Conceiving Education: The Creative Task before Us

Overview & Synopsis

Philosophers of education regularly undertake the challenging task of defining their field and what it is they do. John White and Harvey Siegel are no exception: Siegel categorizes philosophy of education as a branch of philosophy, and White responds that philosophers of education would do better to adopt a Deweyan perspective. White claims that philosophy of education is not a "sui generis" area of philosophy. It does not engage timeless philosophical questions, but draws heavily from ethics and epistemology (and other fields) to address contemporary developments in education. Contrary to White, I view philosophy of education and aesthetics as analogous and, building upon the analogy, suggest that philosophers of education resist totalizing approaches to their field. To this end, I argue that a Wittgensteinian-inspired approach to philosophy of education is particularly valuable for teachers today.