This essay reviews two books on the work of the French social theorist Pierre Bourdieu with a special focus on issues of language, education and literacy. The essay sketches out Bourdieu's main theoretical ideas with respect to language, and raises a number of issues on classroom language and academic discourse. Bourdieu's approach is considered…

Robert L. Scott's article "On Viewing Rhetoric as Epistemic" exemplifies agonistic-transcendent rhetoric in that it sought to revalue "rhetoric." However, as Scott has already noted, his project was ultimately compromised by his not revaluing "epistemic" in conjunction. Scott's article is criticized with respect to…

Reviews two books, the first of which explores how children conceive possible ways to solve problems and differentiate among real, possible, and necessary solutions. The second book explains the construction of knowledge as a dialectical tension of the opening of new possibilities constrained by increasingly stronger necessities from which a…

Suggests that pragmatism is most usefully seen as a perspective that encourages service learning practitioners to avoid epistemology altogether. Discusses three related commitments of service learning; (1) respect for disciplinary diversity; (2) encouragement of innovative experimentalism; and (3) enthusiasm for progressive thought and action.…

Reviews Karmiloff-Smith's "Beyond Modularity," suggesting that her work highlights phenomena that seem counter intuitive when regarded from current developmental frameworks, and advocates that understanding them requires more complex perspectives than can be supported by either extreme nativist or domain-general models of cognitive…

Reviews Jessor, Colby, and Shweder's "Ethnography and Human Development: Context and Meaning in Social Inquiry." Maintains that the book invites reflection on the appropriate epistemology of contemporary social sciences, and significantly advances the integration of ethnography and developmental psychology research. Argues that concerns…

Reviews M.B. DeBevoise's "Conversations on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics," (a book of translated conversations between Jean-Pierre Changeux and Alain Connes), which explores the question of whether a machine could reproduce the activity of the human brain. Explains how mathematics might be able to mediate between mind and matter. (DDR)

John Dewey attempted to connect knowledge and reality through a naturalized epistemology but produced an anthropomorphic ontology in which things are shaped too much by the mind. Many of Dewey's ideas are still relevant, but taken as an intact set of ideas, they are not applicable to the world of today. (SLD)

Five books, representing a small selection of possible readings on necessary changes of the human mind, point to a convergence of interest from different fields of study toward the need for modern society to develop the capacity to respond to the complexity of modern life and the newly acquired ability to destroy life on an unprecedented scale.…

Discusses two authors' views on critical thinking. McPeck denies the possibility of critical thinking, stating it is burdened by informal logic. Paul believes critical thinking includes logical, epistemological, psychological, and social dimensions springing from moral and political concerns. The paper examines the debate over general versus…

Reviews three books that argue that science education should reflect global scientific contributions, use multicultural and feminist perspectives, and be grounded in everyday life experiences with science. Suggests questions of policy and practice in moving from theory to implementation of a more equitable, socially responsible science education.…

Reviews four books that explain modern schooling's irrelevance for many indigenous communities and that represent indigenous knowledge practices with respect: "What Is Indigenous Knowledge? Voices from the Academy"; "Escaping Education: Living as Learning within Grassroots Cultures"; "Intercultural Education and Literacy: An Ethnographic Study of…

This commentary contends that Henry J. Perkinson's arguments in "Teachers without Goals, Students without Purposes" (1993) are, on the whole, a failure. This criticism is based on the following points: (1) terms such as "modernism" and "postmodernism" are used without adequate definitions; (2) the book inadequately…

Summarizes 11 themes of Deloria's "Indian Education in America," including Native versus Western worldview; history of Indian education; Indian versus professional identity; community as key to survival; destructive aspects of American education; necessity of tribal context for education and knowledge; and reconciliation of science and…

This paper reviews the book "Problem-Based Methodology," by Viviane Robinson. Consisting of 12 chapters divided into 4 parts, the book's general argument is that educational research must be grounded in problem-based methodology (PBM) if it is to contribute to the improvement of teaching and administrative practice. The reviewer first…