1st Edition

The Legacy of Isocrates and a Platonic Alternative Political Philosophy and the Value of Education

By James R. Muir Copyright 2019
    306 Pages
    by Routledge

    306 Pages
    by Routledge

    Bringing together the history of educational philosophy, political philosophy, and rhetoric, this book examines the influence of the philosopher Isocrates on educational thought and the history of education. Unifying philosophical and historical arguments, Muir discusses the role of Isocrates in raising two central questions: What is the value of education? By what methods ought the value of education to be determined? Tracing the historical influence of Isocrates’ ideas of the nature and value of education from Antiquity to the modern era, Muir questions normative assumptions about the foundations of education and considers the future status of education as an academic discipline.

    Introduction



    Part 1: Isocrates’ Idea of the Nature and Value of Education



    Chapter 1: Isocrates and the history of education: educationists vs. everyone else



    Chapter 2: The Isocratic Idea of the Nature and Value of Education



    Part 2: The Historical Transmission and Evolution of the Isocratic Idea of Education



    Ch. 3: The Isocratic Idea: Rome to the Early Middle Ages



    Ch. 4: The Isocratic Idea in the Middle Ages



    Ch. 5: The Isocratic Idea in Renaissance Humanism



    Ch. 6: Education and Modern Political Philosophy



    Part 3: Critique of the Isocratic Idea and Outline of the Parmenidean-Platonic Alternative



    Ch. 7: The Inadequacy of the Isocratic Idea and DCD Method



    Ch. 8: the Parmenidean-Platonic Alternative I: Normative Method and Education



    Ch. 9: the Parmenidean-Platonic Alternative II: an Outline of Educational Practice



    Conclusion



    References

    Biography

    James Muir is Professor of Philosophy at University of Winnipeg, Canada.