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Avi I Mintz

Newlane University, Philosophy, Associate Director of Curriculum and Philosophy

Independent Scholar, Philosophy and Education, Associate Director of Curriculum and Philosophy

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I am a teacher and scholar of philosophy and education. I spend much of my thinking about historical conversations about the nature and aims of teaching. I have long been drawn to Plato, Rousseau, Dewey and others because because they took so seriously questions like, How does education shape us? How ought education shape the world? I taught for a decade at the University of Tulsa. I now live in Toronto and am part of the Philosophy Faculty at Newlane University, a radical new online college that offers self-paced, accessible, affordable education.

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Books by Avi I Mintz

A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity

This volume traces the history of Western philosophy of education in antiquity. Between the fifth... more This volume traces the history of Western philosophy of education in antiquity. Between the fifth century BCE and the fifth century CE, Plato, Isocrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and others raised questions about the nature of teaching and learning, the relationship of education and politics, and the elements of a distinctively philosophical education. Their arguments on these topics launched a conversation that occupied philosophers over the millennia and continues today.

CONTENTS:
Introduction: A Story of Educational Philosophy in Antiquity - Avi I. Mintz; The Sophistic Movement and the Frenzy of a New Education - M.R. Engler; Plato: Philosophy As Education - Yoshiaki Nakazawa; Xenophon the Educator - William H.F. Altman; Isocrates: The Founding and Tradition of Liberal Education - Bruce A. Kimball and Sarah M. Iler; Educating for Living Life at Its Best: Aristotelian Thought and
the Ideal Polis - Marianna Papastephanou; Ancient Schools and the Challenge of Cynicism - Ansgar Allen; Roman Educational Philosophy: The Legacy of Cicero - James R. Muir; Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius: Education and the Philosophical Art of Living - Annie Larivée; St. Augustine’s Pedagogy as the New Creation - Yun Lee Too

Plato: Images, Aims, and Practices of Education

The characters in Plato’s dialogues often debate – sometimes with great passion – the purpose of ... more The characters in Plato’s dialogues often debate – sometimes with great passion – the purpose of education and the nature of learning. The claims about education in the Platonic corpus are so provocative, nuanced, insightful, and, often, controversial that educational philosophers have reckoned with them for millennia. Plato: Images, Aims, and Practices of Education discusses education in the Platonic corpus and places it in the context of Plato’s Greece. Mintz organizes his discussion of education in the Platonic Corpus around Plato’s images, both the familiar – the cave, the gadfly, the torpedo fish, and the midwife – and the less familiar – the intellectual aviary, the wax tablet, and the kindled fire. These educational images often reveal that, for Plato, philosophizing is inextricably linked to learning; that is, philosophy is fundamentally an educational endeavor. The book opens by providing the historical context of Plato’s engagement with education, including an overview of Plato’s life as student and educator. The book concludes with a discussion of Plato’s legacy in the pedagogical practice of the “Socratic method” and in higher education.

Discipline, Devotion and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic and Islamic Schooling in Canada

The education provided by Canada’s faith-based schools is a subject of public, political, and sch... more The education provided by Canada’s faith-based schools is a subject of public, political, and scholarly controversy. As the population becomes more religiously diverse, the continued establishment and support of faith-based schools has reignited debates about whether they should be funded publicly and to what extent they threaten social cohesion.

These discussions tend to occur without considering a fundamental question: How do faith-based schools envision and enact their educational missions? Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent offers responses to that question by examining a selection of Canada’s Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic schools. The daily reality of these schools is illuminated through essays that address the aims and practices that characterize these schools, how they prepare their students to become citizens of a multicultural Canada, and how they respond to dissent in the classroom.

The essays in this book reveal that Canada’s faith-based schools sometimes succeed and sometimes struggle in bridging the demands of the faith and the need to create participating citizens of a multicultural society. Discussion surrounding faith-based schools in Canada would be enriched by a better understanding of the aims and practices of these schools, and this book provides a gateway to the subject.

Papers by Avi I Mintz

The Thick-Skinned Teacher: Stoicism in the Classroom

Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 2024

I recently attended a professional development workshop for high school teachers, and we were ask... more I recently attended a professional development workshop for high school teachers, and we were asked to share ideas about the characteristics of a great teacher. People offered a range of responses: great teachers are experts in the subject they teach, are passionate about their subject, create strong classroom structure, and articulate clear expectations. They are caring, encouraging, engaging, enthusiastic, fair, and firm. When I was asked, I thought only of what seemed to me to be the quality proving useful in some of my more challenging encounters with teenagers: a thick skin. I am in the midst of the reverse of Trent's professional journey. He taught in high schools and then later anchored his scholarly interests "in how people learn to understand and cope with life's more trying realities." I taught and wrote about philosophy and education in universities, but now teach full time in a high school. I brought my scholarly interests to bear in helping me cope with one of life's more trying realities: the high school classroom. Like Trent, I have been thinking about stoicism often lately, and I was thinking about it during that professional development session. Trent mentions early in this paper that he helps his students "get to grips with what it would look like to be the sort of teacher who shows up facing the 'difficult' aspects of teaching without being 'discouraged' by them." He goes on to discuss how we would all benefit from a new orientation nowadays, "finding the strength to try to make things better for our fellow travelers." Philosophers of education, he argues, should develop the themes of acknowledgement and affinity, helping people develop these stoic principles. Trent shows that those themes prove foundational for our ability to encounter and engage others. Trent suggests that affinity and acknowledgement are educational ideals-ideals far more meaningful than those we are told to reach through pedagogical alignment or other educational buzzwords. In many ways, I'm an ideal respondent to Trent's paper. Like Trent, I have found the modern stoics like Donald Robertson (2019) and William Irvine (2008) to be compelling guides to living well. But those sympathies place me too close to Trent's side. In this response, therefore, I focus on the subject he mentions briefly before turning to broad stoic themes in philosophy of education: what value is stoicism for teachers?

Platonic Character Education

Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2023

In A Platonic Theory of Moral Education, Mark Jonas and Yoshiaki Nakazawa have argued that Plato ... more In A Platonic Theory of Moral Education, Mark Jonas and Yoshiaki Nakazawa have argued that Plato outlines a theory of virtue education. Alkis Kotsonis has similarly argued that Plato articulated a theory of intellectual character education. I think that Jonas, Nakazawa, and Kotsonis have opened a productive line of enquiry on this matter, and I expand on their work in this paper by identifying connections between Plato’s work and the contemporary discourse on character education, which features four domains of virtues: moral, intellectual, civic, and performance virtues. Plato’s treatment of virtue, I argue, not only can be mapped onto the contemporary treatment of character education but it also further demonstrates that cultivating virtue—the project of character education—was a paramount concern for Plato.

Rousseau on Democratic Education

The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education, 2023

In Emile, Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes the education of a fictional student who follows his in... more In Emile, Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes the education of a fictional student who follows his interests and “discovers” facts by problem-solving. Rousseau’s educational philosophy was embraced by child-centered progressives committed to advancing a distinctively democratic conception of education. They believed that Rousseau outlined principles for forming autonomous and independent citizens—precisely the kind of citizens ready to meet the demands of democratic self-government.

In other works, however, Rousseau calls for a system of public schooling that forms patriots. He writes that education “must give souls the national form, and so direct their tastes and opinions that they will be patriotic by inclination, passion, necessity.”

Can this authoritarian approach to education be reconciled with the laissez-faire principles of Emile? Should either of these educational visions be called democratic? This chapter offers answers to those questions and argues that, ultimately, both approaches aim to improve how citizens relate to one another.

Plato, The Poets, and The Philosophical Turn in the Relationship between Teaching, Learning, and Suffering

Studies in Philosophy of Education , 2022

Greek literature prior to Plato featured two conceptions of education. Learning takes place when ... more Greek literature prior to Plato featured two conceptions of education. Learning takes place when people encounter “teacher-guides”—educators, mentors, and advisors. But education also occurs outside of a pedagogical relationship between learner and teacher-guide: people learn through painful experience. In composing his dramatic dialogues, Plato appropriated these two conceptions of education, refashioning and fusing them to present a new philosophical conception of learning: Plato’s Socrates is a teacher-guide who causes his interlocutors to learn through suffering. Socrates, however, is not presented straightforwardly as a pedagogical success story. Socrates’ failures are, paradoxically, part of what makes him an ideal literary model for a philosophical teacher-guide. Plato requires his readers to question why Socrates’ interlocutors fail to be converted to philosophers.

A Story of Educational Philosophy in Antiquity

A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity, 2021

This essay is the prepublication version of my introduction to A History of Western Philosophy of... more This essay is the prepublication version of my introduction to A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity (Bloomsbury, 2021). The contents of the volume are described in the section “Philosophers on Education in Antiquity” below. The final version of this chapter includes images referenced but not provided here. A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity is part of a five-volume reference series A History of Western Philosophy of Education edited by Megan Laverty and David Hansen.

Socrates, Cadmus and the Case for Unphilosophical Parenting

Philosophy of Education 2019 (Ed. Kurt Stemhagen), 2020

When my eldest son was in third grade, he started reporting that he was regularly eating doughnut... more When my eldest son was in third grade, he started reporting that he was regularly eating doughnuts at school in the morning. i Neither my partner in these parenting decisions nor I hold any particular ill will towards doughnuts. They aren't exactly her sweet of choiceshe comes from a family of chocolate worshippers and the quantity and quality of chocolate in doughnuts, even a chocolate doughnut with a chocolate glaze, just doesn't excite her. I, at least, can recognize their fatty and sweet appeal. But between her indifference and my range of food intolerances (curse you, my weak-stomached ancestors!), we fed our children doughnuts very rarely, making them almost exclusively a birthday treat (since our kids prefer them over birthday cake). But, of course, the main reason that the doughnut purchases were so rare was that we have been habituated in a parenting culture that induces feelings of guilt and shame when feeding children high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar snacks.

The Optimist as Scholar and Teacher: An Appreciation of Robbie McClintock

Educational Theory, 2018

Introduction to the Festschrift for Robert O. McClintock in Educational Theory

Sparta, Athens, and the Surprising Roots of Common Schooling

Philosophy of Education Yearbook, 2018

Classical Sparta was admired and feared because of its army of citizen-soldiers. A Spartan was tr... more Classical Sparta was admired and feared because of its army of citizen-soldiers. A Spartan was trained from childhood to be a disciplined, patriotic, and courageous member of his political community. Because of Sparta's emphasis on physical training and war, perhaps it should not be surprising that other Greeks – enamored with drama, philosophy, and literature – described the Spartans as unsophisticated, uncultured, unlearned, and uneducated. Yet at the dawn of Western educational philosophy, Sparta was simultaneously praised for having established the first and foremost model of common education in the Greek world. This paper explores the fascinating tension between Sparta's sophisticated system of education and the " unsophisticated " citizens who emerged from it.

The Present, Past, and Future of the Gardening Metaphor in Education

Oxford Review of Education, 2018

Educators and educational theorists frequently employ a gardening metaphor to capture several chi... more Educators and educational theorists frequently employ a gardening metaphor to capture several child-centered principles about teaching and children: i.e., teachers must respect a child's unique interests and abilities, recognize what is developmentally appropriate for students, and resist pursuing a narrow set of outcomes. Historically, however, educational theorists were as likely to use the gardening metaphor to support teacher-centered, 'moulding' ideals as they were to support child-centered ideals. Furthermore, in stark contrast to the contemporary optimism about a child's innate, unique potential, the use of the gardening metaphor in the past sometimes supported prejudicial, deterministic views of children. In many ways, therefore, the contemporary use of the metaphor reflects genuine progress in educators' ideas about children and their potential. Nevertheless, those who employ the gardening metaphor today might learn from some of its past users. Eager to avoid imposing their own goals on children, today child-centered gardeners have resisted articulating normative ideals by which teaching and parenting might be guided. Yet a normative ideal of the educated adult is not inconsistent with child-centered gardening.

Pain and Education

Handbook on the Philosophy of Pain, ed. Jennifer Corns (Routledge), 2017

Parents and teachers inflict pain on the young in many ways. This chapter explores several factor... more

Education of the Third Class in The Republic: Plato and the Locus Classicus of Formative Justice

Does Plato’s trailblazing discussion of common education in The Republic include all children or ... more Does Plato’s trailblazing discussion of common education in The Republic include all children or only those of the elite, guardian class? I offer an alternative interpretation of the eligibility of the third class for the program of education in The Republic. I endorse neither the position that Socrates designs the education for the guardian class alone nor, on the other hand, that Socrates’ call for class transfers logically requires the children of all classes to be educated together. Instead, I suggest that Plato’s conflicting and confusing treatment of the third class’s education in The Republic is a provocation for his readers – that is, Plato may have intentionally drawn readers into an inquiry about participation in common education in a just society.

Dewey's Ancestry, Dewey's Legacy, and The Aims of Education in Democracy and Education

In Democracy and Education, in the midst of the pivotal chapter on " The Democratic Conception in... more In Democracy and Education, in the midst of the pivotal chapter on " The Democratic Conception in Education, " Dewey juxtaposes his educational aims with those of Plato, Rousseau, Fichte and Hegel. Perhaps Dewey believed that an account of their views would help elucidate his own, or he intended to suggest that his own ideas rivaled or bested theirs. I argue that Dewey's discussion of historical philosophers' aims of education was also designed to critique his contemporaries subtly and by analogy. My analysis of Dewey's critique supports a second argument: one of the reasons Dewey's legacy has been long debated (particularly his relationship to pedagogical progressivism) derives from his reluctance to criticize his contemporaries explicitly and directly. Had Dewey critiqued his fellow American progressives in the same way he did historical European philosophers of the past, his readers would have better understood his relationship to progressive American educational ideas and practices. Yet Dewey's subtle approach also accounts for the creation of a work that genuinely warrants being called a classic – it rises above the educational debates of the early twentieth century to enter into a conversation with its educational ancestry, a conversation that Dewey propelled forward.

What is the Purpose of Education? Dewey's challenge to his contemporaries

A discussion of Dewey's Democracy and Education, focused on chapter nine, "Natural Development an... more

The Use and Abuse of the History of Educational Philosophy

Philosophy of Education Yearbook 2016, 2018

Philosophers of education have spent much time reflecting on their discipline. In the midst of th... more Philosophers of education have spent much time reflecting on their discipline. In the midst of these reflections, some have argued that our scholarship will best serve today's teachers, students, schools, and society if it is " relevant. " The focus on relevance, among other things, has compromised our field's engagement with educational philosophy. In particular, the work in our field on the history of educational philosophy (a) too often neglects educational theorists whom we ought to study and (b) adheres to a " history + implications " model that encourages presentism and undermines the value of such historical educational philosophy.

Helping by hurting: the paradox of suffering in social justice education

Theory and Research in Education, vol. 11 no. 3 215-230, Nov 2013

Suffering has a complex role in social justice education. The alleviation or eradication of suffe... more Suffering has a complex role in social justice education. The alleviation or eradication of suffering is a goal of social justice education while, simultaneously, students suffer in the process of learning about the suffering of others. Educational theorists have attempted to resolve this paradox in various ways and the author of this article identifies and discusses four distinct resolutions. First, student suffering is permissible because it is self-inflicted (rather than inflicted by the teacher). Second, the students’ pain, compassion, is desirable and distinct from the pain experienced by victims of injustice. Third, students should experience the same kind of suffering as the victims of injustice in order to inoculate them against racist, discriminatory, and oppressive attitudes. Fourth, the suffering of marginalized and oppressed students is a distinct form of suffering that empowers students by enabling them to recognize their own suffering.

Why did Socrates Deny that he was a Teacher? Locating Socrates among the new educators and the traditional education in Plato’s Apology of Socrates

Educational Philosophy and Theory 46(7), 735-747, Jun 2014

Plato’s Apology of Socrates contains a spirited account of Socrates’ relationship with the city o... more Plato’s Apology of Socrates contains a spirited account of Socrates’ relationship with the city of Athens and its citizens. As Socrates stands on trial for corrupting the youth, surprisingly, he does not defend the substance and the methods of his teaching. Instead, he simply denies that he is a teacher. Many scholars have contended that, in having Socrates deny he is a teacher, Plato is primarily interested in distinguishing him from the sophists. In this paper, I argue that, given the historic educational transformation in Socrates’ and Plato’s lifetimes, Socrates’ denial is far more complex and far reaching than the Socrates-versus-the-sophists distinction indicates. Socrates suggests that Athenians have failed to recognize that there were various types among the new educators of fifth century Athens – orators, sophists, natural philosophers and, perhaps, a philosopher like Socrates. Further, the traditional education, which the Athenians believed was threatened by the new educators, was itself fractured. Ultimately, rather than offering a straightforward distinction between philosophizing and teaching, Socrates and the sophists, Plato treats the question of teaching aporectically in Apology; that is, after pointing to various alternatives for understanding the nature of teaching, Plato concludes the work without offering a clear resolution to that question.

The Happy and Suffering Student? Rousseau’s Emile and the path not taken in progressive educational thought

One of the mantras of progressive education is that genuine learning ought to be exciting and ple... more One of the mantras of progressive education is that genuine learning ought to be exciting and pleasurable, rather than joyless and painful. To a significant extent, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is associated with this mantra. In a theme of Emile that is often neglected in the educational literature, however, Rousseau states “to suffer is the first thing [Emile] ought to learn and the thing he will most need to know.” Through a discussion of Rousseau’s argument of the importance of an education in suffering, I argue that the reception of Rousseau by progressives suggests a detrimental misstep in the history of educational thought, a misstep that we should recognize and correct today. We ought to revive the progressive tradition of distinguishing the valuable educational pains from the harmful ones, even if we disagree with the particular types of pain that Rousseau identifies as educationally valuable.

A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity

This volume traces the history of Western philosophy of education in antiquity. Between the fifth... more This volume traces the history of Western philosophy of education in antiquity. Between the fifth century BCE and the fifth century CE, Plato, Isocrates, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, and others raised questions about the nature of teaching and learning, the relationship of education and politics, and the elements of a distinctively philosophical education. Their arguments on these topics launched a conversation that occupied philosophers over the millennia and continues today.

CONTENTS:
Introduction: A Story of Educational Philosophy in Antiquity - Avi I. Mintz; The Sophistic Movement and the Frenzy of a New Education - M.R. Engler; Plato: Philosophy As Education - Yoshiaki Nakazawa; Xenophon the Educator - William H.F. Altman; Isocrates: The Founding and Tradition of Liberal Education - Bruce A. Kimball and Sarah M. Iler; Educating for Living Life at Its Best: Aristotelian Thought and
the Ideal Polis - Marianna Papastephanou; Ancient Schools and the Challenge of Cynicism - Ansgar Allen; Roman Educational Philosophy: The Legacy of Cicero - James R. Muir; Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius: Education and the Philosophical Art of Living - Annie Larivée; St. Augustine’s Pedagogy as the New Creation - Yun Lee Too

Plato: Images, Aims, and Practices of Education

The characters in Plato’s dialogues often debate – sometimes with great passion – the purpose of ... more The characters in Plato’s dialogues often debate – sometimes with great passion – the purpose of education and the nature of learning. The claims about education in the Platonic corpus are so provocative, nuanced, insightful, and, often, controversial that educational philosophers have reckoned with them for millennia. Plato: Images, Aims, and Practices of Education discusses education in the Platonic corpus and places it in the context of Plato’s Greece. Mintz organizes his discussion of education in the Platonic Corpus around Plato’s images, both the familiar – the cave, the gadfly, the torpedo fish, and the midwife – and the less familiar – the intellectual aviary, the wax tablet, and the kindled fire. These educational images often reveal that, for Plato, philosophizing is inextricably linked to learning; that is, philosophy is fundamentally an educational endeavor. The book opens by providing the historical context of Plato’s engagement with education, including an overview of Plato’s life as student and educator. The book concludes with a discussion of Plato’s legacy in the pedagogical practice of the “Socratic method” and in higher education.

Discipline, Devotion and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic and Islamic Schooling in Canada

The education provided by Canada’s faith-based schools is a subject of public, political, and sch... more The education provided by Canada’s faith-based schools is a subject of public, political, and scholarly controversy. As the population becomes more religiously diverse, the continued establishment and support of faith-based schools has reignited debates about whether they should be funded publicly and to what extent they threaten social cohesion.

These discussions tend to occur without considering a fundamental question: How do faith-based schools envision and enact their educational missions? Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent offers responses to that question by examining a selection of Canada’s Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic schools. The daily reality of these schools is illuminated through essays that address the aims and practices that characterize these schools, how they prepare their students to become citizens of a multicultural Canada, and how they respond to dissent in the classroom.

The essays in this book reveal that Canada’s faith-based schools sometimes succeed and sometimes struggle in bridging the demands of the faith and the need to create participating citizens of a multicultural society. Discussion surrounding faith-based schools in Canada would be enriched by a better understanding of the aims and practices of these schools, and this book provides a gateway to the subject.

The Thick-Skinned Teacher: Stoicism in the Classroom

Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 2024

I recently attended a professional development workshop for high school teachers, and we were ask... more I recently attended a professional development workshop for high school teachers, and we were asked to share ideas about the characteristics of a great teacher. People offered a range of responses: great teachers are experts in the subject they teach, are passionate about their subject, create strong classroom structure, and articulate clear expectations. They are caring, encouraging, engaging, enthusiastic, fair, and firm. When I was asked, I thought only of what seemed to me to be the quality proving useful in some of my more challenging encounters with teenagers: a thick skin. I am in the midst of the reverse of Trent's professional journey. He taught in high schools and then later anchored his scholarly interests "in how people learn to understand and cope with life's more trying realities." I taught and wrote about philosophy and education in universities, but now teach full time in a high school. I brought my scholarly interests to bear in helping me cope with one of life's more trying realities: the high school classroom. Like Trent, I have been thinking about stoicism often lately, and I was thinking about it during that professional development session. Trent mentions early in this paper that he helps his students "get to grips with what it would look like to be the sort of teacher who shows up facing the 'difficult' aspects of teaching without being 'discouraged' by them." He goes on to discuss how we would all benefit from a new orientation nowadays, "finding the strength to try to make things better for our fellow travelers." Philosophers of education, he argues, should develop the themes of acknowledgement and affinity, helping people develop these stoic principles. Trent shows that those themes prove foundational for our ability to encounter and engage others. Trent suggests that affinity and acknowledgement are educational ideals-ideals far more meaningful than those we are told to reach through pedagogical alignment or other educational buzzwords. In many ways, I'm an ideal respondent to Trent's paper. Like Trent, I have found the modern stoics like Donald Robertson (2019) and William Irvine (2008) to be compelling guides to living well. But those sympathies place me too close to Trent's side. In this response, therefore, I focus on the subject he mentions briefly before turning to broad stoic themes in philosophy of education: what value is stoicism for teachers?

Platonic Character Education

Journal of Philosophy of Education, 2023

In A Platonic Theory of Moral Education, Mark Jonas and Yoshiaki Nakazawa have argued that Plato ... more In A Platonic Theory of Moral Education, Mark Jonas and Yoshiaki Nakazawa have argued that Plato outlines a theory of virtue education. Alkis Kotsonis has similarly argued that Plato articulated a theory of intellectual character education. I think that Jonas, Nakazawa, and Kotsonis have opened a productive line of enquiry on this matter, and I expand on their work in this paper by identifying connections between Plato’s work and the contemporary discourse on character education, which features four domains of virtues: moral, intellectual, civic, and performance virtues. Plato’s treatment of virtue, I argue, not only can be mapped onto the contemporary treatment of character education but it also further demonstrates that cultivating virtue—the project of character education—was a paramount concern for Plato.

Rousseau on Democratic Education

The Cambridge Handbook of Democratic Education, 2023

In Emile, Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes the education of a fictional student who follows his in... more In Emile, Jean-Jacques Rousseau describes the education of a fictional student who follows his interests and “discovers” facts by problem-solving. Rousseau’s educational philosophy was embraced by child-centered progressives committed to advancing a distinctively democratic conception of education. They believed that Rousseau outlined principles for forming autonomous and independent citizens—precisely the kind of citizens ready to meet the demands of democratic self-government.

In other works, however, Rousseau calls for a system of public schooling that forms patriots. He writes that education “must give souls the national form, and so direct their tastes and opinions that they will be patriotic by inclination, passion, necessity.”

Can this authoritarian approach to education be reconciled with the laissez-faire principles of Emile? Should either of these educational visions be called democratic? This chapter offers answers to those questions and argues that, ultimately, both approaches aim to improve how citizens relate to one another.

Plato, The Poets, and The Philosophical Turn in the Relationship between Teaching, Learning, and Suffering

Studies in Philosophy of Education , 2022

Greek literature prior to Plato featured two conceptions of education. Learning takes place when ... more Greek literature prior to Plato featured two conceptions of education. Learning takes place when people encounter “teacher-guides”—educators, mentors, and advisors. But education also occurs outside of a pedagogical relationship between learner and teacher-guide: people learn through painful experience. In composing his dramatic dialogues, Plato appropriated these two conceptions of education, refashioning and fusing them to present a new philosophical conception of learning: Plato’s Socrates is a teacher-guide who causes his interlocutors to learn through suffering. Socrates, however, is not presented straightforwardly as a pedagogical success story. Socrates’ failures are, paradoxically, part of what makes him an ideal literary model for a philosophical teacher-guide. Plato requires his readers to question why Socrates’ interlocutors fail to be converted to philosophers.

A Story of Educational Philosophy in Antiquity

A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity, 2021

This essay is the prepublication version of my introduction to A History of Western Philosophy of... more This essay is the prepublication version of my introduction to A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity (Bloomsbury, 2021). The contents of the volume are described in the section “Philosophers on Education in Antiquity” below. The final version of this chapter includes images referenced but not provided here. A History of Western Philosophy of Education in Antiquity is part of a five-volume reference series A History of Western Philosophy of Education edited by Megan Laverty and David Hansen.

Socrates, Cadmus and the Case for Unphilosophical Parenting

Philosophy of Education 2019 (Ed. Kurt Stemhagen), 2020

When my eldest son was in third grade, he started reporting that he was regularly eating doughnut... more When my eldest son was in third grade, he started reporting that he was regularly eating doughnuts at school in the morning. i Neither my partner in these parenting decisions nor I hold any particular ill will towards doughnuts. They aren't exactly her sweet of choiceshe comes from a family of chocolate worshippers and the quantity and quality of chocolate in doughnuts, even a chocolate doughnut with a chocolate glaze, just doesn't excite her. I, at least, can recognize their fatty and sweet appeal. But between her indifference and my range of food intolerances (curse you, my weak-stomached ancestors!), we fed our children doughnuts very rarely, making them almost exclusively a birthday treat (since our kids prefer them over birthday cake). But, of course, the main reason that the doughnut purchases were so rare was that we have been habituated in a parenting culture that induces feelings of guilt and shame when feeding children high-calorie, high-fat, high-sugar snacks.

The Optimist as Scholar and Teacher: An Appreciation of Robbie McClintock

Educational Theory, 2018

Introduction to the Festschrift for Robert O. McClintock in Educational Theory

Sparta, Athens, and the Surprising Roots of Common Schooling

Philosophy of Education Yearbook, 2018

Classical Sparta was admired and feared because of its army of citizen-soldiers. A Spartan was tr... more Classical Sparta was admired and feared because of its army of citizen-soldiers. A Spartan was trained from childhood to be a disciplined, patriotic, and courageous member of his political community. Because of Sparta's emphasis on physical training and war, perhaps it should not be surprising that other Greeks – enamored with drama, philosophy, and literature – described the Spartans as unsophisticated, uncultured, unlearned, and uneducated. Yet at the dawn of Western educational philosophy, Sparta was simultaneously praised for having established the first and foremost model of common education in the Greek world. This paper explores the fascinating tension between Sparta's sophisticated system of education and the " unsophisticated " citizens who emerged from it.

The Present, Past, and Future of the Gardening Metaphor in Education

Oxford Review of Education, 2018

Educators and educational theorists frequently employ a gardening metaphor to capture several chi... more Educators and educational theorists frequently employ a gardening metaphor to capture several child-centered principles about teaching and children: i.e., teachers must respect a child's unique interests and abilities, recognize what is developmentally appropriate for students, and resist pursuing a narrow set of outcomes. Historically, however, educational theorists were as likely to use the gardening metaphor to support teacher-centered, 'moulding' ideals as they were to support child-centered ideals. Furthermore, in stark contrast to the contemporary optimism about a child's innate, unique potential, the use of the gardening metaphor in the past sometimes supported prejudicial, deterministic views of children. In many ways, therefore, the contemporary use of the metaphor reflects genuine progress in educators' ideas about children and their potential. Nevertheless, those who employ the gardening metaphor today might learn from some of its past users. Eager to avoid imposing their own goals on children, today child-centered gardeners have resisted articulating normative ideals by which teaching and parenting might be guided. Yet a normative ideal of the educated adult is not inconsistent with child-centered gardening.

Pain and Education

Handbook on the Philosophy of Pain, ed. Jennifer Corns (Routledge), 2017

Parents and teachers inflict pain on the young in many ways. This chapter explores several factor... more

Education of the Third Class in The Republic: Plato and the Locus Classicus of Formative Justice

Does Plato’s trailblazing discussion of common education in The Republic include all children or ... more Does Plato’s trailblazing discussion of common education in The Republic include all children or only those of the elite, guardian class? I offer an alternative interpretation of the eligibility of the third class for the program of education in The Republic. I endorse neither the position that Socrates designs the education for the guardian class alone nor, on the other hand, that Socrates’ call for class transfers logically requires the children of all classes to be educated together. Instead, I suggest that Plato’s conflicting and confusing treatment of the third class’s education in The Republic is a provocation for his readers – that is, Plato may have intentionally drawn readers into an inquiry about participation in common education in a just society.

Dewey's Ancestry, Dewey's Legacy, and The Aims of Education in Democracy and Education

In Democracy and Education, in the midst of the pivotal chapter on " The Democratic Conception in... more In Democracy and Education, in the midst of the pivotal chapter on " The Democratic Conception in Education, " Dewey juxtaposes his educational aims with those of Plato, Rousseau, Fichte and Hegel. Perhaps Dewey believed that an account of their views would help elucidate his own, or he intended to suggest that his own ideas rivaled or bested theirs. I argue that Dewey's discussion of historical philosophers' aims of education was also designed to critique his contemporaries subtly and by analogy. My analysis of Dewey's critique supports a second argument: one of the reasons Dewey's legacy has been long debated (particularly his relationship to pedagogical progressivism) derives from his reluctance to criticize his contemporaries explicitly and directly. Had Dewey critiqued his fellow American progressives in the same way he did historical European philosophers of the past, his readers would have better understood his relationship to progressive American educational ideas and practices. Yet Dewey's subtle approach also accounts for the creation of a work that genuinely warrants being called a classic – it rises above the educational debates of the early twentieth century to enter into a conversation with its educational ancestry, a conversation that Dewey propelled forward.

What is the Purpose of Education? Dewey's challenge to his contemporaries

A discussion of Dewey's Democracy and Education, focused on chapter nine, "Natural Development an... more

The Use and Abuse of the History of Educational Philosophy

Philosophy of Education Yearbook 2016, 2018

Philosophers of education have spent much time reflecting on their discipline. In the midst of th... more Philosophers of education have spent much time reflecting on their discipline. In the midst of these reflections, some have argued that our scholarship will best serve today's teachers, students, schools, and society if it is " relevant. " The focus on relevance, among other things, has compromised our field's engagement with educational philosophy. In particular, the work in our field on the history of educational philosophy (a) too often neglects educational theorists whom we ought to study and (b) adheres to a " history + implications " model that encourages presentism and undermines the value of such historical educational philosophy.

Helping by hurting: the paradox of suffering in social justice education

Theory and Research in Education, vol. 11 no. 3 215-230, Nov 2013

Suffering has a complex role in social justice education. The alleviation or eradication of suffe... more Suffering has a complex role in social justice education. The alleviation or eradication of suffering is a goal of social justice education while, simultaneously, students suffer in the process of learning about the suffering of others. Educational theorists have attempted to resolve this paradox in various ways and the author of this article identifies and discusses four distinct resolutions. First, student suffering is permissible because it is self-inflicted (rather than inflicted by the teacher). Second, the students’ pain, compassion, is desirable and distinct from the pain experienced by victims of injustice. Third, students should experience the same kind of suffering as the victims of injustice in order to inoculate them against racist, discriminatory, and oppressive attitudes. Fourth, the suffering of marginalized and oppressed students is a distinct form of suffering that empowers students by enabling them to recognize their own suffering.

Why did Socrates Deny that he was a Teacher? Locating Socrates among the new educators and the traditional education in Plato’s Apology of Socrates

Educational Philosophy and Theory 46(7), 735-747, Jun 2014

Plato’s Apology of Socrates contains a spirited account of Socrates’ relationship with the city o... more Plato’s Apology of Socrates contains a spirited account of Socrates’ relationship with the city of Athens and its citizens. As Socrates stands on trial for corrupting the youth, surprisingly, he does not defend the substance and the methods of his teaching. Instead, he simply denies that he is a teacher. Many scholars have contended that, in having Socrates deny he is a teacher, Plato is primarily interested in distinguishing him from the sophists. In this paper, I argue that, given the historic educational transformation in Socrates’ and Plato’s lifetimes, Socrates’ denial is far more complex and far reaching than the Socrates-versus-the-sophists distinction indicates. Socrates suggests that Athenians have failed to recognize that there were various types among the new educators of fifth century Athens – orators, sophists, natural philosophers and, perhaps, a philosopher like Socrates. Further, the traditional education, which the Athenians believed was threatened by the new educators, was itself fractured. Ultimately, rather than offering a straightforward distinction between philosophizing and teaching, Socrates and the sophists, Plato treats the question of teaching aporectically in Apology; that is, after pointing to various alternatives for understanding the nature of teaching, Plato concludes the work without offering a clear resolution to that question.

The Happy and Suffering Student? Rousseau’s Emile and the path not taken in progressive educational thought

One of the mantras of progressive education is that genuine learning ought to be exciting and ple... more One of the mantras of progressive education is that genuine learning ought to be exciting and pleasurable, rather than joyless and painful. To a significant extent, Jean-Jacques Rousseau is associated with this mantra. In a theme of Emile that is often neglected in the educational literature, however, Rousseau states “to suffer is the first thing [Emile] ought to learn and the thing he will most need to know.” Through a discussion of Rousseau’s argument of the importance of an education in suffering, I argue that the reception of Rousseau by progressives suggests a detrimental misstep in the history of educational thought, a misstep that we should recognize and correct today. We ought to revive the progressive tradition of distinguishing the valuable educational pains from the harmful ones, even if we disagree with the particular types of pain that Rousseau identifies as educationally valuable.

Four Educators in Plato's Theaetetus

Scholars who have taken interest in Theaetetus’ educational theme argue that Plato contrasts an i... more Scholars who have taken interest in Theaetetus’ educational theme argue that Plato contrasts an inferior, even dangerous, sophistic education to a superior, philosophical, Socratic education. I explore the contrasting exhortations, methods, ideals, and epistemological foundations of Socratic and Protagorean education and suggest that Socrates’ treatment of Protagoras as educator is far less dismissive than others claim. Indeed, Plato, in Theaetetus, offers a qualified defense of both Socrates and Protagoras. Socrates and Protagoras each dwell in the middle ground between the extremes presented in the dialogue’s digression, which contrasts the life of the philosopher and the life of the courtroom orator. Both Socrates and Protagoras demonstrate a serious engagement with both politics and philosophy. Theodorus presents an educational option in which theory is divorced from politics while an ignoble sophistic education is presented as political but divorced from theory. Protagorean education, in Theaetetus, emerges as superior to a base sophistic education, though it remains inferior to Socratic education.

Faith-Based and Common Schools in America: Reflections on the charge that faith-based schools are a threat to social cohesion

In the scholarly literature on the justice of tolerating, supporting and funding faith-based scho... more In the scholarly literature on the justice of tolerating, supporting and funding faith-based schools, faith-based schools face charges that they threaten their students’ well-being and society at large. One of the most persistent of these charges in the history of American schooling is that faith-based schools are a threat to social cohesion. Public schools, in contrast, are often thought to enable social cohesion by providing meaningful opportunities for sustained interaction among diverse social groups. The aims of America’s public schools, however, have narrowed from a focus on citizenship, moral character and intellectual development, among other things, to a goal of satisfactory test scores in basic math and literacy. American common schools, therefore, are no longer well-poised to cultivate social cohesion and, therefore, the objection to faith-based schools based on the perceived threat to social cohesion is no longer rooted in the reality of American schooling.

"Chalepa Ta Kala," "Fine Things are Difficult": Socrates' Insights into the Psychology of Teaching and Learning

The proverb “chalepa ta kala” (“fine things are difficult”) is invoked in three dialogues in the ... more The proverb “chalepa ta kala” (“fine things are difficult”) is invoked in three dialogues in the Platonic corpus: Hippias Major, Cratylus and Republic. In this paper, I argue that the context in which the proverb arises reveals Socrates’ considerable pedagogical dexterity as he uses the proverb to rebuke his interlocutor in one dialogue but to encourage his interlocutors in another. In the third, he gauges his interlocutors’ mention of the proverb to be indicative of their preparedness for a more difficult philosophical trial. What emerges in the study of these three Platonic dialogues is that Socrates believes that how he and others describe learning makes a tangible difference in philosophical investigation.

Four Questions about Future Research on Protreptic and Education: Review of Mason Marshall's Reading Plato's Dialogues to Enhance Learning and Inquiry

Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2022

In recent years, interest in protreptic has grown. Scholarly reckonings with Plato's, Aristotle's... more In recent years, interest in protreptic has grown. Scholarly reckonings with Plato's, Aristotle's, Isocrates' and others' approaches to the genre are published with regularity (e.g. Hutchinson and Johnson 2005; Collins 2015). To protrepticize could roughly be translated as to convert, to exhort, or to turn someone towards something. In the case of philosophy, protreptic would be that which converts someone to a philosophical way of life. Because protreptic was a means to change others' beliefs and behaviors it is, at its core, educational. That is, to protrepticize is, fundamentally, to educate; if a student does not immediately embrace a philosophical way of life, protreptic might serve, at least, as a propaedeutic to a philosophical education.

Review: The Legacy of Isocrates and a Platonic Alternative: History, Political Philosophy and the Value of Education (James R. Muir)

Philosophical Inquiry in Education, 2019

Is the Political Leader Teachable?

Law and Liberty, 2019

A review of Ariel Helfer's "Socrates and Alcibiades: Plato’s Drama of Political Ambition and Phil... more

Introduction to Review Symposium of David Corey's "The Sophists in Plato's Dialogues"

Damon, Prodicus, and Socratic Matchmaking

Plato the Teacher: The Crisis of the Republic by William H.F. Altman

Journal of Philosophy of Education, Vol. 48, No. 3, 2014

Andrea R. English, Discontinuity in Learning: Dewey, Herbart, and Education as Transformation

Studies in Philosophy and Education, 2014

Has Therapy Intruded Into Education? A review article

For over fifty years, scholars have argued that a therapeutic ethos has begun to change how peopl... more For over fifty years, scholars have argued that a therapeutic ethos has begun to change how people think about themselves and others. There is also a growing concern that the therapeutic ethos has influenced educational theory and practice, perhaps to their detriment. This review article discusses three books, The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education (by Kathryn Ecclestone and Dennis Hayes), Aristotle, Emotions, and Education (by Kristján Kristjánsson), and The Therapy of Education (by Paul Smeyers, Richard Smith and Paul Standish), that point to the problematic assumptions and outcomes of therapeutic educational practices. The authors of the three books, however, disagree about whether a focus on emotions or therapy in education is necessarily an unwelcome intrusion into education.

Understanding Evil and Educating Heroes: A review article

Why do people do horrific things to one another? This article reviews two recent books that attem... more Why do people do horrific things to one another? This article reviews two recent books that attempt to answer that question, Philip Zimbardo's The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil and Barbara Coloroso's Extraordinary Evil: A Brief History of Genocide. The author discusses the educational implications of these works and raises preliminary considerations for an education for heroism.

Dewey on Educational Aims

Encyclopedia of educational theory and philosophy (ed. D.C. Phillips), 2014

Writing and Pedagogy in Plato’s Phaedrus

A response to Patrick McCarthy Nielsen's paper, "Education as Pharmakon: Plato's and Derrida's Di... more

The State of Education in Oklahoma Roundtable

Roundtable organized by University of Tulsa's student group Common Sense Action. Other participan... more

Should Child Centered Education Be Painful? Revisiting John Dewey and his legacy

Incivility in Teaching: the case of cold-calling

Child-Centered education, Democratic Education and John Dewey’s Legacy

Philosophers, Sophists and the New Education for Democracy in Fifth Century Athens

Conceptions of the Educated Citizen: The Case of Isocrates

Rousseau, Consumerism and Rearing the Twenty-first Century Achilles

Common Beliefs and Common Sense in Educational Policy and Practice

A response to F. Tony Carusi's "Reconsidering Common Sense: Vico and Education "

The Pedagogical Projects of Rousseau and Jean-Jacques in Emile: The Teacher in the Text and the Text as Teacher

The Puzzle of Education in Plato’s Apology of Socrates.

Plato’s Apology of Socrates contains a spirited account of Socrates’ relationship to the city of ... more Plato’s Apology of Socrates contains a spirited account of Socrates’ relationship to the city of Athens and its citizens. In response to the charge that he corrupted the city’s youth, Socrates suggests that his own philosophizing is compatible with the “traditional” education of Athens. Further, Socrates argues, there may be formal teachers who challenge the traditional education, but he is certainly not one of them. In this paper, I argue that Plato complicates the question of whether Socrates necessarily undermines the traditional education of fifth century BCE Athens by identifying tensions among several of its constituent parts. In addition, I contend that Socrates undermines his own denial of teaching by claims he makes elsewhere in his speech. Essentially, I suggest that the Apology ought to be read as a work crafted to invite speculation on how Socrates differed from the sophists and what was his relation to the traditional education; yet Plato has placed obstacles in the path of possible solutions to the puzzles he presents.

Culture, Character, and Education

What enables students to succeed in school and in life? Many researchers, teachers and administra... more What enables students to succeed in school and in life? Many researchers, teachers and administrators have sought to help students succeed by implementing better teaching methods and offering a broad, rigorous curriculum. But what is the relationship between knowledge in history or mathematics, for example, and future success in academics, in the workplace, and in one’s personal life? Perhaps students’ character is as important to their future success as is their academic preparation. Indeed, in this course, we will consider the work of educational theorists, psychologists, scholars of international comparative education, and others who suggest that culture and character powerfully influence student success.

Philosophy of Education (EDUC 2223)

Educating for Social Justice: Theories and Practices