This volume brings together nine essays based on the work of John Macmurray, who argued for the central importance of education in addressing issues of human purpose, such as how to lead good lives together, the importance of wisdom over knowledge, the advancement of a democratic culture, and the role of community. Scholars from the UK, Australia, and the US working in education, law, philosophy, the philosophy of education, and religious education and theology describe the work of Macmurray and tackle issues like the relationship between education and social and political policy; the use of technology in education for personal, relational, and reflective and contemplative practices; the relationship between schooling and family; the depersonalization of education; love and teaching; and a caring approach to education. Chapters were originally published in the Oxford Review of Education, vol. 38, issue 6 (December 2012). The book includes the previously unpublished Macmurray lecture Learning to be Human, from 1958. Annotation ©2015 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
The educational writings of John Macmurray, one of the finest 20th century philosophers of his generation, have a special relevance for us today. In similar circumstances of international crisis he argued for the central importance of education addressing fundamental issues of human purpose - how we lead good lives together, the emphasis on wisdom rather than knowledge alone, the advancement of a truly democratic culture, and the overriding importance of community in human flourishing.
This remarkable collection of articles from leading international scholars includes the hitherto unpublished John Macmurray lecture – Learning to be Human – and brings together invited contributions from a range of fields and disciplines (e.g. philosophy of education, moral philosophy, care ethics, history of education, theology, religious education, future studies and learning technologies) and a number of countries across the world (e.g. Australia, the UK and the USA).
Countering overemphasis on technique and its typical separation from wider human purposes emblematic of much of our current malaise, this book asks what it might mean to take the education of persons seriously and how such a perspective helps us to form judgments about the nature and worth of contemporary education policy and practice.
This book was originally published as a special issue of the Oxford Review of Education.
