In this article, the author addresses a problem that first occurred to him almost 40 years ago. Having finally arrived at a possible solution, he would like to share it with others. The issue was raised by John Dewey and taken up again by Richard Peters and Paulo Freire. It was not their main concern, however; nor has it been a major concern of philosophers since then. One of the purposes in writing this article is to interest a new generation of philosophers in what the author takes to be a central problem of education. (Contains 43 footnotes.)