Anxieties of Democracy and Education: Naoko Saito's American Philosophy in Translation

The article is an essay on Naoko Saito's recently published book American Philosophy in Translation. We attempt to draw out the central argument of the book as it moves through its eight chapters. The author finds that American philosophy, which she takes to be rooted in pragmatism, whilst it owes much to Dewey, needs to be reconstructed in order to meet contemporary political challenges, with their implications for political education. She asks questions such as what is the place of the tragic sense of life in philosophical thought? What is a philosophy of affirmation and chance? How are we to understand the significance of the untranslatable? What are these connections between transcendence, translation and transformation? More specifically, how are we to understand the distinction between philosophy in translation and philosophy as translation? And how does all this offer us new ways of thinking about the current state of democracy, political education and education more generally? One specific suggestion is that an education in foreign language can be transformative in terms of political education. The article concludes that Saito's project throws up some important ideas that are pertinent to our times. We question the central idea regarding language education, whilst we welcome this scholarly volume.     

THE EMERGENCE OF PRAGMATIC PHILOSOPHY'S INFLUENCE ON LITERARY THEORY: MAKING MEANING WITH TEXTS FROM A TRANSACTIONAL PERSPECTIVE

A bstract .  In this review essay, Jeanne Connell examines the influence of pragmatic philosophy on the scholarly works of twentieth-century literary theorist and English educator Louise Rosenblatt through the lens of a recent collection of her essays originally published between 1936 and 1999. Rosenblatt grounded her transactional theory of literature in pragmatic philosophy, particularly the epistemological constructs of John Dewey. While influential as a pioneer in the early development of reader-response theory, Rosenblatt's theory has only recently been given attention by philosophers of education. Making Meaning with Texts: Selected Essays is an important collection of articles and book chapters that highlights the evolution of her thinking in literary theory, pedagogy, and literary criticism. Rosenblatt positioned the construction of meaning in the personal lived-through quality of the literary experience, making central the generative relation between the text and the reader. Connell argues that the educational relevance of Rosenblatt's theory for contemporary education is that it provides a powerful critique of classroom approaches that promote shallow readings with little opportunity for critical reflection.     

ECA's seventy‐fifth anniversary volume: A special review

In this special book review, Communication Quarterly's Book Review Editor, Gerald M. Phillips, assesses the volume commissioned by the Eastern Communication Association to commemorate ECA's seventy‐fifth anniversary. Designed to reflect the diversity of the discipline of communication, part one is composed of twelve chapters and surveys contemporary research and theory in rhetoric, the social sciences, oral interpretation, freedom of speech and civil liberties, media and speech education. Part two, composed of five chapters, provides an overview of the organizational and conceptual issues guiding the way in which this profession organizes its knowledge. Professor Phillips concludes that, “It is a book we can be proud of, because it is well done by first‐rate scholars.”     

ETHICS AND EDUCATION FORTY YEARS LATER

A bstract .  R.S. Peters's 1966 book Ethics and Education is one of the most significant works in twentieth-century philosophy of education. At least in the United States, however, it is now rarely read or discussed. In this essay, Bryan Warnick looks at the virtues and vices of Ethics and Education , examining some major criticisms of the book in light of key developments in philosophy and educational theory that have occurred since it was first published. He finds that some of the criticisms seem unjustified and overstated, while others can be met with a reading of the text that places its language analysis within a framework of communitarian ethics, a move made possible by rejecting Peters's fact/value dichotomy. This way of reading Ethics and Education reveals an interesting conception of what philosophy of education can be: namely, a sort of normative analytic anthropology. It also shows the value of engaging more with the recent history of philosophy of education.     

The Virtuous,Wise, and Knowledgeable Teacher: Living the Good Life as a Professional Practitioner

In this essay, Elizabeth Campbell reviews three recent books that address the ethical nature of professional practice: Knowledge and Virtue in Teaching and Learning: The Primacy of Dispositions, by Hugh Sockett; The Good Life of Teaching: An Ethics of Professional Practice, by Chris Higgins; and Towards Professional Wisdom: Practical Deliberation in the People Professions, edited by Liz Bondi, David Carr, Chris Clark, and Cecelia Clegg. While the first two books are situated within the context of teaching and education, the third book, as an edited volume, contains chapters that represent a multidisciplinary perspective on the work of professionals within nursing, social work, counseling, and the ministry, as well as in teaching. Each of the books engages in the careful inquiry into philosophy broadly and educational philosophy specifically from conceptual frameworks widely associated with Aristotelian virtue ethics. Writing from an applied perspective on the field of scholarship relating to the moral and ethical dimensions of teaching, Campbell applauds the books for their timely reminder of the central role or persona of the individual professional as a moral agent and ethical practitioner. She argues that within the contemporary context of teacher education, which tends either to neglect or narrowly define the ethics of the profession, such an emphasis on the cultivation of personal character and responsibility within a framework of clear ethical dispositions or virtues is a welcome contribution to the field. It enables teachers, teacher educators, and student teachers to concentrate on both the ethics of practice and the practice of ethics in the ongoing quest to further their own development of virtue, practical wisdom, and personal and professional knowledge.     

Christian Higher Education: An Education that Liberates

In this wide-ranging review essay, the author engages Christian Higher Education: A Global Reconnaissance, a book edited by J. Carpenter, P. L. Glanzer, and N. S. Lantinga (2014). His remarks focus especially on the five chapters of the book that survey Christian higher education in nations where he has direct experience: Brazil, Kenya, India, South Korea, and the United States. An extended reflection, both philosophical and practical, is then offered on a common task of Christian higher education across many cultures: how to develop and sustain a holistic education that promotes Kingdom prospering, above and beyond national and commercial purposes. He makes the case for a liberating education that seeks to instill a dynamic combination of integrative thinking and character formation. The essay ends with practical advice as the author encourages fellow educators to focus their efforts on faculty development, general education, and cross-cultural partnerships as the keys to building and sustaining a liberating education.     

Method, Philosophy of Education and the Sphere of the Practico-Inert

This essay discusses a conception of the relation of philosophy to education that has come to be widely held in both general philosophy and philosophy of education. This view is approached here through the employment of Jean-Paul Sartre's notion of the 'practico-inert' as the realm of consolidated social objects, part of which is the institution of education. It is shown that a rigid demarcation of the practico-inert, on the one hand, and praxis, on the other, lies at the heart of the contemporary philosophical stance towards education. Generally, philosophy today does not allocate redemptive-political space to education and its practices (such as assessment). Hannah Arendt's and Alain Badiou's ideas on knowledge, statistics and everydayness are used here as examples, and the received view is further criticised. Then, another possible connection of philosophy and education is examined, one that would attribute to education a more active, politically operative and central role in philosophy.     

Radical Constructivism. Ernst von Glasersfeld.

Radical Constructivism is currently a very influencial view in mathematics education. This paper examines its philosophical roots through a review of the book Radical Constructivism by Ernst von Glasersfeld. It begins by describing the structure of the book, and then considers a number of philosophical issues raised by the book. The paper concludes with some reflections on the relationship between philosophy and mathematics education which the book provoked.     

Philosophy of Education and Economics: A Case for Closer Engagement

Relatively little contemporary philosophy of education employs economic concepts directly. Even where issues such as marketisation of education are discussed there may be little clarification of underlying concepts. The paper argues that while much contemporary economic thinking on education may be philosophically naive, it is also the case that philosophy of education can productively engage with particular economic insights and perspectives. The paper examines particular conceptualisations of ‘economics’ and ‘the market’, drawing upon these to consider aspects of an issue that is significant for the philosophy of education: human becoming. An example, the notion of ‘wellbeing’ is briefly discussed.     

Self-Portraiture: The Uses of Academic Autobiography

This review article examines Leonard Waks's innovative collection of essays entitled Self-Portraiture: The Uses of Academic Autobiography: Review of Leaders in Philosophy of Education: Intellectual Self-Portraits. The book is based on invitations to leading philosophers of education to write about their own careers in the field and to offer an intellectual autobiography. The purpose of the book is not primarily to provide a history of particular arguments and their rebuttal, and in this sense it is not directly philosophical, but the chapters do chronicle broader intellectual shifts, and this is invaluable. The article examines the essays in terms of the relation between the professional and the personal, and between political and social contexts. Academic virtues and vices are found to be on display in several of the accounts. Together the essays constitute, albeit to an incomplete degree, the history of a movement, with philosophy of education framed mainly as an Anglo-American pursuit. Finally, in the light of this series of reflections, the article ponders the future of the subject both in relation to the changing context of educational policy and practice, and in terms of its positioning with regard to mainstream philosophy.     

旁采泰西 遗失三代——刍议陈平原《中国大学十讲》

《中国大学十讲》是基于文化的视角研究我国近代高等教育的一本著作。近代高校的建立和发展是一部移植与传承不断磨合的过程,由此也形成了特殊的教育理念和大学精神。此书阐明了当代高校人文精神滑坡、教育理念模糊的原因所在。     

《理想国》的国家观、教育观

柏拉图是西方文明的先哲和巨人,他的巨著《理想国》是西方政治哲学和教育理论的经典之作。书中强调实现国家正义与个人灵魂的正义,重视教育的积极作用。《理想国》中的国家观和教育观对西方世界的政治、教育产生了深远的影响。本文着力探究《理想国》的国家观和教育观及其对现实的积极意义。     

科技发达时代的大学发展观

对英国教育家阿什比的《科技发达时代的大学教育》这部经典著作的部分章节加以简单的论述与解读,试图将书中作者的思想主线凸显出来,以期对读者进一步了解其博大精深的高等教育思想有所裨益.     

《逸周书》考辨四题

《逸周书》史料价值颇高,然存在问题不少。亟待弄清的问题主要有：汲冢到底有没有出土《逸周书》？《逸周书》的篇名有没有“解”字？两篇《大匡》究竟哪篇篇题有错？注孔晃的时代与述情况怎样？弄清这些问题,对深入研究《逸周书》与先秦史,无疑都是有帮助的。     

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION AS PHILOSOPHY: A METAPHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY

Abstract What is the philosophical status of the philosophy of education? Is it philosophy, no different from the philosophy of science and the philosophy of mind? Much depends on where these latter derive their philosophical bona fides from. There are two ways of viewing the matter. On one account, they are subdivisions of the veritable philosophy branches of metaphysics and epistemology. It being impossible to view philosophy of education as comparably emanating from any of the philosophical originals, this approach effectively deprives it of proper philosophical standing. On the other account, nonoriginal philosophy branches may be viewed as attaining philosophihood, each on its own. Such a purview provides the maneuverability needed to countenance the philosophical nature of philosophy of education as well. Still, George Pollack argues in this essay that if it is to fully accommodate philosophy of education, philosophy will need to be reconceived to include the unearthing of the philosophical foundations of a social practice.     

Democracy, Philosophy and the Formation of Public Policy for Schools

This review essay provides a critical assessment of Christopher Winch and John Gingell's Philosophy & Educational Policy: A Critical Introduction. This book presents a powerful and stimulating challenge to conventional and sloppy thinking about a wide range of issues confronting anyone who is seriously concerned with schooling in the 21^st century. While each chapter merits an essay in response, this article can merely highlight the virtues of the book as well as the respects in which a number of claims remain unpersuasive. There is found to be a noticeable difference between the odd and even numbered chapters, betraying perhaps the difference in authorship and suggesting insufficient discussion between the authors as to their overall content. Chapters 3, 5 and 9 are, for the most part, outstandingly good and should inject a note of caution into policy makers' all too frequent desire for change. The extent to which the authors favour democratic decision-making on educational matters is shown, however, to be far from clear.     

Three Misunderstandings of Plato's Theory of Moral Education

In this essay, Mark Jonas argues that there are three broadly held misconceptions of Plato's philosophy that work against his relevance for contemporary moral education. The first is that he is an intellectualist who is concerned only with the cognitive aspect of moral development and does not sufficiently emphasize the affective and conative aspects; the second is that he is an elitist who believes that only philosopher‐kings can attain true knowledge of virtue and it is they who should govern society; the third is that he affirms the realm of the Forms as a literal metaphysical reality and believes that for individuals to attain virtue they must access this realm through contemplation. The goal of this essay is to correct these misconceptions. The rehabilitation of Plato's reputation may enable future researchers in moral education to discover in his philosophy new avenues for exploring how best to cultivate virtues in students.     

Azeitero,Ulisses Miranda et al ed (2014) E‐learning and education for sustainability. Peter Lang (New York & Bern) isbn 978‐3‐631‐62963‐1 290 pp £41 http://www.peterlang.com/index.cfm?event=cmp.ccc.seitenstruktur.detailseiten&seitentyp=produkt&pk=73204

E‐learning and education for sustainability is a book that delivers on what it promises to present: principles, information technology tools, examples of good practice, and coverage of formal as well as of informal education for sustainability. The book is divided into chapters covering each of these areas quite well. If the content of this book is likely to be relevant to you, I recommend that you arrange to borrow a copy for a while. William Brescia     

德育心理学及其哲学追问

本论文探讨了德育心理学及其哲学的核心问题。本论文从哲学、道德哲学和道德学、教育哲学和教育学、心理哲学和心理学、生理哲学和生理学诸方面探究了德育心理学的相关问题,从理论和实践两方面探讨了德育心理学及其哲学的学术价值和应用价值。     

Education as the Cultivation of Second Nature: Two Senses of the Given

In philosophy, it is almost a platitude to argue that fact and value intertwine. However, in empirically oriented educational research, it is not. Hence, there is some affinity between logical positivism, which is no longer tenable in philosophy, and empirically based contemporary educational research in terms of assumptions each makes about “the given.” In this essay, Koichiro Misawa casts light on how fact and value intertwine by invoking the notion of “second nature” that John McDowell has reanimated. This will in turn prompt us to see the relation between nature and nurture, as well as between mind and world, quite differently and to discern two senses of “the given”: one is illusory; the other educational. Misawa concludes that the philosophy of education should and can take the lead in forming rigorous interdisciplinary studies of the human future with a certain sensitivity to the tight and complex interweaving between the empirical and the conceptual, or between the factual and the normative.