An Epistemological Rationale for Classical Education

Abstract

The primary aim of this study is to fortify classical education against influential but dangerously constricted conceptions of assessment and accountability. This effort is supported by the strikingly insightful defender of liberal arts education, Harry S. Broudy, a preeminent voice in philosophy of education during the mid to late twentieth century. The article explores Broudy’s call for general or liberal education, highlighting the seminal epistemology of Michael Polanyi, upon which Broudy’s call stands. Exploration of Broudy’s epistemological rationale for classical education offers an occasion for reflection on the sort of person formed by such activity. The article will show that at the heart of comprehensive discussion of the ends, content, and methods of classical education, and manifest in the educational theory of Polanyi and Broudy, is a focus on shaping the moral imagination. Such shaping constitutes the character formation that is the fundamental objective of classical education.