FOURTH EDITION

PHILOSOPHY &

EDUCATION

An Introduction in Christian Perspective

George R. Knight

Berrien Springs, Michigan

Andrews University Press

Sutherland House

Berrien Springs, MI 49104-1700

Telephone: 269-471-6134

Fax: 269-471-6224

Email: aupo@andrews.edu

Website: http://universitypress.andrews.edu

Copyright © 1980, 1989, 1998, 2006 by Andrews University Press

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner or translated into other languages without written permission from the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

First edition 1980

Fourth edition 2006

ISBN 978-1-883925-54-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2006930423

Unless otherwise noted, Bible texts used in this book are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952, 1971, 1973.

Cover Design: Heidi Murphy

“An education that fails to consider the fundamental questions of human existence—the questions about the meaning of life and the nature of truth, goodness, beauty, and justice, with which philosophy is concerned—is a very inadequate type of education.”

—Harold Titus

“At present, opinion is divided about the subjects of education. People do not take the same view about what should be learned by the young, either with a view to human excellence or a view to the best possible life; nor is it clear whether education should be directed mainly to the intellect or to moral character … [,] whether the proper studies to be pursued are those that are useful in life, or those which make for excellence, or those that advance the bounds of knowledge.… Men do not all honor the same distinctive human excellence and so naturally they differ about the proper training for it.”

—Aristotle

“And this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.”

—Jesus

To my students in educational philosophy—

individuals whose probing

extended and refined my thinking

Contents

List of Figures

A Word to the Reader

A Note on the Fourth Edition

PART ONE: BASIC CONCEPTS

1 The Nature of Philosophy and Education

Why Study Philosophy of Education?

What Is Philosophy?

What Is Education?

The Role of the School in Society

2 Philosophic Issues in Education

Metaphysics

Epistemology

Axiology

Philosophic Issues and Educational Goals and Practices

Summary of Part One

PART TWO: PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION

3 Traditional Philosophies and Education

The Function and Limitation of Labels

Idealism

Realism

Neo-scholasticism

Critique and Perspective

4 Modern Philosophies and Education

Pragmatism

Existentialism

Critique and Perspective

5 The Postmodern Impulse

Preliminary Observations

Philosophic Roots

Varieties of Postmodernism

Postmodernism and Education

Critique and Perspective

6 Contemporary Theories of Education

Progressivism

Educational Humanism in Relation to Progressivism

Perennialism

Essentialism

Reconstructionism

Futurism in Relation to Reconstructionism

Critical Pedagogy and Constructivism ...