Education, Knowledge and Truth

This collection aims to explore different conceptions of epistemological inquiry and their influence on pedagogy and the curricular content of primary and secondary education. It is arguable that curriculum policy makers have continued to subscribe to a foundationalist paradigm of rational educational planning. This is, however, considered largely untenable by educational philosophers in light of the impact of 'postmodern' philsophical critiques on the notions of objectivity, truth and authority in our claims for knowledge. This volume fills a major gap in the current literature of educational philosophy by calling for the establishment of a coherent route between rational foundationalism and intellectually promiscuous postmodernism in order to address the point and purpose of contemporary education.

'...Carr's volume of readings should be welcomed as an intellectual challenge to those responsible for current educational planning. Frank R. Adams, University of EdinburghThis book sets out to provoke, and it succeeds... Carr is right to claim in his concluding words that if teachers are more than purveyors of second-hand information or deliverers of someone else's curriculum, they need to be able to ask philosophical questions about the discipl9ines they are concerned with. This collection brings together essays appropriate to the task.' - Philosophical Quarterly'...Timely...this is an important book for any person in the 'world' of education, and especially for courses in professional ethics.' - Educational Philosophy and Theory