Liberal Education and its Enemies
Keywords:
liberal education, educational value, philosophy of education, multiculturalismAbstract
Liberal Education is, in Gallie's sense, a contested concept. Among issues contested within the concept are the nature and substantiation of intrinsic educational value, the relationship between valued knowledge itself and the good life it is held to make possible, and the limits, if any, to which liberal knowledge might be extended.
Essential characteristics of Liberal Education include a central concern with the educationally valuable and with the development of mind as a whole, rather than in preparation for specific employment, and an acceptance of hierarchy within knowledge. These characteristics are illustrated first by reference to Plato and Aristotle and then to Hegel and Marx.
Criticism is directed at some contemporary groups who either reject outright the essential characteristics of Liberal Education or whose doctrines and practices severely restrict its possible extension. The first group includes primitivists, hard-line multiculturalists and reductionists, the second, indoctrinators, vocationalists and advocates of social relevance in education.
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