This article offers a philosophical critique of Michael Young's notion of 'powerful knowledge', as found largely in his own but also in others' writings since 2009. The first part of the article focuses on the definitional connection that Young makes between 'powerful knowledge' and systematic relationships between concepts. It argues that most of…

We engaged in duoethnographic research to deepen our understanding of Japanese educator Daisaku Ikeda's notion of ningen kyoiku, or "human education," a lifelong process of transformation based on commitments to dialogue, value creation, global citizenship and creative coexistence. In particular, we examine the cultivation of intellect,…

This is a response to two discussions of my article 'The Weakness of "Powerful Knowledge"' featuring in 2018 in the "London Review of Education" 16 (2), the first by Johan Muller and Michael Young and the second by Jim Hordern. It also makes brief comments on pieces on powerful knowledge in the "London Review of…

This article addresses the problem of writing the posthuman in educational research. Confronted by our own failures as educational researchers within posthuman and new materialist approaches, it seeks a more radical opening to Lather and St Pierre's question: 'If we give up "human" as separate from non-human, how do we exist? … Are we…

This manuscript was originally delivered as the 2019 presidential address at the Ohio Valley Philosophy of Education Society annual meeting in September of that year. In this address, the author briefly distinguishes the Deweyan understanding of "impulsion" from that of "expression" as he discusses them in" Art as…

This article shows how Bertrand Russell and Noam Chomsky's approaches to humanistic education are grounded in the concepts of growth, knowledge, language, freedom, and social justice. Despite their epistemological differences, Russell and Chomsky agree on the need for educating the public to abuses of power. Their own practice of education is a…

This Introduction to the Special Issue, "Teaching and Learning: Epistemic, Metaphysical and Ethical Dimensions," ponders the truism that education is of fundamental importance in human life--and its relation to philosophy. No credible natural-historic description of what a human being is could fail to give education a central place. Yet…

This paper represents a philosophical appraisal of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) from the point of view of the philosophy of science. As it is generally the case with other versions of Traditional Medicine, rather than a coherent research program Traditional Chinese Medicine constitutes an array of various techniques and practices coupled…

This paper asks if powerful educational knowledge is possible, by examining the character and constitution of educational knowledge and its means of acquiring 'power'. In disciplines or fields that might be termed 'applied' or 'professionally orientated' the characteristics of powerful knowledge are constituted in ways that often differ from purer…

To make historical consciousness beneficial for history education research we need to disentangle its multidisciplinary backgrounds so that contradictory approaches and outcomes can be avoided. The aim of this article therefore is to clarify the enigma of its different paradigms. We will discuss two interrelated paradigms: one interpreting…

This article addresses the conceptual challenges of articulating the ethical-political limits of 'higher education as we know it', and the practical challenges of exploring alternative formations of higher education that are unimaginable from within the dominant imaginary of the higher education field. This article responds to the contemporary…

In recent decades, philosophy has been identified as a general approach to enhance the maturity of higher education as a field of study by enriching theory and method. In this article, I offer a new set of philosophical recommendations to spur the disciplinary development of higher education, departing from previous work in several meaningful…

We propose a new relational direction in higher education that acknowledges external and internal images as integrated in thinking and learning. We expand educational theory and practice that commonly rely on discrete conceptual developments that exclude images. Our argument epistemologically relies on certain semiotic views that consider the role…

This paper harnesses the teachings of Paulo Freire in order to give a voice to Irish adult educators. The ontological aspects of Freire's theory are central to this task. Freire's ontological understanding of the human experience finds its fulfilment in his theory of conscientization. The two pillars of conscientization are personal and collective…

In primary and secondary schools, the disciplines encompassed in "STEM"--Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics--have usually been studied as separate subjects, with little effort directed towards non-anecdotal integration. "Integrated STEM education" is one of the most recent interdisciplinary proposals and, under…