College of DuPage Philosophy Instructor Dr. James Magrini was recently awarded the 2016 Dr. Michael Oliker Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Philosophy of Education by the International Society for the Philosophical Study of Education (SPSE) for the publication of his Routledge Press philosophy monograph “Reconceiving Plato’s Socrates at the Limit of Education.”

Named for a philosopher of education and one of the founding members of the SPSE, this annual award is given for outstanding contributions to the study of education.

“This award means a lot to me because it is decided by academic philosophers who have been researching, writing and publishing for decades,” Magrini said. “The award also serves to validate the importance of philosophy’s contribution to a deeper and more nuanced understanding of education.”

With interests spanning Ancient Greek Philosophy, Ethics and Epistemology, Magrini’s academic focus is on the development and evolution of the European phenomenological-Hermeneutic tradition in contemporary philosophical thought. He has written “Social Efficiency and Instrumentalism in Education: Critical Essays in Ontology, Phenomenology, and Philosophical Hermeneutics (Routledge Press, 2014) and is currently co-authoring “Reading the Turn in Heidegger: Literature, Poetry, and Education.” Magrini has also published in numerous journals on philosophy and education, including Philosophy Today, Existentia, Review of Contemporary Philosophy, Linguistic and Philosophical Investigations, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Journal of Curriculum Studies and Curriculum Matters.

Magrini said his book “Reconceiving Plato’s Socrates at the Limit of Education” is not a typical study of education in Plato’s dialogues.

“It does not focus on Plato’s curriculum as it appears in the Republic or Laws,” he said. “Instead, it’s a close reading that engages and challenges contemporary Platonic scholarship in search of a more authentic sense of education that Socrates endorses and practices in Plato’s dialogues.”

He said philosophy plays an important role in today’s research into and practice of education.

“In this age of standardization at all levels of education, many forms of qualitative research – which include the type of conceptual-theoretical research into education that SPSE endorses – are far too often devalued in favor of the quantitative-statistical research of the hard sciences,” he said. “Philosopher Fred Dallmayer, reiterating Hans-Georg Gadamer and Wilhelm von Humboldt, said what was needed in institutions of higher learning was a return to embracing and facilitating sustained meditative thought among students and faculty regarding subjects that hold deep meanings for their lives, as these meanings transcended the walls of the classroom and lecture hall.”