Objectivity and rationality in epistemology and education: Scheffler's middle road

Neiman, Alven M.; Siegel, Harvey

doi:10.1007/bf01064572

Cited by 17 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…here, since situatedness does not preclude (on my understanding of it) objectivity. For what I hope is a more nuanced and defensible understanding of the concepts of rationality and objectivity, and their interrelationship, see Neiman and Siegel (1993).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Should Educators Care about Argumentation?

Siegel¹

1995

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Educators who are reflective about their educational endeavours ask themselves questions like: What is the aim of education? What moral, methodological, or other constraints govern our educational activities and efforts? One natural place to look for answers is in the philosophy of education, which (among other things) tries to provide systematic answers to these questions. One general answer offered by the philosophy of education is that the aim of education consists in fostering the development of students' rationality. On this view, education has as its fundamental task both the development of students' reasoning ability, and also the fostering of a complex of attitudes, habits of mind, dispositions and character traits, such that students are not only able to reason well; they also care about reasons, and organize their beliefs, judgments and actions in accordance with the deliverances of the reasoned evaluation of reasons. Argumentation theory is also concerned with the analysis of the power and convicting force of reasons. When do reasons for a claim warrant acceptance of that claim? By what criteria are reasons evaluated? How are these criteria themselves justified? Such questions as these are the meat and potatoes of argumentation theory, which, in pursuing these questions, promises to shed light on the character of rationality as the aim of education. Rationality, which links education and argumentation theory, provides educators with a reason to care about argumentation-if rationality can be cogently defended as an educational ideal. In this paper I will try to provide such a defense, and in doing so explain why educators should care about argumentation. The defense will be a moral one: I will argue that we are morally obliged to endeavour to foster the rationality of students, because that is what is required to meet our obligations to treat students with respect as persons. I will also consider some general criticisms of the Enlightenment ideal of rationality, offered by Feminist, Multiculturalist, and Postmodemist scholars. If these criticisms are cogent, then both argumentation theory and the view that the aim of education is the fostering of rationality are threatened. I will argue that the criticisms, while important and instructive, are not so destructive of the ideal of rationality as some contemporary scholars suppose.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Why Should Educators Care about Argumentation?

Siegel¹

1995

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“…In terms of this article's argument, it is crucial to understand that the concept of objectivity can be separated from the concepts of certainty or changelessness (cf. Elgin, 1993;Holma, 2010;Neiman and Siegel, 1993;Scheffler, 1982). Comparing the notion of objectivity with the notions of certainty and truth is illuminating for the interpretation of objectivity defended in this article.…”

Section: The Interconnections Of Democracy and Objectivitymentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We will argue that pragmatist interpretations of the concepts of objectivity and democracy can provide a middle road between the methodological extremities of experimentalist and participatory approaches (cf. Neiman and Siegel, 1993).…”

Section: The Interconnections Of Democracy and Objectivitymentioning

confidence: 95%

Democratic Knowledge Production as a Contribution to Objectivity in the Evaluation of Development NGOs

Holma

Kontinen

2012

Forum for Development Studies

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Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) occupy an increasingly significant role in international development aid. In tandem with their increasing significance, demands for showing effects and impacts by means of rigorous, most recently experimentalist, evaluation practices have been made; especially by international donors who channel a remarkable portion of their development aid budget through NGOs. The current mainstream evaluation used by NGOs is based on logical framework approaches, which subscribe to measurability and objectivity in evaluation. There has been substantial criticism of such approaches for not being adequate in the context of complex and uncertain development situations. Furthermore, these methods tend to work against NGOs' own value commitments. In this article, we argue for a methodological middle road in terms of the contemporary epistemological and ethical debate. We base our argument on pragmatist philosophy, which considers democratic knowledge production as a contribution to objectivity. We propose a pragmatist approach for the phenomena of evaluations in NGOs, while acknowledging and treating the challenge of power relations in such an evaluation.

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“…(See references in note 5 above.) Indeed, on Hare's considered view, openmindedness and at-least-minimal-competence-with-respect-to-reason-assessment are necessary conditions of each other, and are "importantly intertwined" (as I have described the inter-relationship between rationality and objectivity inSiegel 1999 and (with Alven Neiman) somewhat more expansively inNeiman and Siegel 1993). I have no serious objection to this way of looking at the relation between open-mindedness and critical thinking.…”

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confidence: 97%

Open-mindedness, Critical Thinking, and Indoctrination: Homage to William Hare

Siegel

2020

paideusis

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William Hare has made fundamental contributions to philosophy of education. Among the most important of these contributions is his hugely important work on open-mindedness. In this paper I explore the several relationships that exist between Hare’s favored educational ideal (open-mindedness) and my own (critical thinking). I argue that while both are of central importance, it is the latter that is the more fundamental of the two.

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Objectivity and rationality in epistemology and education: Scheffler's middle road

Cited by 17 publications

References 9 publications

Why Should Educators Care about Argumentation?

Why Should Educators Care about Argumentation?

Democratic Knowledge Production as a Contribution to Objectivity in the Evaluation of Development NGOs

Open-mindedness, Critical Thinking, and Indoctrination: Homage to William Hare

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