Conformism and Critique in Liberal Society

The role of critique in education receives intense scrutiny in philosophy of education, both in Europe and in North America. This volume, which includes contributions from authors in nine different countries, brings together a range of contrasting European and Anglophone perspectives on this issue motivated by a concern for social justice and improvement in education.

The book covers a range of topics that extend across different aspects of educational critique, including negative critique, critique and relativism, critique and utopianism, the limits of critique, and the idea that critique contains the seeds of a self–limiting orthodoxy. The pairing of each of the main chapters with companion pieces that engage critically with them not only deepens the reflective impact of the separate arguments but also strengthens the coherence of the book as a whole.

Preface.

1. The Role of Critique in Philosophy of Education: its Subject Matter and its Ambiguities: Frieda Heyting and Christopher Winch.

2. The Domestication of Critique: Problems of Justifying the Critical in the Context of Educationally Relevant Thought and Action: Helmut Heid.

3. Don′t Fence Me In: the Liberation of Undomesticated Critique: Claudia Ruitenberg.

4. How to Conceive of Critical Educational Theory Today?: Jan Masschelein.

Educational Critique, Critical Thinking and the Critical Philosophical Traditions: Marianna Papastephanou.

5. Problematising Critique in Pedagogy: Jörg Ruhloff.

6. Problematising Critique in Education and Child–Rearing: Ruhloff′s Scepticism: Stefan Ramaekers.

7. Critique and Negativity: Towards the Pluralisation of Critique in Educational Practice, Theory and Research: Dietrich Benner and Andrea English.

8. Negativity: a Disturbing Constitutive Matter in Education: Rosa Nidia Buenfil Burgos.

9. The Utopianisation of Critique: the Tension between Education Conceived as a Utopian Concept and as one Grounded in Empirical Reality: Michele Borrelli.

10. Borrelli, Mill, Emily and Me: Judith Suissa.

11. Developing Critical Rationality as a Pedagogical Aim: Christopher Winch.

12. What are the Bounds of Critical Rationality in Education?: Christiane Thompson.

13. Relativism and the Critical Potential of Philosophy of Education: Frieda Heyting.

14. Critique, Contextualism and Consensus: Jane Green.

Notes on Contributors.

Index.

Frieda Heyting is Professor of Philosophy and History of Education at the University of Amsterdam. She has written mainly on epistemological issues and socio–philosophical issues within the philosophy of education. She is currently working on interpretations of dependency and participation in educational theory and philosophy.

Christopher Winch is Reader in Educational Policy and Management at King s College, London. He has taught in primary schools in England, has written numerous books and articles in many areas of the philosophy of education and has interests in the theory of learning, in language and education, and in vocational education.