Philosophy and the aims of higher education

Bibliographic Data

ID5154941
AuthorsJohn White (0000-0002-5684-1461, University of London, corresponding author)
Year1997
Volume22
Issue1
Pages7-17
Publication date1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueStudies in Higher Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0307-5079 • E-ISSN: 1470-174X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03075079712331381101
OpenAlexW1964696933
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited11

The paper asks how far philosophy can throw light on what the aims of higher education should be. It begins with a critical discussion of Ronald Barnett's argument, set out in his The Idea of Higher Education and elsewhere, that there are common ‘emancipatory’ aims implicit in the concept of higher education itself. Barnett's philosophical and historical arguments for this conclusion are examined and rejected. The question is also raised whether the conclusion could be supported on other grounds. In the last part of the paper it is suggested that higher education seems to offer much less scope than compulsory school education for philosophical discussions of its aims

Epistemology · Higher education · Pedagogy · Philosophy of education · Political science · Social science · Sociology · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Law · Philosophical Ethics and Theory · Philosophy · Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications

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