Creating Citizens: Political Education and Liberal Democracy

by Eamonn Callan

Overview

Any liberal democratic state must honour religious and cultural pluralism in its educational policies. To fail to honour them would betray ideals of freedom and toleration fundamental to liberal democracy. Yet if such ideals are to flourish from one generation to the next, allegiance to the distinctive values of liberal democracy is a necessary educational end, whose pursuit will constrain pluralism. The problem of political education is therefore to ensure the continuity across generations of the constitutive ideals of liberal democracy, while remaining hospitable to a diversity of conduct and belief that sometimes threatens those very ideals. Creating Citizens addresses this crucial problem. In lucid and elegant prose, Professor Callan, one of the world's foremost philosophers of education, identifies both the principal ends of civic education, and the rights that limit their political pursuit. This timely new study sheds light on some of the most divisive educational controversies, such as state sponsorship and regulation of denominational schooling, as well as the role of non-denominational schools in the moral and political development of children. Oxford Political Theory presents the best new work in contemporary political theory. It is intended to be broad in scope, including original contributions to political philosophy, and also work in applied political theory. The series will contain works of outstanding quality with no restriction as to approach or subject matter. The series editors are David Miller and Alan Ryan.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191521980
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	09/19/1997
Series:	Oxford Political Theory
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Lexile:	1480L (what's this?)
File size:	428 KB

About the Author

Professor Eamonn Callan is Professor of Educational Policy Studies aty the University of Alberta, Canada. He was educated at University College, Dublin and at the University of Alberta, where he gained his Ph.D. in the Philosophy of Education in 1982. He is the author of numerous articles and books on the philosophy of education and educational policy.

Table of Contents

1.	Education and the Politics of Virtue	1
1.	Introduction	1
2.	Liberal Politics and Virtue	3
3.	Political Virtue and Pluralism	7
4.	Liberal Democracy and Autonomy	10
2.	Pluralism and Political Liberalism	12
5.	Introduction	12
6.	From Comprehensive to Political Liberalism	13
7.	Varieties of Comprehensive and Political Liberalism	17
8.	Reasonable Pluralism	21
9.	The Political Conception of the Person	24
10.	The Burdens of Judgement and the Limits of Diversity	28
11.	How Burdensome are the Burdens of Judgement?	34
12.	Political Liberalism and the Fate of Religion	36
13.	Back to Comprehensive Liberalism	39
3.	Autonomy, Justice, and the Good	43
14.	Introduction	43
15.	Political Education and Constitutional Consensus	44
16.	Justice Without Autonomy	47
17.	Autonomy and the Exaltation of Choice	52
18.	Choosing and Willing	56
19.	Simple Integrity	60
20.	Integrity and Pluralism	61
21.	Autonomy and the Good: A Modest Convergence	67
4.	Justice, Care, and Community	70
22.	Introduction	70
23.	Towards a Common Voice	71
24.	Care and the Circumstances of Justice	78
25.	Intimacy and Community	81
26.	Retrieving Patriotism	87
27.	Trust, Patriotism, and Pluralism	94
28.	Two Objections	97
5.	Patriotism and Sentimentality	100
29.	Introduction	100
30.	Sentimentality and Unearned Emotion	103
31.	Fictions of Purity and Political Vice	105
32.	Borrowing from Plato	109
33.	The Uncertain Role of Critical Reason	112
34.	Emotional Generosity and Historical Imagination	115
35.	History, Literature, and Political Virtue	121
36.	Whose Tradition?	123
37.	Patriotism and Communitarianism	126
6.	The Great Sphere and Rights	132
38.	Introduction	132
39.	Parents' Rights to Educational Choice	135
40.	Children's Needs and Parental Self-Fulfilment	138
41.	Parents and Sovereignty	145
42.	Children and Sovereignty	147
43.	Sovereignty and the Limits of Autonomy	149
44.	Filial Servility and Parental Despotism	152
45.	From Principle to Policy: Mozert Reconsidered	157
7.	Common Schools, Separate Schools	162
46.	Introduction	162
47.	Education and Schooling	163
48.	The Separatist Argument	167
49.	Minimalist Common Education	169
50.	Consensus and Respect	171
51.	Political Virtue and Common Schooling	174
52.	Reconciling Separate and Common Education	178
53.	Separate Schools and the Right to Educational Choice	182
54.	Separate Schools and Tolerance	189
55.	Who Wants Common Schools?	193
8.	Virtue, Dialogue, and the Common School	196
56.	Introduction	196
57.	Moral Commitment and Character	197
58.	Care against Truth in Dialogue	202
59.	Moral Distress and the Limits of Care	206
60.	Moral Belligerence and Dialogue	209
61.	Confrontation and Conciliation	214
9.	Conclusion	221
	Notes	224
	Bibliography	244
	Index	257

Editorial Reviews

"This is a very good book. It is beautifully written; it contains an original interpretation of certain aspects of liberal political philosophy; and it applies some of these insights to the pressing issue of the kind of education that is appropriate for liberal citizenship...Callan is to be commended for applying a sophisticated liberal political philosophy to the difficult and neglected issues of citizenship education. He demonstrates that philosophy is capable of advancing our thinking in these areas, and generating a principled on these very thorny issues. Even when readers disagree with Callan's conclusions, they will benefit from engaging with his argument and analysis."—The Review of Politics

From the Publisher