Nicholas C Burbules
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 223858 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Nicholas C Burbules |
| NOMBRES | Nicholas C |
| APELLIDO | Burbules |
| FIRMA | BURBULES N C |
| AFILIACIONES | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4956-5590 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 36 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 138 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 34 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 3 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1977 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2026 |
| ÍNDICE H | 6 |
Why Philosophy of Education is Basic to Philosophy
This article argues that the traditional view of philosophy of education as a derivative branch of philosophy has it backwards: that for many canonical philosophers, reflections on education were basic to their philosophy. More than this, attention to the educational dimensions of philosophical claims generally makes them better grounded and more viable. Philosophy of education is, in this sense, basic to philosophy
Symposium Introduction
A central aim of education, at the primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels, is to bring it about that students believe responsibly. We want students to form new beliefs, and revise existing beliefs, on the basis of the best available evidence, argument, and testimony. We do not want them to cling dogmatically to beliefs acquired in childhood, nor to be warily skeptical of new information, nor to lurch haphazardly from one set of beliefs to a…
The Communicative Dimensions of Social Epistemologies
Like other papers in this symposium, this essay approaches the question of responsible belief through the lens of social epistemology: what are the processes by which knowledge claims, evidence, perspectives, and arguments get shared within knowledge‐making communities? In this paper, Nicholas Burbules argues that these processes are essentially communicative, and that we need to examine the conditions that make such communication knowledge‐produ…
Artificial Intelligence in Education
This symposium revolves around two shared questions: First, how should educators view artificial intelligence (AI) as an educational resource, and what contributions can philosophy of education make toward thinking through these possibilities? Second, where is the future of AI foreseeably headed, and what new challenges will confront us in the (near) future? An AI arms race is underway. In a board room at every major college in America there is a…
Critical thinking and the conditions of democracy
It is often argued, rightly, that critical thinking is a necessary condition for democracy. This essay looks at the other side of that relationship, how certain democratic conditions are necessary for critical thinking to flourish. In turn, this dynamic, interactive account of democratic culture, institutions, and dispositions has implications for how we think about critical thinking itself
Collective obituary for James D. Marshall (1937–2021)
Eulogy for Jim Marshall (read at the funeral)Michael A. PetersBeijing Normal UniversityMy deepest condolences to Pepe, Dom and Marcus and to Jim’s grandchildren. Tina and I spent a lot of time at t
Feeling like a philosopher of education
Why Publish
Journal Article Why Publish? Get access Nicholas C Burbules Nicholas C Burbules Correspondence: Nicholas C. Burbules, Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor, Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. Email: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Philosophy of Ed…
Slowness as a Virtue
Philosophy of education in a new key
This article shares reflections from members of the community of philosophers of education in the United States and Canada who were invited to express their insights in response to the theme ‘Snaps
Thoughts on phronesis
This essay explores the concept of phronesis in two contexts: phronesis as a virtue, in fact a meta-virtue because it guides the exercise of other virtues; and phronesis as an element in theories of practice. I argue that these two aspects are closely related, because ethics – especially virtue ethics – is best understood as a kind of practice. The second part of the essay explores some of the consequences of thinking about ethics in this way
International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research
International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research
International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research
The changing functions of citation
This essay reviews the changing functions, and effects, of citation systems in scholarly research as they move from a range of uses primarily oriented around knowledge networking and epistemic validation, to their use as a set of metrics oriented around evaluating and rewarding certain kinds of academic performance (e.g. “impact factors”). It is argued that this shift of emphasis has a distorting effect on the uses of citations, and that the more…
Globalization and Education
Philosophical Inquiry
How to Improve your Impact Factor
A broad-scale quantification of the measure of quality for scholarship is under way. This trend has fundamental implications for the future of academic publishing and employment. In this essay we want to raise questions about these burgeoning practices, particularly how they affect philosophy of education and similar sub-disciplines. First, details are given of how an 'impact factor' is calculated. The various meanings that can be attached to it …
Cosmopolitan Identity and Education
(2011). Cosmopolitan Identity and Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 43, Philosophical Perspectives on Cosmopolitanism and Education. Guest Editors: Klas Roth and Nicholas C. Burbules, pp. 205-208
Tacit Teaching
This essay reflects upon certain aspects of Wittgenstein's own practices as a teacher. Doing philosophy always took priority for Wittgenstein, whether this was in oral or written form: it was important to show the deep puzzles in our language (and our culture and thinking) as a step toward dissolving them. In this respect, one can teach only as a guide; it is a matter of showing more than saying. Wittgenstein's approach suggests a model that I wi…
Media Comparison Studies
Background/Context Media comparison studies aim to compare the relative effectiveness of different media at promoting educational outcomes. While these types of studies remain popular, they have been under attack for more than two decades. Critics of media comparison studies claim that continued studies are unhelpful because a great number of research projects have already shown that media produce “no significant difference” in learning outcomes.…
The Illinois White Paper
Our system of research self-regulation, designed to provide internal checks and balances for those who participate in research involving human subjects, is under considerable stress. Much of this crisis has been caused by what we call mission creep, in which the workload of IRBs has expanded beyond their ability to handle effectively. Mission creep is caused by rewarding wrong behaviors, such as focusing more on procedures and documentation than …
Education as Initiation Into Practices
A bstract In this essay, Paul Smeyers and Nicholas Burbules reexamine the concept of “practice” and propose a new way of conceiving it that does justice to the idea that education is in some sense an initiation into practices without endorsing either the conservative and reproductive conception of what initiation entails or the radically social constructionist idea that all practices are arbitrary and groundless. First, drawing from the work of L…
Rethinking Dialogue in Networked Spaces
What it Makes Sense to Say’
In his writings Jim Marshall has helpfully emphasized such Wittgensteinian themes as the multiplicity of language games, the deconstruction of ‘certainty,’ and the contexts of power that underlie discursive systems. Here we focus on another important legacy of Wittgenstein's thinking: his insistence that human activity is rule‐governed. This idea foregrounds looking carefully at the world of education and learning, as against the empirical search…
Dialogue in Teaching
This work offers a detailed examination of the theory and practice of dialogue as a cluster of related dialogical styles and approaches and not just as one entity. The author offers a critical and conceptual study of the nature of dialogue, and a discussion of concrete issues in teaching with dialogue: how it works, why it is beneficial for teaching, how it sometimes fails, and how to improve on it. Organising his book around the metaphor of play…
The Illinois White Paper
Our system of research self-regulation, designed to provide internal checks and balances for those who participate in research involving human subjects, is under considerable stress. Much of this crisis has been caused by what we call mission creep, in which the workload of IRBs has expanded beyond their ability to handle effectively. Mission creep is caused by rewarding wrong behaviors, such as focusing more on procedures and documentation than …
Philosophy of education in a new key
This article shares reflections from members of the community of philosophers of education in the United States and Canada who were invited to express their insights in response to the theme ‘Snaps
How to Improve your Impact Factor
A broad-scale quantification of the measure of quality for scholarship is under way. This trend has fundamental implications for the future of academic publishing and employment. In this essay we want to raise questions about these burgeoning practices, particularly how they affect philosophy of education and similar sub-disciplines. First, details are given of how an 'impact factor' is calculated. The various meanings that can be attached to it …
Cosmopolitan Identity and Education
(2011). Cosmopolitan Identity and Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 43, Philosophical Perspectives on Cosmopolitanism and Education. Guest Editors: Klas Roth and Nicholas C. Burbules, pp. 205-208
This Is Not a Paper
This article explores some of the prospects for electronic publishing in educational research. 1 Some scholars have predicted that paper journals and other periodicals will disappear within a decade. Others insist that electronic and paper publishing can and should coexist, each serving distinct purposes suited to their respective media. In assessing this debate, we argue, educational researchers and others concerned with publishing should weigh …
Ways of Thinking About Educational Quality
This essay examines critically the conceptual and normative underpinnings of various views about educational quality, emphasizing the centrality of different assumptions about educational aims. Two distinctions play a key role in the first part of the paper: that between transcendent justifications of educational aims, versus socio-cultural reproduction justifications—and that between what I call “strong teleological” and “weaker teleological” vi…
Aporias, Webs, and Passages
This article offers an exploration of the idea, and the experience, of aporia (usually translated as “doubt”) in Plato’s dialogue, the Meno, and in other teaching/learning contexts. A metaphor that moves throughout the article is the experience of being lost when exploring the World Wide Web and other weblike or hypertextual environments. The article represents the experience of movement, following uncertain connections, and cycling back through …
Rethinking Dialogue in Networked Spaces
Forms of ideology‐critique
The changing functions of citation
This essay reviews the changing functions, and effects, of citation systems in scholarly research as they move from a range of uses primarily oriented around knowledge networking and epistemic validation, to their use as a set of metrics oriented around evaluating and rewarding certain kinds of academic performance (e.g. “impact factors”). It is argued that this shift of emphasis has a distorting effect on the uses of citations, and that the more…
Tacit Teaching
This essay reflects upon certain aspects of Wittgenstein's own practices as a teacher. Doing philosophy always took priority for Wittgenstein, whether this was in oral or written form: it was important to show the deep puzzles in our language (and our culture and thinking) as a step toward dissolving them. In this respect, one can teach only as a guide; it is a matter of showing more than saying. Wittgenstein's approach suggests a model that I wi…
Media Comparison Studies
Background/Context Media comparison studies aim to compare the relative effectiveness of different media at promoting educational outcomes. While these types of studies remain popular, they have been under attack for more than two decades. Critics of media comparison studies claim that continued studies are unhelpful because a great number of research projects have already shown that media produce “no significant difference” in learning outcomes.…
Feeling like a philosopher of education
Why Publish
Journal Article Why Publish? Get access Nicholas C Burbules Nicholas C Burbules Correspondence: Nicholas C. Burbules, Edward William and Jane Marr Gutgsell Professor, Department of Education Policy, Organization and Leadership, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, 1310 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. Email: [email protected] Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of Philosophy of Ed…
Slowness as a Virtue
What it Makes Sense to Say’
In his writings Jim Marshall has helpfully emphasized such Wittgensteinian themes as the multiplicity of language games, the deconstruction of ‘certainty,’ and the contexts of power that underlie discursive systems. Here we focus on another important legacy of Wittgenstein's thinking: his insistence that human activity is rule‐governed. This idea foregrounds looking carefully at the world of education and learning, as against the empirical search…
Like a Version
(2002). Like a Version: playing with online identities. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 387-393
The Antonym of ‘Autonomy’
Equity, Equal Opportunity, and Education
Since the Brown decision by the Supreme Court in 1954, issues of and in education have been a major concern of teachers, administrators, and educational researchers and policymakers. Many of the most widely discussed and controversial debates in education, from Brown to Bakke, have grown out of diverse assumptions about opportunity; educational philosophers and theorists have devoted thousands of pages to the review and analysis of these assumpti…
Metaphor, Idiom, and Figuration
Metaphor, specifically, and figurative language, generally, have been of interest to philosophers and literary theorists since Aristotle's Poetics. Yet we still lack clear criteria for what it means for an expression to be figurative, and how this is to be distinguished from literal usage. We argue here that this question has remained unanswered, in part, because it has been misconceived. One important source of misunderstanding has been the almo…
Dialogue across Differences
In this article, Nicholas Burbules and Suzanne Rice engage several of the central claims made by postmodern authors about the possibilities and limits of education. Specifically,they focus on postmodern conceptions of difference, and on the question of whether dialogue across differences, particularly differences in social power, is possible and worthwhile. In order to answer this question, Burbules and Rice distinguish two trends within postmode…
Forms of ideology‐critique
This Is Not a Paper
This article explores some of the prospects for electronic publishing in educational research. 1 Some scholars have predicted that paper journals and other periodicals will disappear within a decade. Others insist that electronic and paper publishing can and should coexist, each serving distinct purposes suited to their respective media. In assessing this debate, we argue, educational researchers and others concerned with publishing should weigh …
The Risky Promises and Promising Risks of New Information Technologies for Education
Most discussions of the potential of new information technologies (IT) for education have taken one of two forms: enthusiastic proclamations of the revolutionary impact that IT can have for teaching and learning in school and nonschool settings, or dire warnings of the terrible fraud being perpetrated on society about the educational potential of IT. This essay attempts to avoid exaggerated optimism and pessimism about IT and education, while avo…
Aporias, Webs, and Passages
This article offers an exploration of the idea, and the experience, of aporia (usually translated as “doubt”) in Plato’s dialogue, the Meno, and in other teaching/learning contexts. A metaphor that moves throughout the article is the experience of being lost when exploring the World Wide Web and other weblike or hypertextual environments. The article represents the experience of movement, following uncertain connections, and cycling back through …
Postmodernism for Analytic Philosophers of Education
Dialogue in Teaching
This work offers a detailed examination of the theory and practice of dialogue as a cluster of related dialogical styles and approaches and not just as one entity. The author offers a critical and conceptual study of the nature of dialogue, and a discussion of concrete issues in teaching with dialogue: how it works, why it is beneficial for teaching, how it sometimes fails, and how to improve on it. Organising his book around the metaphor of play…
Like a Version
(2002). Like a Version: playing with online identities. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 34, No. 4, pp. 387-393
Ways of Thinking About Educational Quality
This essay examines critically the conceptual and normative underpinnings of various views about educational quality, emphasizing the centrality of different assumptions about educational aims. Two distinctions play a key role in the first part of the paper: that between transcendent justifications of educational aims, versus socio-cultural reproduction justifications—and that between what I call “strong teleological” and “weaker teleological” vi…
What it Makes Sense to Say’
In his writings Jim Marshall has helpfully emphasized such Wittgensteinian themes as the multiplicity of language games, the deconstruction of ‘certainty,’ and the contexts of power that underlie discursive systems. Here we focus on another important legacy of Wittgenstein's thinking: his insistence that human activity is rule‐governed. This idea foregrounds looking carefully at the world of education and learning, as against the empirical search…
Education as Initiation Into Practices
A bstract In this essay, Paul Smeyers and Nicholas Burbules reexamine the concept of “practice” and propose a new way of conceiving it that does justice to the idea that education is in some sense an initiation into practices without endorsing either the conservative and reproductive conception of what initiation entails or the radically social constructionist idea that all practices are arbitrary and groundless. First, drawing from the work of L…
Rethinking Dialogue in Networked Spaces
Media Comparison Studies
Background/Context Media comparison studies aim to compare the relative effectiveness of different media at promoting educational outcomes. While these types of studies remain popular, they have been under attack for more than two decades. Critics of media comparison studies claim that continued studies are unhelpful because a great number of research projects have already shown that media produce “no significant difference” in learning outcomes.…
The Illinois White Paper
Our system of research self-regulation, designed to provide internal checks and balances for those who participate in research involving human subjects, is under considerable stress. Much of this crisis has been caused by what we call mission creep, in which the workload of IRBs has expanded beyond their ability to handle effectively. Mission creep is caused by rewarding wrong behaviors, such as focusing more on procedures and documentation than …
Tacit Teaching
This essay reflects upon certain aspects of Wittgenstein's own practices as a teacher. Doing philosophy always took priority for Wittgenstein, whether this was in oral or written form: it was important to show the deep puzzles in our language (and our culture and thinking) as a step toward dissolving them. In this respect, one can teach only as a guide; it is a matter of showing more than saying. Wittgenstein's approach suggests a model that I wi…
Cosmopolitan Identity and Education
(2011). Cosmopolitan Identity and Education. Educational Philosophy and Theory: Vol. 43, Philosophical Perspectives on Cosmopolitanism and Education. Guest Editors: Klas Roth and Nicholas C. Burbules, pp. 205-208
How to Improve your Impact Factor
A broad-scale quantification of the measure of quality for scholarship is under way. This trend has fundamental implications for the future of academic publishing and employment. In this essay we want to raise questions about these burgeoning practices, particularly how they affect philosophy of education and similar sub-disciplines. First, details are given of how an 'impact factor' is calculated. The various meanings that can be attached to it …
Philosophical Inquiry
Globalization and Education
International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research
International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research
International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research
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