In the midst of heavy criticism of the American educational system, Antonio de Nicolas injects an amazingly simple theory: Higher education in a free society must foster the habits of mind that enable individuals to perform free mental acts. Plato first identified these habits of the free mind in 'The Republic' as the abstraction of images from external objects, the formation of opinion, and the diverse operations of both cognition and imagination. In other words, we must hold education responsible for training inner mental technologies, or skills, instead of transferring accumulations of facts, data, and information.
'Habits of Mind' surveys all the major philosophies of education and evaluates historical significance, educational relevance, and, for the first time, effectiveness in producing those mental skills which define an educated person. Professor de Nicolás traces the actual history of our habits of mind through our Greek heritage, the Protestant Reformation, the universities of the Counter-Reformation, and the English schools of Luis Vives. Substantial selections in the second part of the book show that the “classic” philosophers propagated our contemporary intellectual habits. Rousseau, Locke, Descartes, Dewey, Ortega y Gassett, and many others compose the corpus of all educational philosophies. Finally, de Nicolás reenvisions our cultural origins and demonstrates that the best of Plato's educational philosophy has yet to enter modern educational practice.
Antonio T. de Nicolás is a professor of philosophy at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is the author of 'Avatara: The Humanization of Philosophy Through the Bhagavad Gita' and the translator of 'Spiritual Exercises' of Ignatius de Loyola, retitled 'Powers of Imagining'.
Author(s): Antonio T. de Nicolás
Edition: 1
Publisher: Paragon House
Year: 1989
Language: English
Pages: 533
City: New York
Tags: habitsofmindintr0000unse;academic education;ancient greek heritage
Cover
Title page
Imprint
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Herbert London
Introduction
Part 1 Our Habits
1. Higher Education Today
How Bad Is Our System of Education?
Democracy, Freedom, and Education
The Critics of Education
The Roots of Our Crisis in Education
2. Our Philosophical Roots
An Open Mind
The Modern and the Postmodern American University
The Question of the Curriculum
3. An Alternative Philosophy of Education
Habits of Mind as Used, and Their History
Our Inherited Habits of Mind
Plato and Our Greek Heritage
The Education of Habits of Mind
4. An Alternative University
Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation
The English Schools, Luis Vives
The Universities of the Counter-Reformation
The Shape of an Alternative University
5. The Experiment
Requirements for Teachers and Students
The Plan of This Book
Part 2 Our Models
6. The Medieval Version of Aristotle
Scholastic Logic, Antonio T. de Nicolas
Scipio’s Dream, from On the Republic, Cicero
The Myth of Er, from the Republic, Plato
7. Modernity with Galileo, Descartes, Newton
Modern Logic
Some Logical Terms, Definitions, Axioms, and Formulae
The Sciences Now Have Masks on Them, Colin M. Turbayne
8. The Narratives: Locke, Rousseau, Marquis de Sade
Some Thoughts Concerning Education, John Locke
Emile, Jean Jacques Rousseau
Dialogue Between a Priest and a Dying Man, The Marquis de Sade
9. The Critics: Vico, Voltaire.
Candide Voltaire
10. The Contemporary University: John Dewey, José Ortega y Gasset
Marx, Dewey, and Maritain: The Role of Religion in Society, Jude P. Dougherty
Experience and Education, John Dewey
The Revolt of the Masses, José Ortega y Gasset
Mission of the University
Part 3 Our Resources
11. Socrates, Plato, the Poets
Translating Plato: Some Reflections on Rhetoric, John Bremer
The Republic, Plato
Myths: Chaos, Daedalus and Icarus, The Golden Verses of the Pythagoreans, trans. Antonio T. de Nicolas
Summary-Philosophies of Education
Bibliography
