The Concept of Education

In line with the remarks made in the Introduction about clarification of the

meaning of terms being one of the important preoccupations of

philosophers, let us begin the examination of the concept of education by

posing the question direct: What do the terms ‘education’, ‘educate’, and

‘educated’ mean? The hope must be that in answering this question we

shall not simply find satisfaction in a job well done (undertaking the

inquiry just for the sake of it) but also provide hints and clues for those

engaged in education concerning the sorts of things they ought, as

educators, to be doing and the ways in which they ought to do them. The

situation seems to be parallel to someone wanting to be a shoplifter while not knowing what ‘shoplifting’ means. He is told, and then knows what to

do in order to become a bona fide shoplifter. If only the parallel were exact.