Table Of ContentHANDBOOK OF PHILOSOPHY OF
EDUCATION
The Handbook of Philosophy of Education is a comprehensive guide to the most important questions
about education that are being addressed by philosophers today. Authored by an international team
of distinguished philosophers, its thirty-five chapters address fundamental, timely, and controversial
questions about educational aims, justice, policy, and practices.
Part I (Fundamental Questions) addresses the aims of education, authority to educate, the roles of
values and evidence in guiding educational choices, and fundamental questions about human
cognition, learning, well-being, and identity. Part II (Virtues of Mind and Character) is concerned
with the educational formation of personal attributes that are often seen as essential to flourishing
individuals and societies. This section includes chapters on the cultivation of intellectual and character
virtues, the nature and formation of expertise, Stoic virtues, and intellectual vices. Part III (Education
and Justice) addresses fundamental and emerging issues of educational justice, from equal educational
opportunity, racial domination, and linguistic justice in education, to educational problems of mass
migration, global educational justice, the education of working children around the world, and the
costs of higher education and upward mobility. Part IV (Educational Practices) addresses controversial
aspects of contemporary education – pedagogical, curricular, and managerial practices – that deserve
careful examination. These include controversies surrounding free speech and instruction in
controversial issues; anti-racist, sustainability, and sex education; and the unfulfilled promises and
demoralizing impact of high-stakes accountability schemes.
The format and jargon-free writing in this volume ensure that topics are interesting and
accessible, helping facilitate the work of advanced students and professionals in Education.
Randall Curren is Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Education at the University of
Rochester, USA.
HANDBOOK OF
PHILOSOPHY OF
EDUCATION
Edited by Randall Curren
Cover image: Christ Church Meadow, Oxford – R. Curren
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Randall Curren
The right of Randall Curren to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the
authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of
the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised 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.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and
are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Curren, Randall R., editor.
Title: Handbook of philosophy of education / edited by Randall Curren.
Other titles: Philosophy of education
Description: New York, NY : Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and
index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022012822 (print) | LCCN 2022012823 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032000053
(Hardback) | ISBN 9781032000039 (Paperback) | ISBN 9781003172246 (eBook)
Subjects: LCSH: Education‐‐Philosophy. | Education‐‐Forecasting.
Classification: LCC LB14.7 .H3637 (print) | LCC LB14.7 (ebook) | DDC 370.1‐‐dc23/eng/
20220707
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012822
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022012823
ISBN: 978-1-032-00005-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-00003-9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-17224-6 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003172246
Typeset in Bembo
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ix
Contributors x
Introduction 1
Randall Curren
PART I
Fundamental Questions 13
1 Education for a Challenging World 15
Philip Kitcher
2 Civic Learning for the 21st Century: Disentangling the “Thin” and
“Thick” Elements of Civic Identity to Support Civic Education 27
Danielle Allen and David Kidd
3 Enabling Everyone to Live Well 42
Randall Curren
4 Mind, Reason, and Knowledge 57
David Bakhurst
5 Understanding as an Educational Objective 69
Catherine Z. Elgin
6 Values and Evidence in Educational Decision-Making 79
Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift
v
Contents
7 How Should Evidence Inform Education Policy? 90
Kathryn E. Joyce and Nancy Cartwright
8 Who Should Make Decisions about Children’s Education? 103
Harry Brighouse and Adam Swift
9 Theorizing Educational Justice 114
Meira Levinson
PART II
Virtues of Mind and Character 125
10 Cultivating Intellectual Virtues 127
Duncan Pritchard
11 Intellectual Character Education: Some Lessons from Vice Epistemology 137
Heather Battaly
12 The Formation of Expertise 149
Ben Kotzee
13 Stoic Lessons for an Uncertain Future 162
Nancy Sherman
14 Character Education 172
Paul Watts and Kristján Kristjánsson
PART III
Education and Justice 185
15 Equal Educational Opportunity: What Should It Mean? 187
Gina Schouten
16 Non-Preparatory Dimensions of Educational Justice 199
Colin M. Macleod
17 Child Work and Education, a Global Perspective 209
Nico Brando
18 Educational Problems of Mass Migration 221
Danielle Zwarthoed
19 The Political Ethics of Bilingual Education 233
Daniel M. Weinstock
vi
Contents
20 Global Democratic Educational Justice 245
Julian Culp
21 Neoliberalism and Education 257
Lawrence Blum
22 Racial Domination in Education 270
Quentin Wheeler-Bell
23 The Costs of Upward Mobility 283
Jennifer M. Morton
24 Who Should Pay for Higher Education? An Educational Aims Perspective 291
Christopher Martin
25 Toward a Post-Pandemic Higher Education System 302
Ariel C. Armony and Ann E. Cudd
PART IV
Educational Practices 317
26 Free Speech and Education 319
Sigal Ben-Porath and Dustin Webster
27 Democratic Education and the Controversy over Controversial Issues 332
Johannes Drerup
28 College Teaching, Indoctrination, and Trust 344
Anthony Simon Laden
29 Climate, Science, and Sustainability Education 353
Matt Ferkany
30 Is “Sex Education” an Intelligible Concept? 365
Lauren Bialystok
31 Racial Identity Formation and Antiracist Education 377
Winston C. Thompson
32 Discipline and Punishment in Schools 390
Bryan R. Warnick
33 Ability and Ability Grouping 401
Tammy Harel Ben Shahar
vii
Contents
34 Malignant Accountability, False Promises, and the Future of Education 413
Yael Yuli Tamir
35 Burnout, Demoralization, and Racialized Failures to Recognize Teachers
as Moral Subjects 427
Doris A. Santoro
Index 440
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This Handbook would not have existed without the encouragement and assistance of many people,
beginning with the Routledge Editor for Philosophy of Education Matthew Friberg, who recruited
me to fill the void created by the advanced age of my 2003 Blackwell Companion to the Philosophy of
Education and Harvey Siegel’s 2009 Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Education. Such volumes may
remain landmarks in the development of their respective subfields of philosophy for many years, but
over time they become less representative of the current state of inquiry and less helpful to advancing
it. Matt approached me on March 5th, 2020, as I was preparing my department’s Pandemic Scenario
Continuity of Business Plan, and his enthusiasm for the project as it began to take shape in August of
that year persuaded me that academic life in the Age of COVID would be more than endless rounds
of administrative and instructional emergencies. He and the Editorial Assistant for this volume,
Jessica Cooke, have been unfailingly supportive through every phase of its development and
production. I am very grateful to them both.
My expectation that the opportunity to work with dozens of the world’s most talented
philosophers of education would make the orchestration of this volume a rewarding experience was
confirmed throughout its development. I owe the contributors my warmest thanks not just for the
excellence of their chapters, collaborative spirit, and friendship, but for all they have done to advance
a field that has truly flourished in the twenty years since my work on the Companion. For their
formative advice and suggestions regarding the plan for this volume I owe thanks to Meira Levinson,
Philip Cook, Gina Schouten, Larry Blum, and Danielle Zwarthoed. Finally, and with apologies to
anyone whose assistance I may be overlooking, I owe my Philosophy and Education Librarian,
Eileen Daly-Boas, an autographed copy of this Handbook and my profuse thanks for her wonderfully
resourceful work in answering a multitude of bibliographic inquiries.
ix
