ABSTRACT
This book is about theoretical models of pedagogy, the foundations of which are found in the social sciences. It is written in the conviction that basic conflict between contemporary theoretical foundations need not be final, and that such conflicts are reducible using the techniques of philosophical analysis. It is further written in the conviction that, because theory does affect practice whether consciously or subconsciously, there is great practical importance in at least attempting a synthesis of such models of pedagogy via some tentative moves towards a reconstruction and reconciliation between rival theoretical foundations. Our first principal theme will therefore be about the way in which theoretical models of pedagogy originate as explanations of and answers to certain particular classroom practices and problems and how, from such a base, they come to dominate answers to all such practices and problems. In the course of our discussion on this theme, we shall see how changes in the 'takenfor-granted', 'common-sense' views of classroom practices are produced by changes in the theoretical models themselves. Our second principal theme will be an exploration through an analytic critique of the foundations of such theoretical models of how they might be reformulated in order to tell a more consistent story of how men are in their natural or social world, and how, as adolescents or as children, they are introduced to such a world.
