ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a brief discussion of the incompatibility between a commitment to common schooling and the development of autonomy, on the grounds that the latter requires, as a primary educational aim, the formation of persons into a particular cultural tradition. From there I go on to explore Kekes’ criticism of liberalism from a pluralist perspective. Kekes’ commitment to an educational programme, which has as its central aim the development of pluralism, is exposed as somewhat inconsistent. This discussion leads on to the proposal of three normative models of pluralism, the third of which, ‘civic pluralism’, is then, in the following section, related to the approach of the conservative political tradition. In the final section an alternative model of the organisation of personal development within the state system is proposed, and linked to the conservative or civic pluralist political perspective. It involves, significantly, the rejection of the ideal of common state schooling and is therefore compatible also with the liberal commitment to the development of autonomy.
