The role of critique in the Anglophone analytical tradition of philosophy of education is outlined and some of its shortcomings are noted, particularly its apparent claim to methodological objectivity in arriving at what are clearly contestable positions about the normative basis of education. Many of these issues can be seen to have a long history within European, and especially German, philosophy of education. In the light of this the discussion moves on to a consideration of similarities and contrasts between the (...) Anglophone and German-inspired deployment of the concept of critical rationality in philosophy of education. The claims to objectivity of the Anglophone tradition are contrasted with a more self-conscious concern for social justice and improvement in other European traditions, which has been followed more recently by a greater scepticism concerning the potential of critique for delivering social justice and improvement in education. This has parallels with the growing Anglophone disillusion with ‘classical’ analytic philosophy of education. This in turn has resulted in a greater awareness of the limitations of critique: its ideological character, its rootedness in specific contexts, its own potential dogmatism and its ambiguities. The various contributions to this volume are briefly described and related to each other. (shrink)

This book gives a comprehensive account of methods in philosophy of education, it also examines their application in the 'real world' of education. It will therefore be of interest to philosophers and educators alike.

The Philosopher's Banquet is the first sustained study of Plutarch's Table Talk, a Greek prose text which is a combination of philosophical dialogue (in the ...

Michael Grosso delves into the biography of St. Joseph of Copertino, a Dominican priest known to levitate, to explore the many strange phenomena which surrounded his life and develops potential physical explanations for some of the most astounding manifestations of his religious ecstasy.

In reaction to Doret De Ruyter's recent defence of the importance of ideals in education, I advocate cautiousness in three respects. First, I explain the importance of distinguishing ideals more sharply from goals by demonstrating the problems of considering ideals even approximately realisable. Second, I substantiate my doubts about their indispensability in human motivation, and question the desirability of encouraging the motivational use of ideals. Third, I question whether ideals could or should be ‘passed on’ in education, drawing attention to (...) their non-objective, personally created nature. (shrink)

How can philosophy exert its critical function in society and in education if any appeal to independent and even relatively ‘certain’ criteria seems problematic? The epistemological doubts that foundationalist models of justification encounter unavoidably seem to raise this question. In particular, the relativist implications that seem to result from rejecting such models seem to paralyse the critical potential of philosophy of education. In order to explore the possibilities of a conception of educational critique that avoids the pitfalls of foundationalism, I (...) analyse the epistemological dimensions of this much-feared relativism, illustrating this with some characteristic examples. Solving the problems raised will require an interpretation of critique that leaves our daily sense of critique intact, without literally adopting its—foundationalist—basic assumptions. After systematically developing such an alternative interpretation of critical usage, a non-relativist but still non-foundationalist and powerful conception of philosophical critique seems possible. I illustrate results with some examples from philosophy of education. (shrink)

This article is a discussion of Philip A. Rolnick’s Person, Grace, and God with comments by Andrew Grosso, Paul Lewis and Paul Gavrilyuk and a response by Philip Rolnick.

Au total 1367 documents avec une inscription en linéaire A sur les 1427 connus peuvent être datés selon le système d'Evans. Ils permettent d'établir avec certitude que cette écriture a été en usage en Crète du MM II au MR I B, avec peut-être un prolongement au MR II. En dehors de Crète, elle est attestée dans les Cyclades, à Kéa au MM III et au MR I B, à Milos au MR I et à Théra au MR I A (...) ; elle est connue à Cythère au MM IIΙ Β-MR I Aet elle a même gagné la Laconie sans qu'on puisse dire à quelle époque. (shrink)

The question of whether protective labor legislation is beneficial to female workers has triggered much debate among feminist scholars. Like proponents of laissez-faire, some feminist scholars and activists have argued that such legislation harms the economic interests of women by lowering their wages and diminishing their employment prospects on the free labor market. This article reexamines the arguments made by opponents of protective labor legislation in the light of the historical development of the welfare state in Britain and France. It (...) is shown that the case against gender-specific protective labor legislation does not hold on empirical grounds. A strong body of evidence shows that protective labor legislation historically brought increasing economic returns and expanded opportunities to women in both countries. This has important implications for contemporary debates about the relationship between protective labor legislation and gender discrimination in the European Community, the International Labor Organization, and developing countries. (shrink)

Fr. Vandenabeele, Amaihonle : Le Chantier sous la porte de l'Acropole. p. 519-530 Publication de la fouille faite en 1977, 1979 et 1980 devant la porte du rempart : on a trouvé des pièces d'un habitat archaïque, des galeries souterraines et divers ensembles dont ni la date ni la fonction n'ont pu être précisées, du fait de la limitation de la fouille. Publication du matériel (céramique et quelques figurines) allant de l'époque archaïque à l'époque impériale.

Evidence-based Management (EBMgt) and Evidence-Based Management + (EBMgt +) are two approaches to management according to which managerial decisions should be based on the best available evidence, as this increases the likelihood of their effectiveness. In these approaches, four types of evidence are considered: evidence from the scientific literature, from practitioners, from the organisation and from stakeholders. In EBMgt +, evidence is characterised as a three-place relation between information, a claim and a method. In many circumstances, probability sampling methods (PSMs) (...) are the best methods to gather the abovementioned types of evidence. We present a case study concerning harassment in the workplace to illustrate a circumstance in which fact-finding methods, rather than PSMs, are the best methods to gather evidence. We argue that information thus gathered should count as evidence in the spirit of EBMgt +. However, while part of the evidence needed in the case study comes from the stakeholders, it does not fit the characterisations of ‘evidence from stakeholders’ considered in EBMgt and EBMgt +. Therefore, we disentangle sources and types of evidence which, in turn, enables us to characterise a new type of evidence – testimonial evidence – that should be included in the theory of evidence-based management. Differentiating between sources and types has the potential to bring theory and practice closer together, whereas including testimonial evidence has the potential to make the theory of evidence-based management applicable in a wider range of circumstances, such as trade secret theft and conflicts of interest. (shrink)

This brief article provides a critical review of several recent interdisciplinary studies of human nature, personhood, and the self and offers some tentative suggestions as to how those interested in the thought of Michael Polanyi might contribute to this area of on-going inquiry and reflection.

Philosophical practice would profit from renewed attention to the classical virtue of encrateia or “self-mastery.” It is a common human problem to experience a gap between one's intention to do something and one's ability to execute it. The problem raises the question of the need to train the will. An assumption of the importance of that need, and hints on how to address it, permeate traditional spiritual texts such as the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, and the Tao Te Ching. (...) Classical Greek schools of philosophy from Platonism to Stoicism and Epicureanism were in fundamental ways based on will training. In addition, it is possible to draw on modern psychology for useful insights on developing a skillful and effective will, especially in the writings of William James and Roberto Assagioli. A synthesis based on these sources would offer an opportunity to enrich the toolbox of modern philosophical practice. (shrink)