Philosophers of Education: Major Thinkers from the Enlightenment to the Postmodern Era

FAIN: FV-50375-13

Boston University (Boston, MA 02215-1300)
Peter Gibbon (Project Director: March 2013 to January 2015)

A three-week school teacher seminar for sixteen participants to study influential philosophers of education from the eighteenth century to the present.

This Seminar will study works of major educational thinkers. Starting with the Enlightenment, it will explore John Locke's Some Thoughts Concerning Education, Thomas Jefferson's letters, and Jean Jacques Rousseau's Emile; move on to Horace Mann's Reports on Education, William James' Talks to Teachers on Psychology, and John Dewey's The School and Society; study the debate between Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois over African-American education; and analyze Maria Montessori's The Montessori Method. We will also consider critics of Progressive education. The Seminar will conclude with works by contemporary philosophers: Howard Gardner's The Disciplined Mind and E. D. Hirsch's The Schools We Need. The overarching goals will be to introduce participants to debates among significant philosophers of education, to understand the connections among their ideas, and to articulate ways their theories are relevant to K-12 educators today.

Associated Products

A Timeless View of Education From 1899 (Article)
Title: A Timeless View of Education From 1899
Author: Peter Gibbon
Abstract: Talks to Teachers by William James remains a remarkable and still relevant book. The article explores why the book is remarkable and why James was both a progressive and a traditionalist. Further, the article comments on ways James anticipated contemporary philosophers, such as E.D. Hirsch and Howard Gardner.
Year: 2013
Primary URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2013/01/23/18gibbon.h32.html?qs=A+Timeless+View+of+Education
Primary URL Description: http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
Access Model: should be open access, not completely sure
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: Education Week
Publisher: Education Week

A Small Revolutionary Book (Article)
Title: A Small Revolutionary Book
Author: Peter Gibbon
Abstract: John Locke's book, Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693), became the most celebrated treatise on education during the Enlightenment, influencing Benjamin Franklin, John-Jacques Rousseau, and untold numbers of anxious parents and uncertain teachers. The article considers Locke's influence in the 17th and 18th centuries and his relevance today.
Year: 2015
Primary URL: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2015/08/05/john-locke-an-education-progressive-ahead-of.html?qs=John+Locke
Primary URL Description: http://www.edweek.org/ew/index.html
Access Model: Open access, though not sure
Format: Magazine
Periodical Title: Education Week
Publisher: Education Week

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