The Aims of Higher Education

Problems of Morality and Justice

Harry Brighouse author Michael McPherson editor Harry Brighouse editor

Format:Hardback

Publisher:The University of Chicago Press

Published:19th May '15

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

The Aims of Higher Education cover

In this book, philosopher Harry Brighouse and Spencer Foundation president Michael McPherson bring together leading philosophers to think about some of the most fundamental questions that higher education faces. Looking beyond the din of arguments over how universities should be financed, how they should be run, and what their contributions to the economy are, the contributors to this volume set their sights on higher issues: ones of moral and political value. The result is an accessible clarification of the crucial concepts and goals we so often skip over - even as they underlie our educational policies and practices. The contributors tackle the biggest questions in higher education: What are the proper aims of the university? What role do the liberal arts play in fulfilling those aims? What is the justification for the humanities? How should we conceive of critical reflection, and how should we teach it to our students? How should professors approach their intellectual relationship with students, both in social interaction and through curriculum? What obligations do elite institutions have to correct for their historical role in racial and social inequality? And, perhaps most important of all: How can the university serve as a model of justice? The result is a refreshingly thoughtful approach to higher education and what it can, and should, be doing.

"This is an ambitious volume, providing valuable philosophical tools to tackle three critical policy questions within higher education: What should the content of curricula and pedagogies be? Who should have access to college education? And what should be the relationship between higher education and broader society?" Danielle Allen, coeditor of Education, Justice, and Democracy)

ISBN: 9780226259345

Dimensions: 24mm x 15mm x 2mm

Weight: 425g

192 pages