This paper argues that in foregoing the questions that emerge from the dialectical relationship between "form" and "meaning", an intrinsic fallacy mistakes the relationship between the arts and education for a simplistic mechanism of signification--a false "ease"--where empty forms are supposedly given meaning by…

This article takes a critical look at three conceptions of Islamic education. I argue that conceptions of Islamic education ought to be considered as existing on a minimalist-maximalist continuum, meaning that the concepts associated with Islamic education do not have a single meaning, but that meanings are shaped depending on the minimalist and…

The aim of this study was to examine how Muslim Arab-Israeli teachers conceptualize the Israeli-Arab conflict with their students. The findings show that Arab schools are in a constant state of tension between opposing poles of identity and belonging. The teachers emphasize their students' alienation from the Israeli establishment and their…

In this paper, I discuss language learning in Wittgenstein and Davidson. Starting from a remark by Bakhurst, I hold that both Wittgenstein and Davidson's philosophies of language contain responses to the problem of language learning, albeit of a different form. Following Williams, I hold that the concept of language learning can explain…

As Modernist doctrines emphasizing the unity and agency of the educated self are increasingly set up as the straw men of contemporary educational discourses, premodern and Medieval theories of selfhood tend to disappear from the horizon of educational thought altogether. In this essay, in order to subvert this overcoming of our intellectual past,…

This article seeks to examine the special quality of Eros operative in educational practice, through the frame narrative of Plato's "The Allegory of the Cave." The subject is examined from two aspects illuminating the paradoxical nature of educational practice. The first, epistemological, considers the practicability of learning,…

In this paper, an account of two novel ontologies is given to point to the need to revise the status of facts in school curriculum. It is argued that schooling is in dire need of re-enchantment. The way to re-enchant schooling is to re-enliven the world we inhabit. We need to fall head over heels in love with the world again. In order to do that,…

Despite the growing body of literature and general interest in the intersection between the capabilities approach (CA) and education, little work has been done so far to theorize democratic education from a CA perspective. This essay attempts to do so by, first, getting clear about the theory of democracy that has emerged from Amartya Sen's…

The field of Philosophy and Education seems to be experiencing a renewed interest in the work of Aristotle. As recently reviewed by Curren ("Oxf Rev Educ" 36(5):543-559, 2010), most of this attention aligns with the virtue ethics movement where themes like moral development in education, and the inquiry on human flourishing as the aim of…

Social capital is frequently offered up as a variable to explain such educational outcomes as academic attainment, drop-out rates and cognitive development. Yet, despite its popularity amongst social scientists, social capital theory remains the object of some scepticism, particularly in respect of its explanatory ambitions. I provide an account…

In this essay, I argue that the work of Giorgio Agamben provides us with a theory of studious play which cuts across many of the categories that polarize educational thought. Rather than either ritualized testing or constructivist playfulness, Agamben provides a model of what he refers to as studious play--a practice which suspends the logic of…

Ever since Kant asked: "How am I to develop the sense of freedom in spite of the restraint?" in his lecture on education, the tension between necessary educational influence and unacceptable restriction of the child's individual development and freedom has been considered an educational paradox. Many have suggested solutions to the…

The article will discuss Islamic philosophy of education to explain the role and aims of education for the Muslim "Ummah" (Community). It will then debate the needs of the UK Muslims with regard to the education of their children in the context of multi-locationality, and associated challenges of bringing up children while living between…

The goal of this essay is to analyse the influence of Johann Bernhard Basedow and Rousseau on Kant's cosmopolitanism and concept of cosmopolitan education. It argues that both Basedow and Kant defined cosmopolitan education as non-denominational moral formation or "Bildung", encompassing--in different forms--a thin version of moral…

Legitimate parental interests need to be distinguished from any putative rights parents "qua" parents may be said to possess. Parents have no right to insulate their children from conceptions of the good at variance with those of their own. Claims to the right to faith schools, private schools, home-schooling or to withdraw a child from…