First published in 1981, Essays on Educators is a collection of essays on a variety of themes relating to Great Educators. The book is not only an exposition of the thought of these educators but a collection of critical essays in which their writings are used selectively to raise problems of permanent educational interest and importance. The first part explores the education of the individual in society and the development of reason. The second looks at progressivism and tradition in education and includes a critique of Herbert Spencer’s Essays on Education, which are little known. The third part of the book is concerned with tackling educational problems from an interdisciplinary standpoint.

First published in 1991, In Praise of Cognitive Emotions comprises fourteen of Scheffler's most recent essays – all of which challenge contemporary notions of education and rationality. While defending the ideal of rationality, he insists that rationality not be identified with a mental faculty or a mechanism of inference but taken rather as the capactity to grasp principles and purposes and to evaluate them in the light of relevant reasons. Examining a broad range of issues – from computers in school to math education, from metaphor to morality – these essays are unified by Scheffler's conviction of the primacy of critical thought in education. Scheffler is especially concerned to promote a broad interpretation of rationality to counteract the narrowing of vision accompanying the technological revolution now sweeping education. Addressing three specific areas of curriculum, the work offers a critique of computer applications to education, develops a notion of strategic rationality in understanding mathematical reasoning, and, contrary to prevalent notions of moral education, connects reason with care, thus emphasizing the intimate connection between emotion and reason and challenging the dominant perception of the two as oppositional.

The concept of potential plays a prominent role in the thinking of parents, educators and planners the world over. Although this concept accurately reflects central features of human nature, its current use perpetuates traditional myths of fixity, harmony and value, calculated to cause untold mischief in social and educational practice. First published in 1985, Israel Scheffler's book aims to demythologise the concept of potential. He shows its roots in genuine aspects of human nature, but at the same time frees it from outworn philosophical myths by means of analytical reconstruction - thereby improving both its theoretical and its practical applicability. The book concludes with an interpretation of policy-making in education, and reflections on the ideal education of a policy-maker. It emphasises human symbolism, choice, temporal continuity, and self-determination as indispensible elements of any adequate philosophy of education. Of Human Potential will be of interest to a broad range of philosophers, educators and social scientists.

This title, first published in 1973, brings together a variety of papers by Israel Scheffler, one of America’s leading educational philosophers. The essays each stress the importance of critical thought and independent judgement to the organization of educational activities. In the first section, Scheffler adopts a metaphilosophical approach, emphasizing the role of philosophy in educational thought. A number of key concepts are dealt with next, including the study of education and its relation to theoretical disciplines, philosophical interpretations of teaching, and the education of teachers. The final section is critical, and deals with the writings of several key thinkers in the field. A broad and authoritative study, this reissue will provide any Philosophy student with an essential background to the criticism and theories surrounding the philosophy of education.

Exhibits to the highest degree that commitment to rationality that scheffler is so at pains to argue on bhalf of. No viewpoint is misrepresented: there is meticulous concern to state the issues. -- Philosophical Books

Developments in educational systems are inextricably linked with the social and political evolution of nations. Nowhere is this more clearly to be seen than in the history of the English sixth form. Originally published in 1982, this book, whose authors had been associated with a number of research projects into 16-19 education, traces the tradition of the sixth form from its origins in the public schools of the nineteenth century through to controversies at the time, over sixth form and tertiary colleges and the extension of 16-19 education to embrace youth opportunities programmes and other semi-vocational courses. It shows that ‘the sixth’ has not only been a significant element in its own right in the adjustment of English society to the challenge of democratic ideals, but has also played a key role in the evolution of secondary education from the endowed school of the nineteenth century, through the municipal grammar schools set up after the 1902 Education Act, to the comprehensive secondary schools of today. In fact, the fate and future of comprehensive schooling becomes fully understandable only through a study of the sixth form tradition which has shaped the activities of educationists and policy-makers over the last hundred years. The authors conclude that educational policy-making is both facilitated and constrained by the existence of enduring traditions stemming from the past: in fact, the work of policy-making lies precisely in the constructive reinterpretation of that inheritance. This book describes and clarifies the nature of the tradition of sixth form education which has been handed down to us, and its relation to democratic values and institutions.

First published in 1981, this collection of essays was taken from Peters’ larger work, Psychology and Ethical Development (1974) in order to provide a more focused volume on moral education for students. Peters’ background in both psychology and philosophy makes the work distinctive, which is evident from the first two essays alone: ‘Freud’s theory of Moral Development in Relation to that of Piaget’ and ‘Moral Education and the Psychology of Character’. He also displays balance in his acceptance that reason and feeling are both of great importance where the subject of moral education is concerned. Although written some time ago, the book discusses issues which are still of considerable interest and importance today.