Both contemporary naturalist and deconstructivist theories share the suspicion of invoking an emphatic subject in education while not being able to address the question of what education is for in a constructive and value-based way. However, while naturalist theory also focuses on the human mind and its evolutionary origins, deconstructivism is…

Philosophers of education have had a longstanding interest in the nature and value of reason. Literature can provide an important source of insight in addressing questions in this area. One writer who is especially helpful in this regard is Fyodor Dostoevsky. In this essay Peter Roberts provides an educational reading of Dostoevsky's highly…

In this paper I explore the shared interest of John Dewey and Carl Jung in the developmental continuity between biological, psychological, and cultural phenomena. Like other first generation psychological theorists, Dewey and Jung thought that psychology could be used to deepen our understanding of this continuity and thus gain a degree of control…

This article presents several letters in which a university mentor shares her reflexive notions of how she lives as a teacher researcher. In her letters, Julia encourages teachers to embrace what she calls "An Embodied Aesthetic Curriculum." When teachers are able to develop "embodied aesthetic wholeness", they are capable of deepening…

I deconstruct the myth of development that presupposes a chronology from immaturity to maturity. More generally, I suggest this imagined march of progress serves as a foundational wish for any education that is at once defined as the movement from ignorance to knowledge and serves to defend against the problem of regression, hatred, and not…

In this paper I propose a contrast between learning as the acquisition of theories and learning as the development of insight. I then suggest that, in a great many cases, the cognitive achievement by which we come to organise behaviour rationally is the development of insight, where this is independent of the acquisition of knowledge regimented in…

Discusses the sequencing of writing assignments based on students' natural development. Cites the work of Piaget and Moffett. (FL)

Discusses three educational ideas, demonstrating their incompatibility: (1) a focus on socialization; (2) Plato's notion that education is the process of seeking truth about reality; and (3) Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea that the mind undergoes a developmental process and education furthers its development. Argues that education is learning to use…

This address starts by explaining the educational philosphy of John Dewey. In this context, the central aims of education are cognitive and moral development. In a pluralistic society, the teaching of morals poses a grave problem and gives rise to a belief in moral and ethical relativity. This address proceeds to show what is wrong with ethical…

Current concepts of critical thinking need to be reconstrued into the much broader concept of "critical being" and applied to higher education. Under this construct, critical persons (students) become more than just critical thinkers; they engage critically with the world and with themselves; they not only reflect critically on…

This symposium on the adult learner consists of three presentations. "Bridging the Gap Between Adult Education and Educational Psychology: Some Important Findings" (Bryan W. Smith) is a report upon a micro-analysis of a case of adults entering tertiary study for the first time and their mental life concerning their own self performance,…