Spirituality, Philosophy and Education

The possibilities and importance of a spiritual dimension to education are subjects receiving increased consideration from educational practitioners, policymakers and philosophers. Spirituality, Philosophy and Education brings together contributions to the debate by a team of renowned philosophers of education. They bring to this subject a depth of scholarly and philosophical sophistication that was previously missing, and between them offer a wide-ranging exploration and analysis of what spiritual values have to offer contemporary education.The contributors address such subjects as what we mean by 'spiritual values'; scholarship and spirituality; spirituality and virtue; spirituality, science and morality; the shaping of character; the value of spiritual learning; spiritual development and the curriculum and many others. All students of the philosophy of education and anyone interested in how spiritual values might play a part in informing education policy and practice will find this stimulating collection a rich source of ideas and a major addition to the thinking on the meaning, role and possibilities of spirituality in education.

Introduction D. Carr & J. Haldane Part 1: Philosophy and spirituality 1. The very idea of spiritual values J. Haldane 2. Making spirits attentive: Moral and spiritual development M. McGhee 3. Spirituality, science and morality J. Cottingham 4. Spirituality and virtue 5. Spirituality, Stoic meditations and the shaping of character Part 2: Aspects of spirituality 6. Metaphor, cognition and spirituality reality M. Halstead 7. For spirit and against spirituality J. Dunne 8. Images of spirituality: Traditional and contemporary I. Yob 9. Scholarship and spirituality J. Sullivan 10. Spiritual learning: Good for nothing? J. Astley Part 3: Spirituality and education 11. Spiritual development and the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority J. Keast 12. Longing to connect: Spirituality in public schools D. Vokey 13. Education in spirituality and the common school T. McLaughlin 14. Spiritual development, pluralism and the limits of common schooling K. Mott-Thornton 15. Three conceptions of spirituality for spiritual education D. Carr

David Carr is Professor of Philosophy of Education in the Faculty of Education of the University of EdinburghJohn Haldane is Professor of Moral Philosophy at the University of St. Andrews.