ABSTRACT
I take, as my starting point, that education, as a subject, is like politics in being concerned with problems which cannot be tackled, like mathematical problems or problems in physics, by reliance on just one way of thinking. Educational problems are problems such as ‘Ought we to have corporal punishment in a secondary school?’ or ‘Does learning improve as a result of an integrated curriculum?’ or ‘Should nursery education be expanded?’ We cannot, or should not, devise empirical studies to help us tackle such questions until we have, first of all, done some work on concepts such as ‘punishment’, ‘integration’ and ‘education’. We have to distinguish punishment from discipline and from the sorts of things that psychologists do to dogs when they subject them to negative reinforcement. We have to enquire into the difference between ‘integration’ and ‘interdisciplinary’ studies, strong and weak senses of ‘integration’ and so on. We have to distinguish ‘education’ from ‘socialization’. In these three illustrative examples we have also to raise questions about the justification of punishment, the status of differentiated ways of knowing and the interplay between educational and economic arguments. Only then are we in a fit position to see what sorts of empirical studies are relevant, whether they are psychological or sociological in form. Investigations into the effects of punishment on offenders, for instance, will only be decisive if a particular ethical position is adopted about the reasons for punishing people in general and children in particular. This structuring of the situation for investigation is not, as many claim or fear, just the business of the philosopher. Psychologists and sociologists, as well as historians, have much to say that is relevant to the application of concepts such as ‘punishment’, ‘integration’ and ‘education’. For they shift in varying social situations, periods of history, and stages of children’s development. Social and developmental variables affect, too, the relevance of reasons which can be given for educational policies and practices.
