1st Edition
Education, Liberal Democracy and Populism Arguments from Plato, Locke, Rousseau and Mill
Education, Liberal Democracy and Populism: Arguments from Plato, Locke, Rousseau and Mill provides a lucid and critical guide shedding light on the continuing relevance of earlier thinkers to the debates between populists and liberals about the nature of education in democratic societies.
The book discusses the relationship Rousseau and Plato posited between education and society, and contrasts their work with the development of liberal thinking about education from John Locke, and John Stuart Mill’s arguments for the importance of education to representative democracy. It explores some of the roots of populism and offer a broader perspective from which to assess the questions which populists pose and the answers which liberals offer. The book makes a substantial contribution to the current debate about democracy, by emphasising the central importance of education to political thought and practice, and suggests that only an education system based on liberal democratic principles can offer the possibility of a genuinely free society.
This book is ideal reading for researchers and post-graduate students in education, politics, philosophy and history. It will also be of great interest to Educational practitioners and policy makers.
Dedication
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One: Populism, Education and Challenges to Liberal Order
Chapter Two: Plato: Two Philosophies of Education?
Chapter Three: John Locke: A Liberal Philosophy of Education
Chapter Four: Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Education, Emile and Remaking Society
Chapter Five: John Stuart Mill: Education and Liberty
Chapter Six: Education in Democratic Societies
Bibliography
Index
Biography
David Sullivan, prior to his retirement, was Head of the School of Lifelong Learning and Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophy and Religion at Bangor University, Wales, United Kingdom. He has written widely on political philosophy, philosophy of education and international politics and the second edition of his Francis Fukuyama and the End of History (jointly authored with Howard Williams and Gwynn Mathews) was published in 2016.