PATTERNS OF

EDUCATIONAL
PHILOSOPHY
Divergence and convergence
in culturological perspective

THEODORE BRAMELD
University of Hawaii

HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON, INC.

New York Chicago San Francisco Atlanta Dallas
Montreal Toronto London Sydney

CONTENTS

PREFACE

vii

PARTI
PHILOSOPHY, CULTURE, AND EDUCATION
1

A Time of Great Debate

2 A Culturological Approach to Philosophies of Education

Delineation of Culturology
The Culture We Live In
Our "Schizophrenic" Age

3
14
14
16
24

3 Philosophies of Education in a Crisis-Culture

38

Philosophy: Some Relevant Functions

The Choices before Us: Philosophies of Education
as Patterns of Culture

41
60

Contemporary Philosophic Movements: Culturological

Anticipations

65

Existentialism: The Quest for Authenticity

Neo-Freudianism: Metapsychology as Interpersonal Therapy
Neo-Marxism: The Struggle for Cultural Humanism
Philosophic Analysis: Catalyst''of Obfuscation
Zen Buddhism as Esthetic Communion in Man and Nature
Culturological Approaches to Education: A Design

66
69
72
75
79
84

xiv

Contents

PART 2
PROGRESSIVISM: EDUCATION AS
CULTURAL MODERATION
5 Philosophic Beliefs of Progressivism
Preview of Progressivism
Ancestry and Background of Progressivism
Progressivist Beliefs about Reality
Progressivist Beliefs about Knowledge
Progressivist Beliefs about Value

6 The Progressivist Pattern of Educational Beliefs

Progressivism Theory in Focus
Backgrounds of Progressive Education
Progressivist Beliefs about Learning
The Experimental Curriculum: Content and Method
Progressive Education and School Control

7 A Culturological Evaluation of Progressivism

Education in a Liberal Culture
The Moderative Character of Progressivism
Critique of Progressivism: Current Philosophic Views

91
91
93
100
102
110

119
119
121
123
133
141

147
148
158
173

PART 3
ESSENTIALISM: EDUCATION AS
CULTURAL TRANSMISSION
8 The Essentialist Pattern of Philosophic Beliefs
Preview of Essentialism
Essentialism in the History of Thought
Essentialist Beliefs about Reality
Essentialist Beliefs about Knowledge
Essentialist Beliefs about Value
Recent Strains in Essentialist Thought

181
181
183
190
196
202
208

Contents

9 The Essentialist Pattern of Educational Beliefs

xv

211

The Rise of Essentialist Education

Essentialist Concepts of Learning
The Essentialist Curriculum
Essentialist Views of the School's Role in Society

212
215
223
227

10 A Culturological Evaluation of Essentialism

235

Modern Idealism and Realism: Underpinnings of

Modern Culture
Transmissive Roles of Essentialist Education
The Obsolescence of Essentialism
Critique of Essentialism in the Light of Contemporary
Philosophic Movements

236
243
246
254

PART 4
PERENNIALISM: EDUCATION AS
CULTURAL RESTORATION
11 Philosophic Foundations of Perennialism

263

Preview of Perennialism
Historic Backgrounds
Perennialist Beliefs about Reality
Perennialist Beliefs about Knowledge
Perennialist Beliefs about Value

263
266
274
278
281

12 The Perennialist Pattern of Educational Beliefs

288

The Sweep of Perennialist Education

Perennialist Beliefs about Learning
Perennialist Views of the Curriculum
Problems of Social and Educational Control:
The Perennialist Solution

288
293
297

13 A Culturological Evaluation of Perennialism

The Milieu of Perennialism
The Mind as Escape
The Perennialist Challenge to Democracy
Critique of Perennialism in Philosophic Perspectives
of Our Time

303

310
310
322
325
337

xvi

Contents

PART 5
RECONSTRUCTIONISM: EDUCATION AS
CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION
SECTION ONE
Philosophic Beliefs of Reconstructionism

345

14

346

Fountainheads of Reconstructionism
Historic Contributions of Utopianism
Recent Heralds of the Future
The Culturological Context of Reconstructionism:
A Preinterpretation

15

347
351
355

Beliefs about Reality

Cultural Determinants of Human Experience
History as Reality

358
.

16 Belief s about Knowledge

The Organismic Approach Reconsidered
The Role of Goal-Seeking
The Role of Prehension
The Role of the Unrational
The Role of Ideology
The Role of Utopia
Consensual Validation in Truth-Seeking
The "Group Mind" as End and Means
The Importance of the Person

17

Beliefs about Value

Reality, Knowledge, and Value: Some Relationships
The Content of Values
Social-Self-Realization in Politics
Normative Designs for a Reconstructed Culture
The Role of Myth in Cultural Transformation

360
372

383
383
384
389
392
395
396
400
408
412

414
414
417
425
435
439

Contents

xvii

SECTION TWO
Educational Beliefs of Reconstructionism
18 Learning as Social-Self-Realization
"

443
444

Utopianism in the History of Education

Social-Self-Realization as Cultural Means and Ends
Motivations for Learning through Social-Self-Realization
Consensual Validation as Experience in Learning
Education for Defensible Partiality

444
448
450
456
468

19 Curriculum Designs for a Transformative Culture

475

General Education: The Center

Year One of General Education
Year Two of General Education
Year Three of General Education
Year Four of General Education
Elementary, Higher, and Adult Education

20 The Control of Education: A Reconstructed View

Ideology-Utopia: Significance for the Issue of Control
Reconstructed Principles of Educational Control
Federal Aid and Federal Authority
Organized Religion and Educational Control
National Responsibility to Integration
Organizing the Profession for Democratic Power

475
480
488
493
499
504

512
513
520
529
532
537
539

SECTION THREE
A Culturological Evaluation of
Reconstructionism

543

21 In Search of Convergence

544

Some Critical Reactions

A Reconstructionist Approach to Convergence

546
552

APPENDIX
Suggested Readings

567

References

583

Name Index

595

Subject Index

603