Mika Carl - The dilemma of western philosophy

This edited collection takes a multifaceted approach to the various limitations and achievements of Western philosophy. Considered on its own, Western philosophy is a highly contentious name. The contributors question its validity as a label and take to task its grand appearance within education. However, part of the problem with Western philosophy is that it has less conventional as well as dominant manifestations. The writers consider both forms of Western philosophy, devoting significant thought and time to it in its own right, but always referring it to the more specific issue of education. This book adds to a growing corpus that sketches the relationship between education and philosophy, showing that they are both deeply intertwined, and it is indeed philosophy (and especially its Western variation) that supports Western education and allows it to flourish in the first instance. It is fitting, then, that at various points this book depicts education as a hegemonic vehicle of a deeper phenomenon that of dominant Western philosophy.

This book was originally published as a special issue of Educational Philosophy and Theory.

Michael A. Peters is Professor of Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is the Executive Editor of the journal Educational Philosophy and Theory. His interests are in education, philosophy and social policy, and he is the author of numerous books, including The Global Financial Crisis and the Restructuring of Education (with Besley, 2015), Paulo Freire: The Global Legacy (with Tina Besley, 2015) and Education Philosophy and Politics: Selected Works (2011).

Carl Mika is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education at University of Waikato, New Zealand. He is of Maori descent. He has a background in law practice, indigenous studies and aspects of Western philosophy. His current areas of research focus on indigenous colonial and counter-colonial theory, as well as philosophical research methods.

Edited by

Peter Roberts, University of Canterbury, New Zealand

This series is devoted to cutting-edge scholarship in educational philosophy and theory. Each book in the series focuses on a key theme or thinker and includes essays from a range of contributors. To be published in the series, a book will normally have first appeared as a special issue of Educational Philosophy and Theory, one of the premier philosophy of education journals in the world. This provides an assurance for readers of the quality of the work and enhances the visibility of the book in the international philosophy of education community. Books in this series combine creativity with rigour and insight. The series is intended to demonstrate the value of diverse theoretical perspectives in educational discourse, and contributors are invited to draw on literature, art and film as well as traditional philosophical sources in their work. Questions of educational policy and practice will also be addressed. The books published in this series will provide key reference points for subsequent theoretical work by other scholars and will play a significant role in advancing philosophy of education as a field of study.

Titles in the series include the following:

Edited by

Michael A. Peters and Carl Mika

First published 2018

by Routledge

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2018 Philosophy of Education Society of Australasia

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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 13: 978-1-138-08061-4

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The publisher accepts responsibility for any inconsistencies that may have arisen during the conversion of this book from journal articles to book chapters, namely the possible inclusion of journal terminology.

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Introduction: Blind, or Keenly Self-regarding?
The dilemma of Western philosophy
Carl Mika and Michael Peters

Michael A. Peters

Carl Mika

George Yancy

4How Can We Overcome the Dichotomy that Western Culture has
Created Between the Concepts of Independence and Dependence?
Zehavit Gross

Penny Enslin and Kai Horsthemke

6How the West Was One: The Western as individualist, the
African as communitarian
Thaddeus Metz

Sharon Rider

Peter Roberts

A.-Chr. Engels-Schwarzpaul

Georgina Stewart

Yusef Waghid

The chapters in this book were originally published in Educational Philosophy and Theory, volume 47, issue 11 (October 2015). When citing this material, please use the original page numbering for each article, as follows:

Blind, or Keenly Self-regarding? The dilemma of Western philosophy

Carl Mika and Michael Peters

Educational Philosophy and Theory, volume 47, issue 11 (October 2015) pp. 11251127

The Humanist Bias in Western Philosophy and Education

Michael A. Peters

Educational Philosophy and Theory, volume 47, issue 11 (October 2015) pp. 11281135

Counter-Colonial and Philosophical Claims: An indigenous observation of Western philosophy