Session Information
13 SES 07 B, Parallel Paper Session
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
A feature of neoliberal policy has been to privilege the economic value of higher education over other kinds of values. This reflects a departure from the commitment to explore the foundations for general and life-long education, in society, institutions, and in professional practice, and this is a departure fuelled by a concentration of anxiety on the specifically financial aspects of the current global crisis. The paper seeks to consider the question of value particularly through an examination of aspects of the work of J.H. Newman. Newman’s writings have strong resonances for us today, especially with regard to the importance he attaches to judgement and to communities of practice, neither of which can be value-free. Judgement comes to the fore in the humanities, and its exercise therein depends crucially on the fostering of communities of practice: reason in the humanities cannot be a primarily technical matter, and education in good judgement will depend upon continuities of practice, where judgement is exposed to criticism. These are practices into which the learner can be initiated and where her ability to critique is developed and refined. Moreover, it should be added that there is a salient difference between the humanities and the sciences: whereas the sciences are confined to their distinctive fields of concern, the humanities can reflect on all aspects of experience, including the life of science. In this way the humanities offer access to a breadth of understanding that the sciences risk denying. My discussion demonstrates the importance of Newman’s work in respect of these matters.
The first part of the paper relates some of Newman’s central ideas regarding education, as found in his The Idea of a University, to his broader philosophical position regarding the nature of reasoning and understanding, as argued in his Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent. The second part considers these thoughts in relation to the contemporary university.
The objective of the paper is to consider more carefully Newman’s philosophical thinking, as opposed to his views on a liberal education, because it is the former that captures most powerfully his position regarding the importance of thinking and judgement. These are, on his view, essential for education, especially higher education, and the cogency of his arguments provides for us today a valuable counter to the language of quality assurance and accountability that dominates educational and political discourse.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Dunne, J. (1997) Back to the Rough Ground: Practical Judgment and the Lure of Technique. Indiana, Notre Dame. Dunne, J. (2006) Newman Now: Re-examining the Concepts of ‘Philosophical’ and ‘Liberal’ in The Idea of A University, British Journal of Educational Studies 54 (4) pp. 412-428. Harris, S. (2011) The University in Translation. London, Continuum. Ker, I.T. (1977) Recent critics of Newman’s A Grammar of Assent, Religious Studies 63-71. Ker, I.T. (1991) The Achievement of John Henry Newman. London, HarperCollinsPublishers. MacIntyre, A. (2009a) The very idea of a university: Aristotle, Newman and Us. British Journal of Educational Studies pp.342-362. MacIntyre, A. (2009b) God, Philosophy, Universities. Maryland, Rowman and Littlefield. Mulcahy, D.G. (2008) Newman’s Theory of a Liberal Education: A Reassessment and its Implications. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 42 (2) pp.219-231. Newman, J.H. (1996; 1852) The Idea of a University (Ed F.M. Turner) New Haven, Yale University Press. Newman, J.H. (1870) An Essay in Aid of A Grammar of Assent. Forgotten Books. Oakeshott, M. (1962) Rationalism in politics and other essays. Indianapolis: Liberty Press Pelikan, J. (1992) The Idea of The University. A Reexamination. New Haven, Yale University Press. White Paper (2011) Students at the heart of the system. London, Cabinet Office. Wittgenstein, L. (1958) (2nd Edition). Philosophical Investigations. Oxford, Blackwell.
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