ABSTRACT
This book sets out to give a brief and elementary introduction to philosophy of education, a specialised branch of philosophy. A preliminary move must be to say something about the two, about what kind of study philosophy is and about what philosophers of education generally are trying to do. Unfortunately there are no simple and uncontentious answers to questions which are bound to be asked here. Philosophers themselves are forever debating what philosophy is and what sort of enquiries philosophers pursue, and apart from a general agreement that philosophy tries to get at the truth on certain important questions by rational means, there is little consensus about what philosophers are doing or ought to be doing. This is true also of philosophers of education, amongst whom there is quite considerable diversity of opinion about what exactly their task is or ought to be. What follows is therefore offered with some caution. It tries to present a particular view of the nature and role of philosophy of education and it is inevitable that the conclusions given will not all be acceptable to everyone who works in this field. Nevertheless, given this reservation it is hoped that there will be substance enough to enable the newcomer to the subject to follow and perhaps take part in the ongoing debate about its scope and its role in educational thinking.
