Thomas Jefferson's Philosophy of Education: A utopian dream

231 Pages·2014·1.189 MB·English

by  Holowchak, Mark, Jefferson, Thomas

“Jefferson the dreamer, Jefferson the realist, or the complexity of a great mind
is the theme of this insightful book by Holowchak. Or to paraphrase Jefferson’s
favorite novel by Laurence Sterne: he was always on a journey which is revealed
herein.”
—Professor Richard Guy Wilson, Department of Architectural History,
University of V irginia, USA
“Written with engaging prose, Holowchak’s vivid grasp of Jefferson’s politi-
cal and educational philosophy and his engagement with competing inter-
pretations of Jefferson provide an outstanding historical synthesis of our third
president’s commitment to the republican canon. Holowchak brings to life
Jefferson’s crusade to institutionalize his educational ideals and his commitment
to immersing subsequent generations with a civic virtue balanced by human
reason and moral sensibilities. Holowchak’s book is an exemplary work that
will captivate readers and provoke debate among historians.”
— Assistant Professor Brian W. Dotts, Department of Educational Theory
and Practice, the University of Georgia, USA
“Public education for all citizens was a lifelong goal of Thomas Jefferson and
M. Andrew Holowchak has written a valuable addition to the available literature
on this topic. In this book, Holowchak offers a consistent interpretation that
stresses Jefferson’s philosophic foundation for his faith in education as a funda-
mental component of republicanism. This represents a different approach from
most and in particular, he stresses Jefferson’s moral focus as a driving force in his
educational thinking. Holowchak’s perspective is sure to generate a consider-
able ‘buzz’ among scholars and general readers alike.”
— Professor James Carpenter, Graduate School of Education, Binghampton
University, USA
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Thomas Jefferson’s Philosophy
of Education
Thomas Jefferson had a profoundly advanced educational vision that went
hand in hand with his political philosophy – each of which served the goal of
human fl ourishing. His republicanism marked a break with the conservatism of
traditional non-representative governments, characterized by birth and wealth
and in neglect of the wants and needs of the people. Instead, Jefferson proposed
social reforms that would allow people to express themselves freely, dictate
their own course in life, and oversee their elected representatives. His edu-
cational vision aimed to instantiate a progressive social climate only dreamed
of by utopists such as Thomas More, James Harrington, and Louis-Sébastian
Mercier.
This book offers a critical articulation of the philosophy behind Jefferson’s
thoughts on education. Divided into three parts, chapters include an analysis
of his views on elementary and higher education, an investigation of education
for both the moral-sense and rational faculty, and an examination of education
as lifelong learning. Jefferson’s educational rationale was economic, political,
and philosophical, and his systemic approach to education conveys a systemic,
economic approach to living, with strong affi nities to Stoicism.
Thomas Jefferson’s Philosophy of Education will be key reading for philosophers,
historians, and postgraduate students of education, the history of education, and
philosophy.
M. Andrew Holowchak is Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Rider University,
USA.
New Directions in the Philosophy of Education Series
Series Editors
Michael A. Peters, University of Waikato, New Zealand;
University of Illinois, USA
Gert Biesta, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg
This book series is devoted to the exploration of new directions in the philoso-
phy of education. After the linguistic turn, the cultural turn, and the historical
turn, where might we go? Does the future promise a digital turn with a greater
return to connectionism, biology, and biopolitics based on new understandings
of system theory and knowledge ecologies? Does it foreshadow a genuinely
alternative radical global turn based on a new openness and interconnected-
ness? Does it leave humanism behind or will it reengage with the question of
the human in new and unprecedented ways? How should philosophy of educa-
tion refl ect new forces of globalization? How can it become less Anglo-centric
and develop a greater sensitivity to other traditions, languages, and forms of
thinking and writing, including those that are not rooted in the canon of West-
ern philosophy but in other traditions that share the “love of wisdom” that
characterizes the wide diversity within Western philosophy itself. Can this be
done through a turn to intercultural philosophy? To indigenous forms of phi-
losophy and philosophizing? Does it need a post-Wittgensteinian philosophy
of education? A postpostmodern philosophy? Or should it perhaps leave the
whole construction of “post”-positions behind?
In addition to the question of the intellectual resources for the future of
philosophy of education, what are the issues and concerns that philosophers of
education should engage with? How should they position themselves? What
is their specifi c contribution? What kind of intellectual and strategic alliances
should they pursue? Should philosophy of education become more global, and
if so, what would the shape of that be? Should it become more cosmopolitan
or perhaps more decentered? Perhaps most importantly in the digital age, the
time of the global knowledge economy that reprofi les education as privatized
human capital and simultaneously in terms of an historic openness, is there a
philosophy of education that grows out of education itself, out of the concerns
for new forms of teaching, studying, learning, and speaking that can provide
comment on ethical and epistemological confi gurations of economics and pol-
itics of knowledge? Can and should this imply a reconnection with questions
of democracy and justice?
This series comprises texts that explore, identify, and articulate new direc-
tions in the philosophy of education. It aims to build bridges, both geographi-
cally and temporally: bridges across different traditions and practices and bridges
toward a different future for philosophy of education.
In this series
On Study
Giorgio Agamben and educational potentiality
Tyson E. Lewis
Education, Experience and Existence
Engaging Dewey, Peirce and Heidegger
John Quay
African Philosophy of Education Reconsidered
On being human
Yusef Waghid
Buber and Education
Dialogue as confl ict resolution
W. John Morgan and Alexandre Guilherme
Henri Lefebvre and Education
Space, history, theory
Sue Middleton
Thomas Jefferson’s Philosophy of Education
A utopian dream
M. Andrew Holowchak
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Thomas Jefferson’s

Philosophy of Education
A utopian dream
M. Andrew Holowchak
First published 2014
by Routledge
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© 2014 M. A. Holowchak
The right of M. A. Holowchak to be identifi ed as author of this work
has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Holowchak, Mark, 1958-
Thomas Jefferson’s philosophy of education : a utopian dream /
M. Andrew Holowchak.
pages cm. — (New directions in the philosophy of education)
1. Jefferson, Thomas, 1743–1826—Philosophy. 2. Jefferson, Thomas,
1743–1826—Political and social views. 3. Education—
Philosophy. 4. Education, Humanistic—United States—
History. 5. Education—United States—History. I. Title.
LB695.J42H65 2014
371.001—dc23
2014001024
ISBN: 978-1-138-78745-2 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-76650-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Apex CoVantage, LLC
Statue of Homer before Old Cabell Hall on the lawn of the University of V irginia.