The Philosophy of Education

George Herbert Mead

Paradigm Publishers, 2008 - Education - 196 pages

Never before published, this book features George Herbert Mead's illuminating lectures on the Philosophy of Education at the University of Chicago during the early 20th century. These lectures provide unique insight into Mead's educational thought and reveal how his early psychological writings on the social character of meaning and the social origin of reflective consciousness was central in the development of what Mead referred to as his social conception of education. The introduction to the book provides an overview of Mead's educational thought and places it against the wider social, intellectual, and historical background of modern educational concepts.

Contents

• of a Social Conception of Education Gert Biesta and Daniel Tröhler: 1
• Editing Principles: 17
• SoCalled Education in Lower Animals: 24

About the author

George Herbert Mead, an American social psychologist, taught at the University of Chicago for his entire career. The task he set for himself was to explain how humans learn to think in abstractions, become self-conscious, and behave purposefully and morally. He contended that these attributes rest on language and are acquired and maintained through group life. Social psychology, for Mead, was the study of regularities in individual behavior that result from participation in groups. Mead was very much influenced by pragmatist philosophers, especially John Dewey and Charles H. Cooley. He was something of a cult figure during and after his lifetime; he published no books, and his posthumous books were reconstructed from his notes and from the notes of students. He was a man far ahead of his time, and many of the concepts he developed at the turn of the century are widely accepted today: the selective nature of perception, cognition through linguistic symbols, role playing, decision processes, reference groups, and socialization through participation in group activities. Gert J.J. Biesta is Professor of Professor of Educational Theory and Policy at the University of Luxembourg, and Editor of Studies in Philosophy and Education. He is the author of Beyond Learning and co-editor of The Philosophy of Education. Daniel Troehler is Professor at the Zurich University of Teacher Education and Director of the Pestalozzianum Research Institute for the History of Education.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Philosophy of Education
• Author: George Herbert Mead
• Editors: Gert Biesta, Daniel Tröhler
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Paradigm Publishers, 2008
• Original from: the University of Michigan
• Digitized: Aug 6, 2010
• ISBN: 1594515301, 9781594515309
• Length: 196 pages
• Subjects: Education / General; Education / Philosophy, Theory & Social Aspects