David Blacker | University of Delaware (original) (raw)

Papers by David Blacker

Research paper thumbnail of Proceedings of the Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, 1997-1998

ED440004 - Proceedings of the Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, 1997-1998.

Research paper thumbnail of Sources for a philosophical critique of technology in education

Research paper thumbnail of Back to Basics: Fundamental Educational Questions Reexamined. Book Review

American Journal of Education, Jan 1, 1996

Abstract: This examination of fundamental educational questions serves as an excellent introducti... more Abstract: This examination of fundamental educational questions serves as an excellent introduction to the philosophy of education. It includes persuasive arguments for severing the consideration of education from how well it prepares citizens for the marketplace and ...

Research paper thumbnail of A Humean Model of Democratic Reasonableness

Philosophy of Education Archive, Jan 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Dying To Teach: The Educator

ED444956 - Dying To Teach: The Educator.

Research paper thumbnail of The Importance of Being Foolish

Research paper thumbnail of State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2007. 249 pp. ISBN 978–0791–46966–8,£ 14.00 or $27.95 (pbk)

Theory and Research in Education

Research paper thumbnail of Three Visions of Technology in Education and Beyond

Planning and Changing, Jan 1, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling

Educational Foundations, Jan 1, 1996

... Record Details - EJ538552. Title: Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling. Full-Text ... more ... Record Details - EJ538552. Title: Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling. Full-Text Availability Options: ... Click on any of the links below to perform a new search. Title: Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling. Authors: Blacker, David. ...

Research paper thumbnail of AN UNREASONABLE ARGUMENT AGAINST STUDENT FREE SPEECH

Educational Theory, Jan 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Foucault ea responsabilidade intelectual

SILVA, Tomaz Tadeu da (organizador). O sujeito da …, Jan 1, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Proceduralism and the Orthodox Backlash against Students' Rights

American Journal of Education, Jan 1, 2000

Liberal proceduralism and religious orthodoxy have long battled across a range of controversies i... more Liberal proceduralism and religious orthodoxy have long battled across a range of controversies in US education policy. An important setting for these controversies has been the promulgation by courts in recent decades of a robust notion of students' rights. A ...

Research paper thumbnail of Education as immortality: Toward the rehabilitation of an ideal

Religious Education, Jan 1, 1998

Long‐neglected as excessively theological or perniciously egoistic, immortality remains an import... more Long‐neglected as excessively theological or perniciously egoistic, immortality remains an important animating ideal for teaching and learning. Some of the earliest thinking in the Western tradition reflects this, most famously Socrates' description of philosophy as ...

Research paper thumbnail of On the Alleged Neutrality of Technology: A Study in Dewey's Experience and Nature

The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Jan 1, 1994

Consider how it makes good common sense to say that a tool is a means to an end, pure and simple:... more Consider how it makes good common sense to say that a tool is a means to an end, pure and simple: I might use my claw hammer to build a playhouse for my children or to bludgeon an unfortunate passerby; to the hammer it makes no difference. Indeed, even unto the ...

Research paper thumbnail of In memoriam: Understanding teaching as public service

The Teachers College Record, Jan 1, 2002

September 11 poignantly illustrates the centrality to our democracy of public servants, including... more September 11 poignantly illustrates the centrality to our democracy of public servants, including teachers. It also dramatizes how" public servant" is an ennobling and descriptively convincing occupational identity that teachers should wholeheartedly embrace. In doing ...

Research paper thumbnail of CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION

Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic …, Jan 1, 2003

... CHAPTER 9. CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION. Author: Blacker, David. ... Related con... more ... CHAPTER 9. CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION. Author: Blacker, David. ... Related content: In this: publication; By this: publisher; By this author: Blacker, David. You are signed in as: Google (Institutional account). Group of crawlers (Institutional account). ...

Research paper thumbnail of Information and communication technology

The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of …, Jan 1, 2003

Written by an international assembly of distinguished philosophers, the Blackwell Philosophy Guid... more Written by an international assembly of distinguished philosophers, the Blackwell Philosophy Guides create a groundbreaking student resource -a complete critical survey of the central themes and issues of philosophy today. Focusing and advancing key arguments throughout, each essay incorporates essential background material serving to clarify the history and logic of the relevant topic. Accordingly, these volumes will be a valuable resource for a broad range of students and readers, including professional philosophers.

Research paper thumbnail of Teaching in troubled times: Democratic education and the problem of “extra people”

The Teacher Educator, Jan 1, 1996

Abstract Across the political spectrum, traditional models of the relationship between school and... more Abstract Across the political spectrum, traditional models of the relationship between school and society assume what the ancients called idiopragein: a state of affairs in which individual talents and aspirations correspond with societal needs. Even those who sought ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Institutional Autonomy of Education

Journal of philosophy of education, Jan 1, 2000

This paper develops a liberal contextualist account of schooling that balances institutional auto... more This paper develops a liberal contextualist account of schooling that balances institutional autonomy with public accountability under conditions of reasonable pluralism. First a conceptual obstacle is discussed: the tendency to conceive educational autonomy according to the false dilemma of instrumentalism versus non-instrumentalism. Then an alternative is advanced—the contextualist picture—that places education's institutional autonomy in its proper light. The conclusion raises and then responds to important objections to the contextualist picture.

Research paper thumbnail of COMPLEX EQUALITY AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION: THE CHALLENGE OF WALTER'S SPHERICAL PLURALISM

Educational Theory, Jan 1, 1999

Pluralism is itself plural. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the educational context, where ... more Pluralism is itself plural. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the educational context, where schooling in a democracy sits astride and attempts to maintain a balance among at least three main forms of pluralism while also juggling more universalistic commitments grounded in a moral ideal of equality. The pluralisms being balanced are related to one another but they are also importantly distinct as well, and how we conceive of them and their connection to equality has quite significant ramifications for how we situate educational institutions normatively and, consequently, for determining what hopes it is appropriate for us to have for them. It is not, I admit, a theoretically pretty picture. As always, those seeking theoretical elegance or any other sort of aesthetic satisfaction had best look elsewhere than to education. And this is probably as it should be. In the same vein as Michael Walzer's caution that "a world that theory could fully grasp and neatly explain would not, I suspect, be a pleasant place," I think we would have more to fear from a pristine system of education whose place in the scheme of things and prospects for reform could be reliably gauged and calculated.' As I will elaborate, complexity can sometimes be a saving grace.

Research paper thumbnail of Proceedings of the Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, 1997-1998

ED440004 - Proceedings of the Midwest Philosophy of Education Society, 1997-1998.

Research paper thumbnail of Sources for a philosophical critique of technology in education

Research paper thumbnail of Back to Basics: Fundamental Educational Questions Reexamined. Book Review

American Journal of Education, Jan 1, 1996

Abstract: This examination of fundamental educational questions serves as an excellent introducti... more Abstract: This examination of fundamental educational questions serves as an excellent introduction to the philosophy of education. It includes persuasive arguments for severing the consideration of education from how well it prepares citizens for the marketplace and ...

Research paper thumbnail of A Humean Model of Democratic Reasonableness

Philosophy of Education Archive, Jan 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Dying To Teach: The Educator

ED444956 - Dying To Teach: The Educator.

Research paper thumbnail of The Importance of Being Foolish

Research paper thumbnail of State University of New York Press, Albany, NY, 2007. 249 pp. ISBN 978–0791–46966–8,£ 14.00 or $27.95 (pbk)

Theory and Research in Education

Research paper thumbnail of Three Visions of Technology in Education and Beyond

Planning and Changing, Jan 1, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling

Educational Foundations, Jan 1, 1996

... Record Details - EJ538552. Title: Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling. Full-Text ... more ... Record Details - EJ538552. Title: Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling. Full-Text Availability Options: ... Click on any of the links below to perform a new search. Title: Political Liberalism, Technology, and Schooling. Authors: Blacker, David. ...

Research paper thumbnail of AN UNREASONABLE ARGUMENT AGAINST STUDENT FREE SPEECH

Educational Theory, Jan 1, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Foucault ea responsabilidade intelectual

SILVA, Tomaz Tadeu da (organizador). O sujeito da …, Jan 1, 1994

Research paper thumbnail of Proceduralism and the Orthodox Backlash against Students' Rights

American Journal of Education, Jan 1, 2000

Liberal proceduralism and religious orthodoxy have long battled across a range of controversies i... more Liberal proceduralism and religious orthodoxy have long battled across a range of controversies in US education policy. An important setting for these controversies has been the promulgation by courts in recent decades of a robust notion of students' rights. A ...

Research paper thumbnail of Education as immortality: Toward the rehabilitation of an ideal

Religious Education, Jan 1, 1998

Long‐neglected as excessively theological or perniciously egoistic, immortality remains an import... more Long‐neglected as excessively theological or perniciously egoistic, immortality remains an important animating ideal for teaching and learning. Some of the earliest thinking in the Western tradition reflects this, most famously Socrates' description of philosophy as ...

Research paper thumbnail of On the Alleged Neutrality of Technology: A Study in Dewey's Experience and Nature

The Journal of Speculative Philosophy, Jan 1, 1994

Consider how it makes good common sense to say that a tool is a means to an end, pure and simple:... more Consider how it makes good common sense to say that a tool is a means to an end, pure and simple: I might use my claw hammer to build a playhouse for my children or to bludgeon an unfortunate passerby; to the hammer it makes no difference. Indeed, even unto the ...

Research paper thumbnail of In memoriam: Understanding teaching as public service

The Teachers College Record, Jan 1, 2002

September 11 poignantly illustrates the centrality to our democracy of public servants, including... more September 11 poignantly illustrates the centrality to our democracy of public servants, including teachers. It also dramatizes how" public servant" is an ennobling and descriptively convincing occupational identity that teachers should wholeheartedly embrace. In doing ...

Research paper thumbnail of CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION

Citizenship and Education in Liberal-Democratic …, Jan 1, 2003

... CHAPTER 9. CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION. Author: Blacker, David. ... Related con... more ... CHAPTER 9. CIVIC FRIENDSHIP AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION. Author: Blacker, David. ... Related content: In this: publication; By this: publisher; By this author: Blacker, David. You are signed in as: Google (Institutional account). Group of crawlers (Institutional account). ...

Research paper thumbnail of Information and communication technology

The Blackwell guide to the philosophy of …, Jan 1, 2003

Written by an international assembly of distinguished philosophers, the Blackwell Philosophy Guid... more Written by an international assembly of distinguished philosophers, the Blackwell Philosophy Guides create a groundbreaking student resource -a complete critical survey of the central themes and issues of philosophy today. Focusing and advancing key arguments throughout, each essay incorporates essential background material serving to clarify the history and logic of the relevant topic. Accordingly, these volumes will be a valuable resource for a broad range of students and readers, including professional philosophers.

Research paper thumbnail of Teaching in troubled times: Democratic education and the problem of “extra people”

The Teacher Educator, Jan 1, 1996

Abstract Across the political spectrum, traditional models of the relationship between school and... more Abstract Across the political spectrum, traditional models of the relationship between school and society assume what the ancients called idiopragein: a state of affairs in which individual talents and aspirations correspond with societal needs. Even those who sought ...

Research paper thumbnail of The Institutional Autonomy of Education

Journal of philosophy of education, Jan 1, 2000

This paper develops a liberal contextualist account of schooling that balances institutional auto... more This paper develops a liberal contextualist account of schooling that balances institutional autonomy with public accountability under conditions of reasonable pluralism. First a conceptual obstacle is discussed: the tendency to conceive educational autonomy according to the false dilemma of instrumentalism versus non-instrumentalism. Then an alternative is advanced—the contextualist picture—that places education's institutional autonomy in its proper light. The conclusion raises and then responds to important objections to the contextualist picture.

Research paper thumbnail of COMPLEX EQUALITY AND DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION: THE CHALLENGE OF WALTER'S SPHERICAL PLURALISM

Educational Theory, Jan 1, 1999

Pluralism is itself plural. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the educational context, where ... more Pluralism is itself plural. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the educational context, where schooling in a democracy sits astride and attempts to maintain a balance among at least three main forms of pluralism while also juggling more universalistic commitments grounded in a moral ideal of equality. The pluralisms being balanced are related to one another but they are also importantly distinct as well, and how we conceive of them and their connection to equality has quite significant ramifications for how we situate educational institutions normatively and, consequently, for determining what hopes it is appropriate for us to have for them. It is not, I admit, a theoretically pretty picture. As always, those seeking theoretical elegance or any other sort of aesthetic satisfaction had best look elsewhere than to education. And this is probably as it should be. In the same vein as Michael Walzer's caution that "a world that theory could fully grasp and neatly explain would not, I suspect, be a pleasant place," I think we would have more to fear from a pristine system of education whose place in the scheme of things and prospects for reform could be reliably gauged and calculated.' As I will elaborate, complexity can sometimes be a saving grace.