ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the concepts of democracy, democratization and education, and explores some of the philosophical issues of meaning, intelligibility and justification that emerge. It argues that, of all forms of educational management and political arrangement, the democratic principles inherent in the extension, transmission and acquisition of knowledge provide us with the best guarantee of an open society that offers greatest opportunities for personal growth and all-round community welfare. The practices and procedures of democratic institutions are exemplifications of large-scale moral principles at work. In Peters’ terms, these principles are presuppositions of all democratic forms of life. In a democracy, people must know their rights and be ready to exercise them — and both they and their children must value, appreciate and practise that knowledge and the commitments that go with it.
