Reflections on Criticality in Educational Philosophy: Critical Traditions, Freire and Wittgenstein

Preface
Contents
About the Author
Abbreviations
Part I Introduction
1 Perspectival Horizons
	Criticality Scholarship
	Criticality
	Relevant Background
	Rationale
	Terminology
		Critical Thinking
		Criticality
		Criticality Scholarship
		Critical Being
		Critical Education
	Why this Book is Important
	The Book’s Structure
	References
Part II Educational Policy
2 Maintained Schools in England
	Introduction
	The Coherency of Criticality in Educational Policy
	English Educational Policy
	The Early Years Foundation Stage: Creating and Thinking Critically
	Primary Education: Universal Thinking Skills
	Secondary Education: The Rhetoric of Transferability Continues
	Conclusion
	References
3 Critical Thinking Models
	Introduction
	Higher Education in the United Kingdom: Soft Skills
	International Models: A Snapshot
	The European Union: Key Competencies
	UNESCO: Skills and Competencies
	Singapore: 21st Century Competencies
	The United States: Partnership for 21st Century Learning
		Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
	Canada: The Ontario Curriculum and Transferable Skills
	Australia: 21st Century Learning
	New Zealand: Key Competencies
	Conclusion
	References
Part III Democracy and Social Justice
4 Walking My Own Path Towards Democracy and Social Justice
	Introduction
	Critical Traditions
	Critique and Reflection
	Terminology
	Observations
	Critical Thinking and Informal Logic
	Related Ideas that Inform Criticality
	Emancipatory or Transformative Action
	Influences from Critical Pedagogy
	Empowering the Critical Being to Take Up Marx’s Gauntlet
	Becoming Gramscian Organic Intellectuals
	Conclusion
	References
5 Freire’s Dream of a Free and Inclusive Democratic Society
	Introduction
	Naming the World and the Word
	Liberating the Oppressed and the Oppressors
	Reading the World Precedes Reading the Word
	Christ as an Exemplary Teacher and Reformer
	Conclusion
	References
6 Wittgenstein as an Advocate for Social and Political Change
	Introduction
	Philosophy Leaves Everything as It Is
	Reflections in Educational Philosophy
	Lessons from Political Thought
	Looking at §124 of the Philosophical Investigations Through a Marxist Lens
	Conclusion
	References
Part IV Thinking
7 What Is Criticality?
	Introduction
	The Mutability of Criticality
	What Do We Mean by Criticality?
	The Critical Being and Transformative Action
	Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy
	Epistemic Responsibility
	Conclusion
	References
8 Conceptions of Criticality
	Introduction
	Concept and Conceptions of Criticality
	The Pathology of Criticality: Provisionality and Iterability
	The Influence of the Critical Thinking and Informal Logic Movements
	Robert Ennis
	John McPeck
	Richard Paul
	Harvey Siegel
	Other Conceptions of Criticality
	Conclusion
	References
9 What is a Critical Education?
	Introduction
	How Should We Teach Criticality?
	Field Dependency and the Problem of Transfer
	General Observations
	Taking Stock of the Views of Exponents from Critical Thinking and Informal Logic
	Pedagogical Strategies
	Conclusion
	References
10 Who Is the Critical Being?
	Introduction
	A Critical Attitude
	Critical Thinking Skills, Dispositions and Virtues
	Who Is and Who Is Not a Critical Being?
	Conclusion
	References
11 Freire, Wittgenstein and Criticality
	Introduction
	Looking at Freire and Wittgenstein’s Lived Experiences Through Pedagogic Windows
	Freire: The Humanist, Radical Educator
	Wittgenstein: The Austrian Schoolteacher and Cambridge Professor
	Points of Commonality and Difference
	Conclusion
	References
12 Freire, Wittgenstein and the Critical Being
	Introduction
	Developing Criticality in the Critical Being
	Freire’s Notion of Conscientização
	Wittgenstein’s Insistence on Thinking for One’s Self
	Broadening Our Epistemological and Ontological Horizons
	Conclusion
	References
Part V Knowing
13 Ways of Knowing
	Introduction
	Forms of Knowledge and Multiple Ways of Knowing
	The Stronghold of Reason and the Scientific Paradigm in Education
	Objections to Rationalistic Conceptions of Human Thought and the Scientific Paradigm
	Alternative Accounts of Rationality
	Conclusion
	References
14 Freire, Wittgenstein and Aesthetics, Ethics and Religious Belief
	Introduction
	New Vistas
	Freirean Aesthetic Curiosity
	Wittgenstein’s Mystical
	Conclusion
	References
Part VI Reflections
15 Findings, Recommendations and Next Steps
	My Narrative
	Criticality: Observations, Key Findings and Recommendations
		The Educational Term ‘Criticality’ Is a Wittgensteinian Family Resemblance Concept
		Criticality Is a Fluid and Evolving Concept and Its Paradigm Markers Are Not Fixed
		Criticality Can Connect Education with Democracy and Social Justice. Further, Problems Can be Approached from a Pedagogical Perspective
		A Critical Education Involves Balancing the Demands of the Market Economy with the Equally Important Pedagogical Aims of Advancing Students’ Autonomy and Intellectual, Moral and Social Development
		A Critical Education Broadens Our Epistemological and Ontological Outlooks by Admitting Different Ways of Knowing. Indeed All Our Forms of Knowledge and Canons of Rigour and Validity are Legitimate
		Teachers Should Be Encouraged to Adopt A Mixed Methods Approach to Teaching Criticality
	Criticality Scholarship: Opportunities for Further Empirical and Theoretical Research
	Underscoring An Ecology of Knowledges
	The Role of Imagination in Critical Action
	Significant Others
	Indigenous Voices and Ancestral Wisdom
	Wittgenstein and Social Justice
	Critical Interdisciplinarity
	Implications for Scholars
	Conclusion
	Referensces
16 Remarks in Closing
	Keeping a Holy Curiosity Alive
	Final Reflections
	References
Index