Education, Autonomy and Critical Thinking

The concepts of autonomy and of critical thinking are of key importance in many contemporary accounts of the aims of education. Education, Autonomy and Critical Thinking analyzes their relationship to each other and to education, explores their roles in mortality and politics, and examines the part critical thinking has to play in fulfilling the educational aim of preparing young people for autonomy. Assessing the significance of the concern with critical rationality as a key intellectual component for a worthwhile life involving autonomy, this book also examines important views about what critical thinking is and how it can be cultivated. Drawing from discussions on epistemology and the philosophy of language which concern the nature of rationality, Christopher Winch produces a powerful critique of concepts central to contemporary philosophy of education - autonomy and critical thinking.

1. Introduction: Autonomy and Education 2. Authority and Autonomy 3. Critical Rationality 4. The Development of Critical Rationality in a Practical Context 5. Critical Thinking and Context Independence 6. Autonomy and the Self 7. Autonomy and Conceptions of the Good 8. Autonomy and the Polity 9. Autonomy and Schooling 10. Autonomy, the Difference Principle and Educational Resources 11. Autonomy and Civic Education 12. Education and the Balanced Life 13. Policy Implications of the Argument of the Book.

Christopher Winch is Senior Lecturer in Educational Policy and Management at King’s College, London and was previously a primary school teacher.