, Richard Smith at the University of Durham, and Paul Standish at the University of Dundee. They originally came together to explore their shared interest in postmodern issues and poststructuralist theory in relation to education. Their first collaboration. Thinking Again Education after Postmodernism (1998), laid the foundations, for other projects, including Education in an Age of Nihilism (2000). They have also addressed the educational influence of the European Union, reform in higher education, issues of online education and of moral education in their joint projects.

Paul Smeyers at the University of Leuven in Belgium.

Richard Smith at the University of Durham.

Paul Standish at the University of Dundee.

Reviews

"An experienced quartet of editors has brought complementary ranges of expertise to a volume that fully maintains the high standards of a series, Blackwell Philosophy Guides, that is proving to be both invaluable to students and a repository of the best in contemporary philosophical thinking. The twenty dual-authored contributions, like the editors' introduction, confirm the conviction – Plato's, Nietzsche's, Dewey's – that not only is authentic philosophy educative but that an authentic education engages the philosophical imagination." David E. Cooper, University of Durham
"This volume contains many excellent essays that between them capture in an authoritative – and lucid – way the intellectual diversity of the contemporary field of philosophy of education. Clearly it should have a place in the professional library of all serious students of the field." D.C. Phillips, Stanford University
"This excellent collection documents the vitality and relevance of contemporary philosophy of education. Its combination of disciplinary and topical subject matters provides a framework for discussions that are philosophically rigorous at the same time that they touch upon and illuminate many of the prevailing educational concerns of our time. Most impressively, this collection blends the voices of 45 different scholars, from 11 different nations, into a coherent conversation around the discipline's history, development, and future prospects." Nicholas C. Burbules, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
"The top people writing this (Barnett on the university, Bridges on the market, Griffiths on feminism and equity, Halstead on values, Noddings on social policy, Peters on postmodernism, Wringe on democracy) provide a well-arranged collection of materials likely to interest students of education, studying it at university and in continuing education, as well as educational researchers, ethicists, people looking at citizenship, and anyone lecturing in the field. A comprehensive set of references at the end provides any reader, and any library manager wanting to check this area of their collection, with an excellent benchmark listing." Reference Reviews
"The 20 chapters provide a panoramic view of current activity in philosophy of education. They also largely achieve the editors stated goal of placing this activity in the context of key aspects of the nature and development of the discipline." Choice, May 2003