Philosophy and Education

The book brings philosophical considerations to bear upon our understanding of the concept of education and concepts related to it. It seeks to answer questions such as: is education a unitary concept, or is it a cluster of concepts which are more or less related to one another? Are there values which are constitutive of the practice of education? Is moral education an independent variety of education, or is it necessary internal to all educational practice? The book also explores the notion of the autonomy of educational institutions as it is applied in the context of Indian higher education. This leads to an incisive consideration of the kind of research that educational institutions like our universities must sustain and promote. A discussion of accountability of institutions forms a necessary part of this consideration. Two other interesting areas of debate about higher education that the book considers are the division of academic labour as an interdisciplinary effort and problems associated with the great multiplicity of languages in our country and their use in teaching and research. The work, therefore, provides a much-needed philosophical underpinning to our understanding of educational practices at different levels of teaching, learning and research.