Education, Knowledge And Truth: Beyond The Postmodern Impasse

EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH In the 1960s educational philosophers showed enormous interest in the nature of knowledge and truth and its organisation for curricular purposes. However, in the light of recent socio-political and educational changes and developments, the interest has declined markedly. This volume collects contributors from an international team of educational and other scholars to reinstate conceptual problems concerning knowledge, truth and the curriculum on the agenda of educational philosophical debate. Although it is arguable that curriculum policy makers have continued to subscribe to a ‘foundationalist’ paradigm of rational educational planning, few contemporary educational philosophers would consider this to be still tenable following the impact of ‘postmodern’ critiques of the objectivity, truth and authority of our knowledge claims. This collection, however, aims to explore different epistemological conceptions in relation to their influence on the curricula and pedagogy of primary and secondary education—with the ultimate aim of carving a coherent route between rational foundationalism and intellectually indiscriminate postmodernism. To this end, the volume fills a major gap in the literature of contemporary educational philosophy. David Carr is Reader in the Faculty of Education at the University of Edinburgh. He is the author of Educating the Virtues, also published by Routledge (1991). The contributors are: Sharon Bailin, Eamonn Callan, David E.Cooper, Fergus Kerr, Lynne McFall, Graham McFee, Jim Mackenzie, Shirley Pendlebury, D.C.Phillips, Harvey Siegel, Jan W.Steutel, Kevin Williams and Christopher Winch. ROUTLEDGE INTERNATIONAL STUDIES IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 1 EDUCATION AND WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN, GERMANY AND ITALY Edited by A.Jobert, C.Marry, L.Tanguy and H.Rainbird 2 EDUCATION, AUTONOMY AND DEMOCRATIC CITIZENSHIP Philosophy in a changing world Edited by David Bridges 3 THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN LEARNING Christopher Winch 4 EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH Beyond the postmodern impasse Edited by David Carr 5 VIRTUE ETHICS AND MORAL EDUCATION Edited by David Carr and Jan Steutel 6 DURKHEIM AND MODERN EDUCATION Edited by Geoffrey Walford and W.S.F.Pickering EDUCATION, KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH Beyond the postmodern impasse Edited by David Carr London and New York First published 1998 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1998 Selection and editorial matter, David Carr; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publi