In the wake of profound social changes, which have been accelerated due to a global pandemic, educators reconsider the role and goals of education, and subsequently, how its pragmatic expression should look like in a VUCA-world. We address this challenge by offering basic tenets of education and principles that are tailored to the current reality. We concentrate primarily on the merits of embracing dualities, dilemmas and tensions, for engaging in deep learning and personal development. Jon Wergin’s theory (...) of ‘deep learning’ and aspects of Etienne Wenger’s theory of ‘communities of practice’ provide a fertile framework for this endeavor. Arnett’s concept of ‘emerging adulthood’ provides an additional theoretical resource for connecting principles of education to a timely perception of personal development. Based on the notion of ‘emerging adulthood’, we offer four principles of education, articulated in the form of dualities, along with examples of how to implement these principles at college-level education. (shrink)

Training guide by the Previous Rebbe for the molding of spirits, written for use by the first counselors at the first Lubavitch yeshiva, Tomchei Tmimim: practical, spiritual steps to move past transmitting intellectual ideas to developing character.

SummaryBoth Maria Edgeworth and Elizabeth Hamilton drew extensively on Scottish moral philosophy, and especially on the work of Dugald Stewart, in constructing educational programmes that rested on the assumption that women, and especially mothers, were intellectually capable of understanding the importance of the early association of ideas in the training of children's emotions and reasoning powers. As liberals they found in Stewart's work routes toward intellectual and social progress—both for women and for their society as a whole—that stopped short of (...) radical politics and preserved moral certainties compatible with Christian faith. Both were assailed by Evangelical critics; Edgeworth acquired an undeserved reputation for infidelity, but Hamilton resolutely defended her committed but nonsectarian Christian faith, as she broadened her ambitions towards making her own contribution to the philosophy of mind, which she argued was relevant to the education of all classes in a modernising society. (shrink)

The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton received her education at a day school from the age of eight, and later recalled her childhood and schooldays fondly. However, intellectual girls in the period were regarded with some suspicion, and she remembered hiding from visitors those books that might be deemed inappropriate for a young woman. Later embarking on a literary career, she published in 1801 her Letters on Education, republished in this second edition of 1801–2. Owing much to the (...) theories of John Locke as well as the period's standard conduct-book advice on the education of girls, Hamilton's work offers detailed theoretical explorations of how children learn. 'Be not afraid my good friend,' she writes, 'that I intend making speculative philosophers of your daughters.' Volume 1 includes comments on the 'pernicious effects of parental partiality', considering also 'contempt for the female character' and 'pride of station'. (shrink)

The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton received her education at a day school from the age of eight, and later recalled her childhood and schooldays fondly. However, intellectual girls in the period were regarded with some suspicion, and she remembered hiding from visitors those books that might be deemed inappropriate for a young woman. Later embarking on a literary career, she published in 1801 her Letters on Education, republished in this second edition of 1801–2. Owing much to the (...) theories of John Locke as well as the period's standard conduct-book advice on the education of girls, Hamilton's work offers detailed theoretical explorations of how children learn. 'Be not afraid my good friend,' she writes, 'that I intend making speculative philosophers of your daughters.' Volume 2 begins with a comment on the necessity of obtaining knowledge of our intellectual faculties, and how this knowledge is to be acquired. (shrink)

The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton received her education at a day school from the age of eight, and later recalled her childhood and schooldays fondly. However, intellectual girls in the period were regarded with some suspicion, and she remembered hiding from visitors those books that might be deemed inappropriate for a young woman. Later embarking on a literary career, she published in 1801 her Letters on Education, republished in this second edition of 1801–2. Owing much to the (...) theories of John Locke as well as the period's standard conduct-book advice on the education of girls, Hamilton's work offers detailed theoretical explorations of how children learn. 'Be not afraid my good friend,' she writes, 'that I intend making speculative philosophers of your daughters.' Volume 1 includes discussion of the 'pernicious effects of parental partiality', while Volume 2 begins with a comment on the necessity of obtaining knowledge of our intellectual faculties. (shrink)

It is suggested that the current hierarchical (Frankfurt-Dworkin) model of personal autonomy in philosophical anthropology gives expression to the fundamental presupposition of self-determination in much educational practice and pedagogical theory. Radical criticisms are made of the notions of self-identification and self-evaluation which are of the utmost importance to this model. Instead of relying on such ‘acts of the will’ as decision and choice for the explanation of self-identification and self- evaluation, the non-intentional as well as the non-individualistic character of these (...) processes is stressed and analysed in terms of volitional necessity and social dependence. The consequence of this criticism is the substitution of the concept of extreme personal autonomy by that of caring about oneself as the first principle of education. (shrink)

We establish the thesis that in moral education, particularly in the first years of the child’s development, unreflexive acts or unreflexiveness in certain behaviours of adults is a condition for the development of the personality structure and virtues that enable autonomous ethical reflection and a relation to the Other. With the notion of unreflexiveness we refer to resolvedness in the response of adults when it is necessary to establish a limit, or cut, in the child’s demand for pleasure, as (...) well as to resolvedness as one of the structurally essential elements in behaviours with which the adult subordinates the child to the symbolic order or language. In philosophy, a symptomatic position in this context is represented by Kant’s theory of education. On the basis of the “traditional” concept of “negative education”, and through Freud’s and Lacan’s psychoanalytic concepts, we identify two principles that should, in contemporary times, be an essential part of the moral educational behaviours of adults: the principle of a delimited response to the child’s demand for the satisfaction of pleasure, and the principle of reasoned, reflected, but nevertheless certain, persevering, resolved unreflexiveness in the subordination of the child’s desire to the symbolic order . On the basis of the preceding analysis, we highlight certain consequences of this structure of the subject for the contexts of particular theoretical discussions and for school practice. (shrink)

This essay discusses two contributions of the principle of sufficient autonomy to educational justice. In Just Enough, Liam Shields criticizes instrumental accounts of autonomy. According to these accounts, autonomy is valuable insofar as it contributes to well-being. Shields argues that instrumental arguments fail to support mandatory autonomy education in all cases, while his non-instrumental principle of sufficient autonomy does support this. This essay develops a version of the instrumental argument and argues this version can do the work of supporting (...) mandatory autonomy education. Another contribution of the principle of sufficient autonomy is the requirement of talents discovery. According to Shields, the requirement of talents discovery renders Rawls’s principle of fair equality of opportunity more plausible, since one’s chances of accessing a given economic position depend on one’s opportunities to discover one’s innate talents. This essay argues that Rawlsian fair equality of opportunity does not have the same implications as the principle of sufficient autonomy as to which types of talents should be discovered and to what extent. (shrink)

In this article, I develop and defend a prioritarian principle of justice for the distribution of educational resources. I argue that this principle should be conceptualized as directing educators to confer a general benefit, where that benefit need not be mediated by improved academic outcomes. I go on to argue that it should employ a metric of all-things-considered flourishing over the course of the student's lifetime. Finally, I discuss the relationship between my proposed prioritarian principle and the meritocratic principle that (...) it is presumed to supplement. (shrink)

It is suggested that the current hierarchical (Frankfurt-Dworkin) model of personal autonomy in philosophical anthropology gives expression to the fundamental presupposition of self-determination in much educational practice and pedagogical theory. Radical criticisms are made of the notions of self-identification and self-evaluation which are of the utmost importance to this model. Instead of relying on such ‘acts of the will’ as decision and choice for the explanation of self-identification and self- evaluation, the non-intentional as well as the non-individualistic character of these (...) processes is stressed and analysed in terms of volitional necessity and social dependence. The consequence of this criticism is the substitution of the concept of extreme personal autonomy by that of caring about oneself as the first principle of education. (shrink)

Nicholas Dent; The Basic Principle of Emile's Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 22, Issue 2, 30 May 2006, Pages 139–149, https://doi.org/10.

In recent years we have seen a newfound engagement with Jürgen Habermas's work in philosophy of education, focusing on his conception of argumentative dialogue, or discourse, as the origin of both truth-related epistemic judgments and justifications of moral norms that claim rightness rather than truth. In this article, Krassimir Stojanov first reconstructs the way in which Habermas determines the relation between truth and rightness, and he then shows that moral rightness functions as a “truth-analogue” since moral norms, like true (...) facts, transcend the actual and local practices of their justification. In the case of moral rightness, this transcendence occurs as an infinite process of inclusion of the perspectives and interests of all potentially concerned persons — also (and foremost) the perspectives and interests of those who are strange to each other in their respective values, worldviews, and interests. With this account of “truth-analogue” moral rightness, Habermas conceptualizes a kind of processual and “difference-sensible” universalism, which is very different from the substantialist universalism of some traditional conceptions of education, or Bildung. In the final section, Stojanov shows why including children in their otherness as children in the discursive process of production of moral knowledge, and thus treating them with a kind of epistemic respect, is a constitutive condition for that process. The demand for the discursive inclusion of children follows from the discourse ethics approach, but it requires an enlargement and some corrections of that approach. (shrink)

This article discusses the process of universalization of education in Brazil the count from a specific spatiality - the places on the edge of the Transmazonica highway. There being no need toquestion the scope and effectiveness of expanding access to basic education, given its wide acceptance in the country - we start from the principle of geographical connectivity/connection to problematize such educational universalization. We aim to reflect on the scope of basic education, its conditions and ability to (...) potentiate or not the diversity of the territory. Methodologically grounded in a dialogue between phenomenology and existentialism, we conduct a literature review taking as starting point the preliminary empirical research data. We conclude that the universalization of education is configured as extermination argument that effective the urbanocentric vision and one connectedness between places and territory, produces disconnection of the places themselves, removing their ability to communicative action that jeopardizes not only education the local, but regional and national. (shrink)

Nicholas Dent; The Basic Principle of Emile's Education, Journal of Philosophy of Education, Volume 22, Issue 2, 30 May 2006, Pages 139–149, https://doi.org/10.

The purpose of this article is to revisit Brown as a paradigmatic understanding of social justice and its barriers, by reconsidering Brown in light of the three moral pillars of democracy identified by Cornel West (2004). West maintains that authentic deep democracy is grounded in three fundamental capacities and dispositions, or pillars: (a) Socratic questioning, (b) a prophetic commitment to justice, and (c) tragicomic hope. West's articulation of these pillars constitutes 20 a philosophical framework for the exploration of the basic (...) demands of justice in a democratic society. These moral pillars can also offer useful insights into this phase of living exploration of Brown and its central place in educational studies. (shrink)

This paper explores the value of the eros motif for critical pedagogy and citizenship education. The conceptual affinities between eros and democracy are identified and integrated into a theory of democratic political education. Long recognized as vital to the process of self knowledge, the ancient Greek concept of eros has nevertheless been largely erased from contemporary educational debate. By retrieving eros from the fringe of academic discourse and integrating it with critical pedagogy, the aims of radical democracy can (...) be more fully achieved. The essay emphasizes the civil society or cultural dimensions of democracy as against its legal or procedural aspects. Renewed emphasis on the associational qualities of democracy underscore the importance of eros as an educational principle. The ancient pedagogical motif of educating the desires is posited as an alternative to the liberal/modernist paradigm of education which de-values affective domains of knowledge. (shrink)

One of the main goals of multicultural education is to prepare young people to participate in meaningful pedagogical and social issues. To achieve this goal, educators need to cultivate the basic rudiments of compassion and goodwill in the younger generation, rooted in a sense of empathy for others. Without a sense of compassion, the younger generation is unlikely to be motivated to reflect and act on the needs of the people around them. Therefore, it is necessary to start by (...) involving students in getting to know different ethnic cultures, where they can show compassion not only to people, but also to certain situations. Such knowledge forms the basis for interaction with different points of view and worldviews, as well as with the causes of pedagogical, psychological and social problems and the ways taken to solve them. (shrink)

Do we need principles of the unification of our agency, our mode of acting? Immanuel Kant and Christine Korsgaard argue that the reflective structure of our mind forces us to have some conception of ourselves, others and the world—including our agency—and that it is through will and reason, and in particular principles of our agency, that we take upon ourselves to unify and test the way(s) in which we make our lives consistent. I argue that the principles (...) suggested—the hypothetical imperative and the categorical imperative—function to unify our understanding of ourselves and others as agents as efficacious and autonomous and that the extent to which those concerned render themselves efficacious and autonomous in cosmopolitan education or elsewhere is due to the extent to which they act in accordance with and are motivated by the suggested principles and in particular the categorical one. I first discuss how the principles function to unify our agency and how the categorical imperative functions as a test of maxims for our actions, how the will is the source of our morality, and how we are forced to have practical identities. I end with some remarks on what it means to acknowledge the mentioned principles in cosmopolitan education. (shrink)

Background Because opioids can suppress respiratory drive, the principle of double effect (PDE) has been used to justify their use for terminally ill patients. Recent studies, however, suggest that the risk of respiratory depression in typical end-of-life (EOL) situations may be overstated and that heightened concern for this rare occurrence can lead to inadequate treatment of pain. The purpose of this study is to examine the role of the PDE in medical school ethics education, with specific reference to its (...) potential impact on pain management at EOL. Method After obtaining institutional review board approval, an electronic survey was sent to ethics educators at every allopathic medical school in the USA. Results One-third of ethics educators felt that opioids were ‘likely’ to cause significant respiratory depression that could hasten death. Educators' opinions of opioid effects did not influence their view of the relevance of the PDE, with approximately 70% deeming it relevant to EOL care. Only 15% of ethics educators believed that associating the PDE with opioid use might discourage clinicians from optimally treating pain, out of concern for respiratory depression. Conclusion This study demonstrates that a significant minority of ethics educators believe, contrary to current evidence, that opioids are ‘likely’ to cause significant respiratory depression that could hasten death in terminally ill patients. Yet, many of those who do not feel this is likely still rely on the PDE to justify this possibility, potentially (and unknowingly) contributing to clinical misperceptions and underutilisation of opioids at EOL. (shrink)

Educators and policy makers confront challenging questions of ethics, justice, and equity on a regular basis. Should teachers retain a struggling student if it means she will most certainly drop out? Should an assignment plan favor middle-class families if it means strengthening the school system for all? These everyday dilemmas are both utterly ordinary and immensely challenging, yet there are few opportunities and resources to help educators think through the ethical issues at stake. Drawing on research and methods developed in (...) the Justice in Schools project at the Harvard Graduate School of Education,_ Dilemmas of Educational Ethics_ introduces a new interdisciplinary approach to achieving practical wisdom in education, one that honors the complexities inherent in educational decision making and encourages open discussion of the values and principles we should collectively be trying to realize in educational policy and practice. At the heart of the book are six richly described, realistic accounts of ethical dilemmas that have arisen in education in recent years, paired with responses written by noted philosophers, empirical researchers, policy makers, and practitioners, including Pedro Noguera, Howard Gardner, Mary Pattillo, Andres A. Alonso, Jamie Ahlberg, Toby N. Romer, and Michael J. Petrilli. The editors illustrate how readers can use and adapt these cases and commentaries in schools and other settings in order to reach a difficult decision, deepen their own understanding, or to build teams around shared values. (shrink)