Until recently teacher education in England has always contained a 'philosophical' element -- to do with what education is for in the light of human nature. The paper traces its history since 1839, through inspirational approaches -- based first on religion and later on psychology -- to the critical approach of R S Peters and his colleagues in the 1960s. It then looks at the existential crisis faced by this kind of philosophy of education after changes in education policy in the 1980s; and at ways it has found of overcoming it -- at the expense, however, of partially turning away from its earlier raison d'être in teacher education. The paper concludes with a discussion of what would be needed for it to resume its old role.