Devoid of community: Examining conceptions of autonomy in education

Educational Theory

Volumn 52, Issue 1, 2002, Pages 13-25

  Kerr, Donald ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA   (Canada)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 38349145759     PISSN: 00132004     EISSN: 17415446     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1741-5446.2002.00013.x     Document Type: Article

References (15)

1. Charles Taylor, Hegel and Modern Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 157.
2. Will Kymlicka, Liberalism, Community, and Culture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989 47.
3. R.F. Dearden, "Autonomy and Education," In Education and the Development of Reason, ed. R.F. Dearden, Paul H. Hirst, and R.S. Peters (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, This article will be cited as AE in the text for all subsequent references.1975), 457.
4. Alasdair Maclntyre, After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, 2d ed. (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 220.
5. Marilyn Friedman, "Feminism in Ethics: Conceptions of Autonomy," In The Cambridge Companion to Feminism in Philosophy, ed. Miranda Fricker and Jennifer Hornsby (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 212.
6. I have chosen these particular defenses for and descriptions of autonomy because the authors clearly situate themselves within liberal theory, my own starting place for this project, and because each of these authors either gives important reasons for a concern with autonomy, or an interesting conceptualization of it, or both. As well, these authors have each significantly influenced the field of liberal educational theory and therefore their descriptions represent much of the consideration given this topic.
7. Interestingly, though, Dearden adds to this another point which seems to constitute an exception to this last claim. Dearden claims that an increase in self-knowledge is necessary for autonomy and in this case, he argues, the beliefs must be true beliefs. This is because "the better we know our motives, wishes, purposes, typical reactions to others, and so on, then the greater is the possibility of bringing our thought and action under conscious control" (AE, 456). But in order conciously to take control of beliefs and impulses that would otherwise be unconscious, we must have true beliefs about them - for if our beliefs are wrong, then we remain at the whim of what is actually happening in our unconscious. If this is an exception to the rule, it is worth using it to raise questions about the rule which gives rise to it. For instance, why is the person who makes a judgment based on historical beliefs influenced by Genesis to be seen as being able to give adequate reasons in support of her decision, instead of also remaining at the whim of other forces, in this case poor beliefs? This question is brought into relief when we contrast this person's ability to give reasons with the ability of the historian who has given consideration to a wide range of sources, and can articulate defensible criteria for choosing one over another.
8. Eamonn Callan, Autonomy and Schooling (Montreal: McGill-Queen's University, chap. 2. This book will be cited as AS in the text for all subsequent references. Press, 1988).
9. Eamonn Callan, Creating Citizens: Political Education and Liberal Democracy (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997).
10. See in particular the first two chapters, although the entire book describes the connection between a conception of autonomy and a necessary set of liberal virtues.
11. Elsewhere in Creating Citizens Callan docs provide a definition of autonomy. But it is a rewording of the conception presented in Autonomy and Schooling described above, and not explicitly tied to the political virtues discussed here. Nor are additional reasons given in support of this particular description.(148).
12. John Rawls, Political Liberalism (New York: Columbia University Press 48-54., 1993), 18-22.
13. Kenneth Strike, Liberty and Learning (Oxford: Robertson, 1982), 43. Emphasis his. This book will be cited as LL in the text for all subsequent references.
14. Kenneth Strike, Educational Policy and the Just Society (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1982), 3.
15. If my use of the term remains unsatisfactory, I think it is possible to replace my use of the term "moral" with something like the phrase "actions in the puhlic sphere which therefore involve such principles as honesty and respect for others," without any loss of meaning.