Skepticism about autonomy and responsibility as educational aims—What next?

In this chapter, ‘Skepticism about Autonomy and Responsibility as Educational Aims – What Next?’, we raise an important challenge for some widely held views in the philosophy of education. In particular, we consider whether it is reasonable to include educating for autonomy and responsibility among educational goals, as is widely assumed in modern liberal democracies. Our answer is negative. Starting from some principles that relate motivation to perform intentional actions with the ability to perform them, we argue that agents often cannot do otherwise than they do, owing to factors beyond their control. If this contention is true, and if (as we also defend) ability to do otherwise is necessary for responsibility and autonomy, then it is not advisable for education to aim at promoting these qualities, as there are good reasons to believe that they are unattainable. We finally explore the consequences of our skeptical stance for other pivotal educational aims, such as participation in personal relationships and citizenship.

ISBN:978-1-137-41494-6

Jaar van publicatie:2015