Synopses & Reviews
In this book, philosopher Harry Brighouse and Spencer Foundation president Michael McPherson bring together leading philosophers to think about some of the most fundamental questions that higher education faces. Looking beyond the din of arguments over how universities should be financed, how they should be run, and what their contributions to the economy are, the contributors to this volume set their sights on higher issues: ones of moral and political value. The result is an accessible clarification of the crucial concepts and goals we so often skip overand#151;even as they underlie our educational policies and practices.
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The contributors tackle the biggest questions in higher education: What are the proper aims of the university? What role do the liberal arts play in fulfilling those aims? What is the justification for the humanities? How should we conceive of critical reflection, and how should we teach it to our students? How should professors approach their intellectual relationship with students, both in social interaction and through curriculum? What obligations do elite institutions have to correct for their historical role in racial and social inequality? And, perhaps most important of all: How can the university serve as a model of justice? The result is a refreshingly thoughtful approach to higher education and what it can, and should, be doing.and#160;
Review
"In an era when policy analysis is often fixated on empirical 'hard data' and evaluated in terms of cost-benefit payoffs, it is refreshing to read a book that tries to examine policy choices in terms of ideas and values... detailed, open-minded, and nondogmatic...[Brighouse] provides an excellent review of existing choice programs in Britain and the US and evaluates specific alternative proposals...[his] book is immensely useful in clarifying the value bases of public policy in education and will force readers to examine and ultimately refine their own assumptions about school choice."--Choice
Review
andldquo;This is an ambitious volume, providing valuable philosophical tools to tackle three critical policy questions within higher education: What should the content of curricula and pedagogies be? Who should have access to college education? And what should be the relationship between higher education and broader society?andrdquo;and#160;
Review
andldquo;This collection of essays is valuable in reminding all of us that higher education both raises profound moral and philosophical issues and, at its best, encourages faculty and students to be more conscious of the importance of such issues, better prepared intellectually and personally to confront them, and, yes, wiser. These essays are also a useful antidote to the arrogance too often represented by strident assertions that andlsquo;I am right and you are wrong.andrsquo;and#160;Issues of consequence rarely lend themselves to one-sentence answers.andrdquo;
Review
andldquo;With all the understandable attention being paid to the economics of higher education, it is wonderful to focus also on the many moral issues in play. Brighouse and McPhersonandmdash;and their superb team of contributorsandmdash;challenge us all to step back and consider ethical dimensions underlying how and what we teach, the distribution of educational resources by the government and by colleges, and so much more. What a provocative and engaging volume.andrdquo;
Synopsis
Harry Brighouse provides a new theory of justice for education, arguing that justice requires that all children have a real opportunity to become autonomous persons, and that the state use a criterion of educational equality for deploying educational resources. Through systematic presentation of empirical evidence, Brighouse argues that existing schemes do not fare well against the criterion of social justice, yet this need not impugn school choice. He offers a school choice proposal that could implement social justice and explains why other essential educational reforms can be compatible with choice.
About the Author
Harry Brighouse is professor of philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is the author of several books, including
School Choice and Social Justice and
On Education, and is, most recently, coauthor of
Family Values: The Ethics of Parent-Child Relationships.
Michael McPherson
Table of Contents
Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson
One/ Introduction: Problems of Morality and Justice in Higher Education
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Amy Gutmann
Two/ What Makes a University Education Worthwhile?
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Christopher Bertram
Three/ Defending the Humanities in a Liberal Society
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Paul Weithman
Four/ Academic Friendship
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Kyla Ebels-Duggan
Five/ Autonomy as Intellectual Virtue
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Allen Buchanan
Six/ Education and Social Moral Epistemology
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Lionel K. McPherson
Seven/ Righting Historical Injustice in Higher Education
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Erin I. Kelly
Eight/ Modeling Justice in Higher Education
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Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson
Nine/ Conclusion: Future Research on Values in Higher Education
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Acknowledgments
Contributors
Index