R. S. Peters

The concept of education

A study of the concept of education, this work provides comprehensive coverage of a complex theme which should be of interest to those involved in the fields of philosophy and education alike.

Ritual in education

Ritual in animals generally refers to a rigid pattern of motor acts which function as signals controlling behaviour between animals in specific situations. Ritual in humans generally refers to a relatively rigid pattern of acts specific to a situation which construct a framework of meaning over and beyond the specific situational meanings. Here, the symbolic function of ritual is to relate the individual through ritualistic acts to a social order, to heighten respect for that order, to revivify that order within the individual and, in particular, to deepen acceptance of the procedures used to maintain continuity, order and boundary and which control ambivalence towards the social order. Ritual will be considered as an expression in action as distinct from thought of man’s active attitudes towards these non-empirical aspects of their reality, which are expressive of ultimate values. First, we shall examine these notions as they relate to a school as a social form and, secondly, we shall examine the effect of changes in the function of the school on ritualizing processes.

Education and human development

• Applied Learning Sciences (TAL) • Community and social changes (EPS) • Counseling: Marriage and family therapy (EPS) • Counseling: Mental health (EPS) • Early childhood, special education (TAL) • Education and social change (TAL) • Exercise physiology: Clinical and applied exercise physiology (KIN) • Exercise physiology: Nutrition for health and human performance (KIN) • Exercise physiology: Strength and conditioning/Fitness entrepreneurship (KIN) • Higher education: Enrollment management (EPS) • Higher education: Institutional research and policy analysis (EPS) • Higher education: Student life and development (EPS) • Reading (TAL) • Research, measurement and evaluation (EPS) • Special education (TAL) • Sport administration (KIN) • Sports medicine (KIN) • STEM education (TAL)

Reason and Passion

I once gave a series of talks to a group of psychoanalysts who had trained together and was rather struck by the statement made by one of them that, psychologically speaking, ‘reason’ means saying ‘No’ to oneself. Plato, of course, introduced the concept of ‘reason’ in a similar way in The Republic with the case of the thirsty man who is checked in the satisfaction of his thirst by reflection on the outcome of drinking. But Plato was also so impressed by man’s ability to construct mathematical systems by reasoning that he called it the divine element of the soul. And what has this ability to do with that of saying ‘No’ to oneself? And what have either of these abilities to do with the disposition to be impartial which is intimately connected with our notion of a reasonable man, or with what David Hume called a ‘wonderful and unintelligible instinct’ in our souls by means of which men are able to make inferences from past to future ?

Motives and Motivation

To probe peoples motives is almost an occupational malaise amongst psychologists. And it is not one that can be nursed in private. It intrudes constantly into discussion of acquaintances, into moral assessments of peoples actions and their responsibility for them, and into pronouncements on the proper operation of law. On this account psychologists are treated with suspicion, often with derision and resentment, by their academic colleagues. Of course, like Jehovahs witnesses, they come to expect, even to relish, the reception they receive. For has it not been written that we all have a strong resistance to such revelations, our real motives being often those which we are ashamed to admit? But there may be good grounds for this resistance as well as psychological explanations of it. My hope in this paper is to set out the sorts of grounds that there may be for our resistance to this scrutiny of our motives and to the theories of motivation which lend some kind of scientific respectability to it.

FREUD'S THEORY

IT IS usual for expositions of Freuds theory to take die form of a nmoncal reconstruction. Freud is featured as the Copernicus of psychology and his discoveries arc charted against the background of the psychology of his time as he slowly made explicit his revolutionary insights. In such an account prominence would be given to his discovery of unconscious processes, of repression, and of infantile sexuality, following the example of his own Introductory Lectures. But these assumptions were incorporated by Freud in a considerable texture of theory; it may therefore be of value to set the whole theory out as briefly as possible so that it can be seen as a whole and compared with other theories. This is die purpose of this brief exposition.

The Logic of Education

Introduction. 1 Philosophy. 2 Education. 3 Development. 4 The Curriculum. 5 Teaching. 6 Teaching and Personal Relationships. 7 Educational Institutions. Further Reading. Index of Proper Names. Subject Index.