ABSTRACT

The recent rapprochement between philosophy and education creates new opportunities but also new problems: how, fundamentally, to bring philosophical thought to bear significantly on educational practice? Many of us have for a long time been critical of the old gulf between general philosophy and philosophy of education; we have also attacked the inspirational role of the latter in teacher training and its presentation in stale typological categories that could only seem artificial in the context of the general development of our subject. Yet the old way must be conceded to have had its advantages. Though cut off from the philosophical mainstream, it was at least acknowledged on all sides as having a legitimate place in teacher training. Though oversimplified and often naive in conception, it at least addressed issues recognizable to the practitioner. Though frequently artificial in structure and treatment, it at least provided a recognizable traditional framework for course development by those assigned to teach it.