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Who should make decisions about children's education?In Randall R. Curren (ed.), Handbook of philosophy of education, Routledge. 2023.
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Values and evidence in educational decision-makingIn Randall R. Curren (ed.), Handbook of philosophy of education, Routledge. 2023.
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27Strong Gender EgalitarianismPolitics and Society 36 (3): 360-372. 2008.Perhaps the most intractable aspect of gender inequality concerns inequalities within the family around the domestic division of labor, especially over child care and other forms of caregiving. These enduring gender inequalities constitute a significant obstacle to achieving “strong gender egalitarianism”—a structure of social relations in which the division of labor around housework and caregiving within the family and occupational distributions within the public sphere are unaffected by gender…Read more
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24Educational Goods Reconsidered: A ResponseJournal of Philosophy of Education 54 (5): 1382-1394. 2020.We gratefully reply to our five commentators, responding to their criticisms and comments under the following headings: parochialism and curriculum; rationality and truth; production and distribution; perfectionism, decision-making and disagreement; adultism and parents' interests; non-consequential educational goods; and self-education.
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26Educational Goods: Values, Evidence, and Decision‐Making—A SummaryJournal of Philosophy of Education 54 (5): 1346-1348. 2020.Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.
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11Debating Education: Is There a Role for Markets?Oup Usa. 2019.Debating Education puts two leading scholars in conversation with each other on the subject of education-specifically, what role, if any, markets should play in policy reform. The authors focus on the nature, function, and legitimate scope of voluntary exchange as a form of social relation, and how education raises concerns that are not at issue when it comes to trading relationships between consenting adults.
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29The Aims of Higher Education: Problems of Morality and Justice (edited book)University of Chicago Press. 2015.This book features a group of top-notch philosophers tackling some of the biggest questions in higher education: What role should the liberal arts have in a college education? Should colleges orient themselves to the educational demands of the business sector? What is the role of highly selective colleges in the public sphere? To what extent should they be subsidized directly, or indirectly, by the public? Should they simply teach students skills and academic knowledge, or should they play a rol…Read more
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17Book ReviewsHans. Oberdiek, Between Forbearance and Acceptance.Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. Pp. ix+182. $24.95 (review)Ethics 113 (3): 716-718. 2003.
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25This paper considers four institutional models for funding higher education in the light of principles of fairness and meritocracy, with particular reference to the debate in the UK over ‘top-up fees’. It concludes that, under certain plausible but unproven assumptions, the model the UK government has adopted is fairer and more meritocratic than alternatives, including, surprisingly, the Graduate Tax.
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18Civic education and liberal legitimacyIn Stephen Everson (ed.), Ethics: Companions to Ancient Thought, Vol. 4, Cambridge University Press. pp. 108--4. 1998.
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8Education: Not a Real Utopian DesignPolitics and Society 42 (1): 51-72. 2014.This paper identifies four criteria, all of which an ideal real utopian proposal would meet. We argue for a moderate skepticism that it is possible to give a real utopian proposal to guide the design of education for a society that meets these criteria; both for the practical reason that what happens in schools depends on the background environment within which they operate, and for the principled reason that when educating children we should attend to their individual future well-being in ways …Read more
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61Against NationalismCanadian Journal of Philosophy, Supplementary Volume 22 365-405. 1996.A recent resurgence of interest within analytical political philosophy in the status of ethnic and national minorities coincides with the re-emergence of national identity as a primary organizing principle of political conflict, and with an increasing attentiveness to identity and recognition as organizing principles of political struggle. The recent theoretical literature within political philosophy has focused very much on recognizing the importance of national identity, and allowing attention…Read more
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94The Altruism Puzzle: The Obligation to Sacrifice One's LifeJournal of Social Philosophy 44 (2): 115-117. 2013.
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1898Legitimate parental partialityPhilosophy and Public Affairs 37 (1): 43-80. 2008.Some of the barriers to the realisation of equality reflect the value of respecting prerogatives people have to favour themselves. Even G.A. Cohen, whose egalitarianism is especially pervasive and demanding, says that
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41In defence of educational equalityJournal of Philosophy of Education 29 (3). 1995.The principle of educational equality is important for the plausibility of egalitarianism. I argue against John Wilson's recent attempts to show that two particular versions of the principle are incoherent, and I rebut his argument that even if it were coherent it would be wrong to endorse it. Two other objections to this version of the principle are considered and shown not to be decisive. The principle governing the distribution of educational resources that Wilson advocates is also rejected.
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65Choosing Justice: An Experimental Approach to Ethical Theory, Frohlich Norman and Joe A. Oppenheimer. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992, xiv + 258 pages (review)Economics and Philosophy 10 (1): 127. 1994.
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75Can Justice as Fairness Accommodate the Disabled?Social Theory and Practice 27 (4): 537-560. 2001.
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554What rights (if any) do children haveIn David Archard (ed.), The moral and political status of children, Wiley-blackwell. pp. 31--52. 2004.According to the interest theory of rights, the primary function of rights is the protection of fundamental interests. Since children undeniably have fundamental interests that merit protection, it is perfectly sensible to attribute rights, especially welfare rights, to them. The interest theory need not be hostile to the accommodation of rights that protect agency because, at least in the case of adults, there is a strong connection between the protection of agency and the promotion of welfare.…Read more
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37A modest defence of school choiceJournal of Philosophy of Education 36 (4). 2002.This is a response to Samara Foster’s engaging critique of my book School Choice and Social Justice. In this response to her criticisms I clarify and try to correct some apparent misunderstandings of the book, but also take the opportunity to pose again a challenge to opponents of choice which neither she, nor other of my critics, has taken up.
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104School Choice and Social JusticeBritish Journal of Educational Studies 50 (3): 402-403. 2002.Defends a theory of social justice for education from within an egalitarian version of liberalism. The theory involves a strong commitment to educational equality, and to the idea that children's rights include a right to personal autonomy. The book argues that school reform must always be evaluated from the perspective of social justice and applies the theory, in particular, to school choice proposals. It looks at the parental choice schemes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in England and Wales, an…Read more
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47Nonideal Theorizing in EducationEducational Theory 65 (2): 215-231. 2015.In this essay, Harry Brighouse responds to the collection of articles in the current issue of Educational Theory, all concerned with nonideal theorizing in education. First, he argues that some form of ideal theory is indispensable for the nonideal theorizer. Brighouse then proceeds to defend Rawls against some critics of his kind of ideal theorizing by arguing that a central feature that is often misconstrued as unduly idealizing — the full compliance assumption — in fact constrains utopianism.…Read more
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112Educational justice and socio-economic segregation in schoolsJournal of Philosophy of Education 41 (4). 2007.Sociologists exploring educational injustice often focus on socio-economic segregation as a central measure of injustice. The comprehensive ideal, furthermore, has the idea of socio-economic integration built into it. The current paper argues that socio-economic segregation is valuable only insofar as it serves other, more fundamental values. This matters because sometimes policy-makers will find themselves facing trade-offs between increasing integration and promoting the other, more fundamenta…Read more
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36The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism (edited book)Cambridge University Press. 2005.In a period of rapid internationalization of trade and increased labor mobility, is it relevant for nations to think about their moral obligations to others? Do national boundaries have fundamental moral significance, or do we have moral obligations to foreigners that are equal to our obligations to our compatriots? The latter position is known as cosmopolitanism, and this volume brings together a number of distinguished political philosophers and theorists to explore cosmopolitanism: what it co…Read more
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