Philosophy Applied to Education

Abstract

It is a (regrettably rare) pleasure to receive for review a book by someone who is (a) palpably expert in a particular discipline, and (b) able to deploy that discipline on topics which have a demonstrably practical relevance to education. Most books satisfy neither criterion: this one satisfies both. Add (c) Hare's well-known clarity of style and presentation, and we have something really worth reading. A further bonus, which I hope justifies this article, is that it raises in a fairly sharp form the whole question of communication between philosophical and other experts on the one hand, and the world of practical education on the other. The essays cover several decades of Hare's career, and form roughly distinguishable categories. The first two are about religion and its connection with morality; the next four deal with particular problems in moral philosophy; the following six cover more specifically the ground of education in the field of moral education; and the last critically examines (one might almost say, settles the hash of) the notion of equality of opportunity in education. Of course, there is a good deal of overlap, and it is not only the essays I have classified as education-orientated which will be the most useful for educators to read: 'Are there moral authorities?' (3) is particularly valuable and accessible. I should also particularly like to recommend 'Adolescents into adults' (6) as an ideal example of how one philosopher (Hare) can demolish the views of another (the present reviewer) in a manner all the more devastating for its polished courtesy, before putting forward a more plausible position: it shows something of the actual working of philosophy, its dialectic nature, in reference to a well-known practical problem. More praise from the present reviewer might tend towards the impertinent or the fulsome. Criticism is difficult without writing counter-essays for which there is no space here, but I will stick my neck out on one or two general matters. The weakest, or perhaps one should say the most limited, essays are those that deal with religion. Hare says in the preface '... the irrational side of our nature, from which none of us can escape, needs to be educated, and religion, interpreted broadly to include humanistic beliefs' (well, that's certainly broad enough for anyone) 'is the only way of doing this'. It is true that some people (not everyone) deal with (express, act out) their irrational or unconscious selves by or in some form of religious belief and practice, which may indeed be more or less educated or sophisticated. Others deal with it in other ways, some of which seem more obviously educational (literature and the arts, or some form of psychotherapy). In the subsequent essays Hare writes as if-what he certainly 123