The Legacy of Isocrates and a Platonic Alternative Political Philosophy and the Value of Education

Bringing together the history of educational philosophy, political philosophy, and rhetoric, this book examines the influence of the philosopher Isocrates on educational thought and the history of education. Unifying philosophical and historical arguments, Muir discusses the role of Isocrates in raising two central questions: What is the value of education? By what methods ought the value of education to be determined? Tracing the historical influence of Isocrates’ ideas of the nature and value of education from Antiquity to the modern era, Muir questions normative assumptions about the foundations of education and considers the future status of education as an academic discipline.

Introduction Part 1: Isocrates’ Idea of the Nature and Value of Education Chapter 1: Isocrates and the history of education: educationists vs. everyone else Chapter 2: The Isocratic Idea of the Nature and Value of Education Part 2: The Historical Transmission and Evolution of the Isocratic Idea of Education Ch. 3: The Isocratic Idea: Rome to the Early Middle Ages Ch. 4: The Isocratic Idea in the Middle Ages Ch. 5: The Isocratic Idea in Renaissance Humanism Ch. 6: Education and Modern Political Philosophy Part 3: Critique of the Isocratic Idea and Outline of the Parmenidean-Platonic Alternative Ch. 7: The Inadequacy of the Isocratic Idea and DCD Method Ch. 8: the Parmenidean-Platonic Alternative I: Normative Method and Education Ch. 9: the Parmenidean-Platonic Alternative II: an Outline of Educational Practice Conclusion References

James Muir is Professor of Philosophy at University of Winnipeg, Canada.