The Main Enterprise of the World: Rethinking Education (Walter A. Strauss Lectures in the Humanities)

Philip Kitcher's The Main Enterprise of the World offers a sweeping vision of the goals of education. Kitcher considers the ways in which schools and universities should advance their goals, explores the social changes required to make high-quality education available to all, and argues that these reforms are economically sustainable. Kitcher build his arguments from three broad goals of education as an institution: career development and professionalization, civic participation, and human fulfilment. He shows that shifts in the workplace provide opportunities to focus on the latter two goals, and to liberate education from supposed economic constraints. By tying education to the strengthening of both individual lives and the foundations of democracy, he offers a humanistic rethinking of what education should try to achieve. Drawing on figures like Dewey, Mill, Atkinson, and others who have written deeply on education, both in theory and in practice, Kitcher offers an extensive reconsideration of how we might change our educational institutions to respond not just to the twenty-first century economy, but to the deeper need for lifelong human flourishing. The Main Enterprise of the World renews classical Pragmatism: with one eye on the ideal, and the other on the world, it presents a picture of education appropriate for our century. "Education ought to be central to our lives - it should be, in Ralph Waldo Emerson's phrase, "the main enterprise of the world." In its broadest sense, education aims at three goals: to enable people to support themselves, to enable them to function as citizens, and to find fulfilment. In our times, changing features of the workplace environment provide opportunities to focus on the latter two goals, and to liberate education from supposed economic constraints. By doing so, we can improve the lives of individuals, and build more solid foundations for democracy. Philip Kitcher's humanistic vision of educational reform is not, however, divorced from the realities of contemporary life nor doomed by any conflict with sound economics. After an accessible discussion of central philosophical questions, he examines the content of the curriculum, the social changes required if a fully adequate education is to be provided to all, and considers how the proposals can be reconciled with financial stability. The Main Enterprise of the World renews classical Pragmatism: with one eye on the ideal, and the other on the world, it presents a picture of education appropriate for our century"-- Provided by publisher Education ought to be central to our lives—it should be, in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s phrase, “the main enterprise of the world.” In its broadest sense, education aims at three goals: to enable people to support themselves, to enable them to function as citizens, and to find fulfillment. In our times, changing features of the workplace environment provide opportunities to focus on the latter two goals, and to liberate education from supposed economic constraints. By doing so, we can improve the lives of individuals, and build more solid foundations for democracy. Philip Kitcher’s humanistic vision of educational reform is not, however, divorced from the realities of contemporary life nor doomed by any conflict with sound economics. After an accessible discussion of central philosophical questions, he examines the content of the curriculum, identifies the social changes required if a fully adequate education is to be provided to all, and considers how the proposals can be reconciled with financial stability. The Main Enterprise of the World renews classical pragmatism: with one eye on the ideal, and the other on the world, it presents a picture of education appropriate for our century. Philip Kitcher's The Main Enterprise of the World offers a sweeping vision of the goals of education. Kitcher considers the ways in which schools and universities should advance their goals, explores the social changes required to make high-quality education available to all, and argues that these reforms are economically sustainable. Drawing on figures like Dewey, Mill, Atkinson, and others who have written deeply on education, both in theory and inpractice, Kitcher's erudite yet accessible volume--the inaugural volume in the Walter A. Strauss Lectures in the Humanities series--offers an extensive reconsideration of how we might change our educational institutions to respond not just to the 21st century economy, but to the deeper need for lifelong humanflourishing Philip Kitcher's 'The Main Enterprise of the World' offers a sweeping vision of the goals of education. Kitcher considers the ways in which schools and universities should advance their goals, explores the social changes required to make high-quality education available to all, and argues that these reforms are economically sustainable. Drawing on figures like Dewey, Mill, Atkinson and others who have written deeply on education, both in theory and in practice, Kitcher offers an extensive reconsideration of how institutions may respond to the deeper need for lifelong human flourishing. Dedication Epigraph Contents Preface List of Abbreviations Introduction PART I 1. Overload 2. Individuals 3. Fulfillment 4. Citizens 5. Moral Development 6. A Role for Religion? PART II 7. The Natural Sciences 8. The Arts 9. Understanding Ourselves PART III 10. Social Change 11. Utopia? Appendix 1 Appendix 2 Bibliography Index