In this article, the author calls for an analysis of integrity and contends that attempting to describe wholeness precisely and incisively is not necessarily a contradiction in terms. The author makes some distinctions about integrity using two moves, one inspired by Plato, and one by Aristotle. The author uses the phrase "humane letters" to name…

This essay explores the ways in which the ancient Greek concept of parrhesia, defined as "frank speech and telling the truth as one sees it," can help facilitate the development of both intellectual courage and democracy as a way of life. It theorizes dimensions of parrhesia for the purpose of better educating a civic self-image rooted in this…

The theme of intellectual courage can help anyone re-conceive the activity of philosophizing as a "moral" virtue. For Aristotle, courage was the first of the moral virtues, empowering noble action in the human realm, contemplation the last and highest of the intellectual virtues, enabling the union of the human mind with the eternal and divine,…

The foundation upon which this discussion is based is the basic nature of democracy as both a political and moral ideal. Democracy can be understood as a system of rights premised upon the logic of equality. At its core is a fundamental belief in moral equality, a belief that all human beings possess an equal inherent dignity or worth. The ideal…

If asked to define the idea of "place" one might struggle. Yet people across time and cultures readily share examples of important places or safe places or "foreign" places with one another and offer heartfelt descriptions in literature and art of childhood places, favorite places, strange places. Akinbola Akinwumi, paraphrasing Yi-Fu Tuan,…

When Ellen Condliffe Lagemann described what she called the troubling history of education research, she claimed that, in the early years of the twentieth century, Edward Lee Thorndike's narrow model of science replaced John Dewey's more open ideas. According to Lagemann, sexism was an important reason for Thorndike's triumph. In describing the…

Schooling in the U.S. is increasingly understood through the lenses of science and accountability. From the National Research Council's Scientific Research in Education (SRE) to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), colleges and schools have faced a marked increase (or steady reinforcement) in practices which conform to principles of scientific…

The "problem" of overweight and obesity among children and youth has received a tremendous amount of attention by government agencies, public health officials and within popular presses. The issue has been dubbed everything from a national epidemic to a global health crisis. Social policy solutions to the problem of overweight and obesity among…

While the ethical dimension of human-animal relationships has become a legitimate, rich subject for contemporary moral philosophers, scholars of moral education, and to a large extent, philosophers of education, have remained surprisingly silent on this subject. The primary purpose of this essay is to illustrate the relationship between the moral…

Disability and dependence are integral to the human experience and yet have been largely marginalized or denigrated within Western philosophy. Joining a growing counter narrative from the disability studies movement, several mainstream moral philosophers are helping to redress this error. In this essay, the author discusses ideas from four such…

On September 4, 1957, a crisis occurred at Little Rock Central High School in which a mob of white citizens followed, taunted, and harassed a black student, Elizabeth Eckford, who was attempting to register for classes at the newly desegregated school. In 1959, Hannah Arendt published "Reflections on Little Rock." She argued that children should…

Adolescents who occupy virtual spaces construct identities for a dual audience, those intimate friends whose favor they seek and a broader public audience whose purpose for viewing cannot be known. The digital world of MySpace, Facebook, and Instant Messaging has simultaneously complicated and enhanced the process of identity construction. The…

In her 1993 text "Educating For Intelligent Belief and Unbelief," Nel Noddings advocated an ambitious plan to challenge the students; she wished to engage them in a dialogue on the religious issues that define those questions, which "matter deeply to everyone." This was seen as a dialogue that can take place at all levels of education, but was…

One cannot promote liberal education and ignore the fundamental tension that exists between leisure and utility. "To aim at utility everywhere," Aristotle writes, "is utterly unbecoming to high-minded and liberal spirits." Thus, the author's plea for leisure, for "uselessness," is a plea for the revitalization of liberal education. The purpose of…

In 2006 the National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) removed the phrase "social justice" from its glossary definition of dispositions. Initially, many educators were disappointed by what seemed like an abrupt removal of this educational value. But in the years since, little has been said or done to understand what, exactly,…