Introduction: Philosophy of Education in a Pluralistic World

Abstract

As is customary, this volume begins with the presidential essay, distinguished invited essays, and featured essays, the selection of which is described in the preface that precedes this introduction. Thereafter, essays are printed in the same order in which they were presented at the annual meeting, and all of the above are accompanied by invited responses that are substantive papers in their own right. I will introduce the essays in a different order, one in which they are grouped according to common features or concerns. What follows is certainly not the only way the key points and recurring themes of the essays could be characterized, and I fear it is not even the best one, but I hope it will serve to help you locate philosophical fare ideally suited to satisfy your current intellectual appetite. CULTIVATING MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL VIRTUES A number of this year’s essays explain, illustrate, and defend new conceptions of important educational ideals in terms of the potential of these particular ways of thinking to improve education for personal and social development. Peter Giampietro takes up Heesoon Bai’s notion of autonomy as attunement to argue that it should be understood and cultivated as an intrinsically relational concept. Todd Rowen revisits Hannah Arendt’s account of wonder in light of Immanuel Kant’s characterization of the sublime, proposing that such “consuming states of apprehension” can facilitate the disruptions of established frameworks that are key to transformative learning. Trust is the focus of Suzanne Rice’s featured essay, in which she employs features of Annette Baier’s analysis of the concept to clarify the significance of trust relations between teachers and students as well as in education more generally. Dror Post examines the role of hope in education, introducing a distinction between Promethean and Epimethean varieties to characterize the place of hope in classrooms alongside other virtues such as wisdom and patience. Central to Ann Chinnery’s recommendations for moral education is the conception of compassion she constructs from the work of Emmanuel Levinas, in aid of building community in contexts of difference.