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What Is Curriculum Theory? (Studies in Curriculum Theory Series)
by William F. PinarThis primer for prospective and practicing teachers asks students to question the historical present and their relation to it, and in so doing, reflect on their own understandings of what it means to teach, to study, to educate, and to become educated in the present moment in the places we inhabit. Not only the implementation of objectives to be assessed by standardized tests, curriculum is communication among older and younger generations, informed by academic knowledge, and characterized by educational experience. Pinar’s concept of currere–the Latin infinitive of curriculum–is invoked to provide an autobiographical method for self-study, enabling both individuals and groups to understand teaching as passionate participation in the complicated conversation that is the curriculum. New to the Third Edition: A new allegory-of-the-present: the Harlem Renaissance New section on technology New section on the future of curriculum Expanded section on Freedom Schools Educators depicted as truth-tellers in this "post-truth" era of "fake news" Provocative, compelling, and controversial, What Is Curriculum Theory? remains indispensable for scholars and students of curriculum studies, teacher education, educational policy, and the foundations of education.
What Is Democracy and How Do We Study It?
by Cameron D. Anderson Laura B. StephensonThere are many different ways to do political science research. This book takes a core question that motivates research in political science – what is democracy? – and presents, in a single volume, original research demonstrating a variety of approaches to studying it. The approaches and related methods covered by the chapters in this book include normative political theory, positivist quantitative analysis, behaviouralism, critical theory, post-structuralism, historical institutionalism, process tracing, case studies, and literature reviews. Readers are confronted with the different assumptions that researchers make when entering the research process and can compare and contrast the many different ways that a single question can be studied . This book will be enlightening for students of democracy as well as those interested in research design and methodological approaches.
What Is Education?
by Philip W. JacksonOne day in 1938, John Dewey addressed a room of professional educators and urged them to take up the task of “finding out just what education is.” Reading this lecture in the late 1940s, Philip W. Jackson took Dewey’s charge to heart and spent the next sixty years contemplating his words. The stimulating result of a lifetime of thinking about educating, What Is Education? is a profound philosophical exploration of how we transmit knowledge in human society and how we think about accomplishing that vital task. Most contemporary approaches to education follow a strictly empirical track, aiming to discover pragmatic solutions for teachers and school administrators. Jackson argues that we need to learn not just how to improve on current practices but also how to think about what education means—in short, we need to answer Dewey by constantly rethinking education from the ground up. Guiding us through the many facets of Dewey’s comments, Jackson also calls on Hegel, Kant, and Paul Tillich to shed light on how a society does, can, and should transmit truth and knowledge to successive generations. Teasing out the implications in these thinkers’ works ultimately leads Jackson to the conclusion that education is at root a moral enterprise. At a time when schools increasingly serve as a battleground for ideological contests, What Is Education? is a stirring call to refocus our minds on what is for Jackson the fundamental goal of education: making students as well as teachers—and therefore everyone—better people.
What is Education?
by Jackson Philip W.One day in 1938, John Dewey addressed a room of professional educators and urged them to take up the task of “finding out just what education is. ” Reading this lecture in the late 1940s, Philip W. Jackson took Dewey’s charge to heart and spent the next sixty years contemplating his words. The stimulating result of a lifetime of thinking about educating, What Is Education? is a profound philosophical exploration of how we transmit knowledge in human society and how we think about accomplishing that vital task. Most contemporary approaches to education follow a strictly empirical track, aiming to discover pragmatic solutions for teachers and school administrators. Jackson argues that we need to learn not just how to improve on current practices but also how to think about what education means—in short, we need to answer Dewey by constantly rethinking education from the ground up. Guiding us through the many facets of Dewey’s comments, Jackson also calls on Hegel, Kant, and Paul Tillich to shed light on how a society does, can, and should transmit truth and knowledge to successive generations. Teasing out the implications in these thinkers’ works ultimately leads Jackson to the conclusion that education is at root a moral enterprise. At a time when schools increasingly serve as a battleground for ideological contests, What Is Education? is a stirring call to refocus our minds on what is for Jackson the fundamental goal of education: making students as well as teachers—and therefore everyone—better people.
What is Education for?: The View of the Great Thinkers and Their Relevance Today
by Nicholas TateDr Nicholas Tate looks at the philosophies of 10 great thinkers from history and explains how their ideas put current education issues into a new perspective, while suggesting additional ones to be addressed. The aim is to show how engaging with interesting past minds can both help put current issues in a new perspective and suggest additional ones to be addressed.
What is Education for?: The View of the Great Thinkers and Their Relevance Today
by Nicholas TateDr Nicholas Tate looks at the philosophies of 10 great thinkers from history and explains how their ideas put current education issues into a new perspective, while suggesting additional ones to be addressed. The aim is to show how engaging with interesting past minds can both help put current issues in a new perspective and suggest additional ones to be addressed.
What Is Energy?: An Answer Based on the Evolution of a Concept (History of Physics)
by Ricardo Lopes CoelhoThis book provides a solution to the problem with the energy concept. This problem manifests itself in the fact that physicists clearly diverge regarding the question of what energy is. Some define it but others state that we do not know what it is. Although this is a problem for physicists who need to explain the concept, it is not a problem for physics that can be solved by laboratory means. Penetrating into the origin of the notion of energy, this book offers a clear idea of what was discovered and what was invented to interpret the findings.Following the development of the concept, it provides an explanation of the trends in contemporary textbooks. The author's repetition, in his "History and Philosophy of Physics Laboratory", of Joule’s famous experiment – the paddle wheel experiment – with a calorimeter as originally used by Joule and with a calorimeter as proposed in textbooks, is presented, yielding new insight into the phenomenon. Thus, science teachers and students will benefit from reading the book as well as historians, philosophers, students of the history and philosophy of science, and all who are interested in knowing about what it is that we call energy.
What is Enlightenment? (Kant's Questions)
by Samuel Fleischacker"Have the courage to use your own understanding! - that is the motto of enlightenment." - Immanuel Kant The Enlightenment is one of the most important and contested periods in the history of philosophy. The problems it addressed, such as the proper extent of individual freedom and the challenging of tradition, resonate as much today as when they were first debated. Of all philosophers, it is arguably Kant who took such questions most seriously, addressing them above all in his celebrated short essay, An Answer to the Question: What is Enlightenment? In this engaging and lucid book, Samuel Fleischacker first explains and assesses Kant’s philosophy of Enlightenment. He then considers critics of Kant’s views - from Burke and Hegel to Horkheimer and Adorno - and figures he regards as having extended Kant’s notion of enlightenment, such as Feuerbach, Marx, Habermas, Foucault, and Rawls. Throughout, he demonstrates how Kant holds two distinct theories of enlightenment. On the one hand, Kant proposes a ‘minimal’ view, where to be enlightened is simply to engage in critical public discussion, allowing diversity of opinion to flourish. On the other, he argues that Kant elsewhere calls for a ‘maximal’ view of enlightenment, where, for example, an enlightened person cannot believe in a traditional religion. With great skill Fleischacker shows how these two views are taken in a multitude of directions by both critics and advocates of Kant’s philosophy. Arguing that Kant’s minimal enlightenment is a precondition for a healthy proliferation of cultures, religious faiths and political movements, What is Enlightenment? is a fascinating introduction to a key aspect of Kant’s thought and a compelling analysis of philosophical thinking about the Enlightenment. Including helpful chapter summaries and guides to further reading, it is ideal for anyone studying Kant or the philosophy of the Enlightenment, as well as those in related disciplines such as politics, history and religious studies.
What is Ethics? (What is Philosophy?)
by James P. SterbaEthics is a field of study that we all need. This is because we all make choices, and ethics is about the general norms that govern how we should make those choices. Not surprisingly, there is disagreement over what the “norms” are, but by working through such disagreement, we can learn how to make better choices. James P. Sterba presents a general overview of ethics, using relevant examples and accessible arguments. He takes up the question of why we should be ethical or moral, discusses competing ethical theories and proposes a way to reconcile them, and considers the relationship between ethics and religion. Ultimately, he reveals how the material discussed in the book can be used to make better ethical choices in our day-to-day lives. What is Ethics? is a book you can rely on to improve your ability to make ethical choices.
What Is Existentialism? (Penguin Great Ideas)
by Simone de Beauvoir'It is possible for man to snatch the world from the darkness of absurdity'How should we think and act in the world? These writings on the human condition by one of the twentieth century's great philosophers explore the absurdity of our notions of good and evil, and show instead how we make our own destiny simply by being.One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.
What Is Fascism?: from The Anatomy of Fascism (A Vintage Short)
by Robert PaxtonBased on a lifetime’s worth of research, esteemed historian Robert Paxton explores what fascism is and how it has come to have a lasting and continued impact on our history. In the concluding section of his authoritative book, The Anatomy of Fascism, Paxton makes the convincing and radical case that existing definitions of the popular, nationalist, and conservative political view are lacking, and offers up his own brilliant explication—drawn from concrete historical actions—thus transforming our understanding of this dangerous ideology and of why it takes hold when and where it does. A Vintage Shorts Selection. An ebook short.
What Is Feng-Shui?: The Classic Nineteenth-Century Interpretation
by Ernest J. EitelBased on principles of cooperation between humans and nature, feng-shui promotes a form of living in harmony with the landscape that is reputed to enhance the attractiveness of buildings and the well-being of their inhabitants. Ernest J. Eitel, a missionary who worked in China, learned firsthand about this ancient oral tradition and its philosophical roots, which span a range of thought from Taoism and Buddhism to ancient rural magic. In 1873, Eitel published the first book on feng-shui, introducing Westerners to the principled but highly flexible code for arranging living quarters to achieve optimal comfort for mind and body.
What Is Fiction For?: Literary Humanism Restored
by Bernard HarrisonHow can literature, which consists of nothing more than the description of imaginary events and situations, offer any insight into the workings of "human reality" or "the human condition"? Can mere words illuminate something that we call "reality"? Bernard Harrison answers these questions in this profoundly original work that seeks to re-enfranchise reality in the realms of art and discourse. In an ambitious account of the relationship between literature and cognition, he seeks to show how literary fiction, by deploying words against a background of imagined circumstances, allows us to focus on the roots, in social practice, of the meanings by which we represent our world and ourselves. Engaging with philosophers and theorists as diverse as Wittgenstein, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty, Foucault, Derrida, F. R. Leavis, Cleanth Brooks, and Stanley Fish, and illustrating his ideas through readings of works by Swift, Woolf, Appelfeld, and Dickens, among others, this book presents a systematic defense of humanism in literary studies, and of the study of the Humanities more generally, by a distinguished scholar.
What Is God?
by Jacob NeedlemanIn his most deeply personal work, religious scholar Needleman cuts a clear path through today's clamorous debates over the existence of God, illuminating an entirely new way of approaching the question of how to understand a higher power. I n this new book, philosopher Jacob Needleman- whose voice and ideas have done so much to open the West to esoteric and Eastern religious ideas in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries-intimately considers humanity's most vital question: What is God? Needleman begins by taking us more than a half century into the past, to his own experience as a brilliant, promising, Ivyeducated student of philosophy-atheistic, existential, and unwilling to blindly accept childish religiosity. But an unsettling meeting with the venerated Zen teacher D. T. Suzuki, combined with the sudden need to accept a dreary position teaching the philosophy of religion, forced the young academician to look more closely at the religious ideas he had once thought dead. Within traditional religious texts the scholar discovered a core of esoteric and philosophical ideas, more mature and challenging than anything he had ever associated with Judaism, Christianity, and the religions of the East. At the same time, Needleman came to realize-as he shares with the reader-that ideas and words are not enough. Ideas and words, no matter how profound, cannot prevent hatred, arrogance, and ultimate despair, and cannot prevent our individual lives from descending into violence and illusion. And with this insight, Needleman begins to open the reader to a new kind of understanding: The inner realization that in order to lead the lives we were intended for, the very nature of human experience must change, including the very structure of our perception and indeed the very structure of our minds. In What Is God?, Needleman draws us closer to the meaning and nature of this needed change-and shows how our present confusion about the purpose of religion and the concept of God reflects a widespread psychological starvation for this specific quality of thought and experience. In rich and varied detail, the book describes this inner experience-and how almost all of us, atheists and "believers" alike, actually have been visited by it, but without understanding what it means and why the intentional cultivation of this quality of experience is necessary for the fullness of our existence.
What Is God?: Can Religion Be Modeled?
by Thomas B. SheridanAn eminent psychologist and engineer presents a provocative analysis of the concept of God through the lens of scientific inquiry.This is a study of the concept of God, not from the perspective of any religious tradition, but as a pervasive social phenomenon that has prevailed through the ages. An expert in engineering and applied psychology, author Thomas B. Sheridan offers unique perspective on the subject. In What Is God?, he asks whether the concept of God can be modeled in denotative language (much as modeling in science, medicine and modern professions) in contrast to connotative language (e.g., myth, metaphor, art and music). Sheridan adopts the assumption of model-based reality, as currently prevalent in physics and some branches of philosophy. That criterion means an entity can be called real for public discourse purposes only to the extent that a credible model can be made of what the entity is or how it works—as opposed to the private reality of thoughts, perceptions, or dreams. What follows is a truly provocative and enlightening through experiment with far-reaching implications.“It is rare to see the ultimate question of God as prime mover examined as a problem open to rigorous scientific inquiry. Thomas Sheridan has now done it with admirable clarity.” —Edward O. Wilson, Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Meaning of Human Existence
What is Good?: The Search For The Best Way To Live
by A. C. GraylingA.C. Grayling answers the most important question - How do we live a good life?One of the most fundamental questions in our life is to find out what we value - what principles we want to live by and which codes we will use to guide our behaviour. Most of us want to live a good life. But what, in today's secular society, does 'good' actually mean?To classical Greeks, the acquisition of knowledge, the enjoyment of the senses, creativity and beauty were all aspects of life to strive for. Then came the volcanic declarations of St Paul and his fundamentalist ideas on sin and human nature. In WHAT IS GOOD?, A.C. Grayling examines these and other proposals on how to live a good life, from the 'heroic' ideals of the Greek poets to Kant's theories on freedom and the UN Declaration on Human Rights.
What is Good?: The Search for the Best Way to Live
by Prof A.C. GraylingA.C. Grayling answers the most important question - How do we live a good life?One of the most fundamental questions in our life is to find out what we value - what principles we want to live by and which codes we will use to guide our behaviour. Most of us want to live a good life. But what, in today's secular society, does 'good' actually mean?To classical Greeks, the acquisition of knowledge, the enjoyment of the senses, creativity and beauty were all aspects of life to strive for. Then came the volcanic declarations of St Paul and his fundamentalist ideas on sin and human nature. In WHAT IS GOOD?, A.C. Grayling examines these and other proposals on how to live a good life, from the 'heroic' ideals of the Greek poets to Kant's theories on freedom and the UN Declaration on Human Rights.
What Is Good and Why: The Ethics of Well-being
by Richard KrautWhat is good? How can we know, and how important is it? In this book Richard Kraut, one of our most respected analytical philosophers, reorients these questions around the notion of what causes human beings to flourish--that is, what is good for us. Observing that we can sensibly talk about what is good for plants and animals no less than what is good for people, Kraut advocates a general principle that applies to the entire world of living things: what is good for complex organisms consists in the maturation and exercise of their natural powers.
What Is Good and Why: The Ethics of Well-Being
by Richard KrautWhat is good, how do we know, and how important is it? Kraut reorients these questions around the notion of what causes human beings to flourish. Extending his argument to include plants and animals, Kraut applies a general principle to the entire living world: what is good for complex organisms consists in the exercise of their natural powers.
What Is Happiness: A Korean Monk's Guide to Life
by Pomnyun Sunim'When I ask people, "Are you happy?" in my talks, very few people say yes.'There are many things that seem to prevent us from being happy in our lives. Usually, things don't turn out the way we want them to. It could be unfulfilled goals, bad habits, a society that's built to benefit only those at the very top, or the loops of self-deprecation that many of us find ourselves falling into. But we can take control of our happiness, whatever life throws at us. We all have the right, and the ability, to be happy regardless of our situation.With his simple yet profound teachings, Buddhist monk Pomnyun Sunim shows us how to combat day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement. He explains why humans are prone to self-destruction, and redirects our focus to finding happiness.This book has touched countless lives and uplifted spirits in Korea, and it's time for the rest of the world to experience and understand exactly what is happiness.
What Is Happiness: A Monk's Guide to a Happy Life
by Pomnyun Sunim'When I ask people, "Are you happy?" in my talks, very few people say yes.'There are many things that seem to prevent us from being happy in our lives. Usually, things don't turn out the way we want them to. It could be unfulfilled goals, bad habits, a society that's built to benefit only those at the very top, or the loops of self-deprecation that many of us find ourselves falling into. But we can take control of our happiness, whatever life throws at us. We all have the right, and the ability, to be happy regardless of our situation.With his simple yet profound teachings, Buddhist monk Pomnyun Sunim shows us how to combat day-to-day anxiety, insecurity, anger, and discouragement. He explains why humans are prone to self-destruction, and redirects our focus to finding happiness.This book has touched countless lives and uplifted spirits in Korea, and it's time for the rest of the world to experience and understand exactly what is happiness.
What Is Information?: A Mythological Critique (Electronic Mediations #55)
by Peter JanichA novel way of looking at information challenges longstanding dogmas—from a preeminent German thinker It is widely agreed that we live in an &“information age,&” but what exactly is information? This small, seemingly facile question is in fact surprisingly difficult, and it has occupied many of the best philosophical minds of the modern age. In this wholly original addition to the quest to understand information, German philosopher Peter Janich argues that our understanding of information is based in the much broader history of scientific naturalism—the belief that science is a fundamental aspect of the world and not a human contrivance. His novel critique of this widespread dogma grounds science in human life practices and wrestles with the very fundamentals of the scientific way of understanding reality.Offering new perspectives on the major contemporary fields of communications technology, neurobiology, and artificial intelligence, What Is Information? provides a deep look into humanity in an information age. Its arguments show ways of reconciling the sciences and the humanities, shining new light on the relationship of science to the natural world.
What is Intergenerational Justice?
by Axel GosseriesCan people alive now have duties to future generations, the unborn millions? If so, what do we owe them? What does “justice” mean in an intergenerational context, both between people who will coexist at some point, and between generations that will never overlap? In this book, Axel Gosseries provides a forensic examination of these issues, comparing and analyzing various views about what we owe our successors. He discusses links between justice and sustainability, and looks at the implications of the fact that our successors’ preferences are heavily influenced by what we will actually leave them and by the education they receive. He also points to how these theoretical considerations apply to real-life issues, ranging from pension reform and Brexit to biodiversity and the climate crisis. He ends by outlining how intergenerational considerations may translate into institutional design. Anyone grappling with the dilemmas of our obligations to the future, from students and scholars to policy makers and active citizens, will find this an invaluable theoretical and practical guide to this moral and political minefield.
What Is It Like to Be an Addict?: Understanding Substance Abuse
by Owen FlanaganA powerful and important exploration of how addiction functions on social, psychological and biological levels, integrated with the experience of being an addict, from an acclaimed philosopher and former addict. <P><P> What is addiction? Theories about what kind of thing addiction is are sharply divided between those who see it purely as a brain disorder, and those who conceive of it in psychological and social terms. Owen Flanagan, an acclaimed philosopher of mind and ethics, offers a state-of-the-art assessment of addiction science and proposes a new ecumenical model for understanding and explaining substance addiction. <P><P> Flanagan has first-hand knowledge of what it is like to be an addict. That experience, along with his wide-ranging knowledge of the philosophy of mind, psychology, neuroscience, and the ethics and politics of addiction, informs this important and novel work. He pairs the sciences that study addiction with a sophisticated view of the consciousness-brain/body relation to make his core argument: that substance addictions comprise a heterogeneous set of "psychobiosocial" behavioral disorders. He explains that substance addictions do not have one set of causes, such as self-medication or social dislocation, and they do not have one neural profile, such as a dysfunction in dopamine system. Some addictions are fun and experimentation gone awry. Flanagan reveals addiction to be a heterogeneous set of disorders, which are picked out by multifarious cultural, social, psychological, and neural features. <P><P> Flanagan explores the ways addicts sensibly insist on their own responsibility to undo addiction, as well as ways in which shame for addiction can be leveraged into healing. He insists on the collective shame we all bear for our indifference to many of the psychological and social causes of addiction and explores the implications of this new integrated paradigm for practices of harm reduction and treatment. Flanagan's powerful new book upends longstanding conventional thinking and points the way to new ways of understanding and treating addiction.
What Is Journalism For? (What Is It For?)
by Jon AllsopWhat is at stake when journalism is threatened? Does society still need journalists? Journalism faces multiple threats today all over the world: economic decline, online disinformation, the rise of AI, authoritarian curbs on freedom of the press, and violence against journalists. In such a climate, it’s more urgent than ever to ask what journalism is for. Drawing on his experience as a journalist and media commentator, and on interviews with journalists from the US to Myanmar, Jon Allsop examines key concepts that constitute journalism’s role: good judgement, concern for truth and critical scrutiny of one or more communities. Along the way, he also considers the relationship between journalism and activism; whether journalists should aspire to change the world and whether they can be seen as champions of democracy.