ABSTRACT
There is a large literature of suggestions for the curriculum of schools of universal education. As indicated earlier, however, much of this literature is of little use in an endeavour to find proposals based on fundamental principles, and much of it is almost hopelessly entangled with considerations other than those appropriate to the justification of a curriculum for a liberal education. Before enlarging the general suggestions so far made into a more specific account of the content and method of a liberal education I intend to consider the views of three writers, all philosophers of education, who have attempted to base recommendations on principles which, though different, are considered to be fundamental. The three are:
P.H.Hirst: based on an epistemological analysis of the nature of knowledge.
P.Phenix: claims to be based on the idea that 'knowledge in the disciplines has patterns or structures and that an understanding of these typical forms is essential for the guidance of teaching and learning', but is probably best seen as based on a phenomenological account of the differentiated areas of 'meaning' evolved by humankind.
J.White: based on the educational implications of a subjective theory of values
