What's the Good of Education? - (Bloomsbury Inquiries in Philosophy and Education) by Joseph Dunne (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In this book Joseph Dunne exposes the damage done by obsession with measurableoutcomes in schools and universities.He argues for an education that respects the interpersonal fabric of learning and teaching, and that takes account of difficulties in late modern societies regarding childhood, citizenship, the relative prestige accorded to different kinds of knowledge, and the forging by individuals of a coherent identity across a whole life-course. To ask about good education, he claims, is necessarily to pose the larger question of the human good. Central to the book is a concern to elucidate the kind of practices that can best help persons to pursue this good, a concern that deepens through reflection in the final chapters on the challenges and fulfilments opened by the spiritual dimension of human life. Making his case in a series of inter-related essays, Dunne draws on his decades-long experience in teacher-education, informed by a reading of classical Greek philosophy and of several recent thinkers - including Raimond Gaita, Alasdair MacIntyre, Iris Murdoch and Charles Taylor - who are key conversation partners throughout.

Review Quotes

Joseph Dunne's book is a fascinating, unique intervention in the scholarly debates over time-honoured philosophical and educational issues such as selfhood, childhood, freedom, practice, citizenship and solidarity. I started reading this book and I couldn't stop. Among its merits are its convincing and robust argumentation, its powerful and elegant prose and its insightful critical reflections. These qualities, and many more, too many to account here, render the book hospitable to readers of diverse backgrounds and sensibilities and a valuable contribution to educational-philosophical thought. Reading What's the Good of Education draws one into something better, into a philosophical world of great educational, ethical and political significance for individual flourishing and societal transformation.

This wonderful successor to the pathbreaking Back to the Rough Ground takes us straight to the heart of education. In his lucid and elegant prose, Dunne works through the existential and ethical questions we too often beg. These are true essays, not only discussing formation, but enacting it.

We have a great deal to learn about education from Joe Dunne - as this book admirably bears out.

About the Author

Joseph Dunne is Cregan Professor Emeritus of Philosophy and Education at Dublin City University, Ireland.