1st Edition

Education in an Age of Nihilism Education and Moral Standards

    260 Pages
    by Routledge

    260 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book addresses concerns about educational and moral standards in a world increasingly characterised by nihilism. On the one hand there is widespread anxiety that standards are falling; on the other, new machinery of accountability and inspection to show that they are not. The authors in this book state that we cannot avoid nihilism if we are simply laissez-faire about values, neither can we reduce them to standards of performance, nor must we return to traditional values. They state that we need to create a new set of values based on a critical assessment of contemporary practice in the light of a number of philosophical texts that address the question of nihilism, including the work of Nietzsche.

    Part I: Working Without Values 1. Education Without Risk 2. Life Skills, Teaching Skills 3. Choice, Narrative and Work 4. Education and the Last Man Part II: Overcoming Nihilism 5. Nihilism, Nietzsche and Education 6. Our Most Holy Duty: Language and Literacy 7. Apollo and Dionysos 8. Beyond Pain and Pleasure: Affirmative Ethics and Integrity Part III: Raising Standards 9. Solitude, Silence and Listening 10. The Courage of Immorality 11. On Having Educative Relationships With One's Pupils 12. Taking Ignorance Seriously

    Biography

    Nigel Blake works at the Open University and is Chair of the Philosophy of Education Society of Great Britain.,
    Paul Smeyers is Professor of Education at the Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven, Belgium where he teaches philosophy of education.,
    Richard Smith is Reader in Education at the University of Durham and Editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education.,
    Paul Standish is Senior Lecturer in Education at the University of Dundee and is Assistant Editor of the Journal of Philosophy of Education.