In this landmark contribution to the study of the formation of the modern school, Daniel Tröhler applies one of the most recognized methods of historical research to an analysis of the "language" of the academic discipline of education. Arguing the value of looking at languages rather than arguments--langues rather than paroles--this method of historical research is used to examine the background of different philosophies, theories, or arguments of education, specifically republicanism and Protestantism. Tröhler’s argument is that such analysis is essential to tracing back educational arguments to the ideological core of their concerns, and thus to understanding in international perspective the historical development of education systems and organizations and to evaluating their different theoretical and political approaches and claims. Elegantly written, with the historian’s attention to archival material, this book enables the reader to understand the complex and different social, cultural, religious, and political context factors embedded in the "thought" of schooling and its objects of scrutiny--its notions of the child and teacher. Languages of Education is essential reading for scholars and students across the fields of history and philosophy of education, curriculum studies, and comparative education.
Table of Contents:
A: Introduction: Languages and History of Education
1. Languages as Contexts of Education
2. Philosophical Arguments, Historical Contexts, and Theory of Education
3. Perceptions as Performances, National Semantics, and Transnational Languages, or: Visions of Influence and Practices of Reception
B: Protestantism and Education
4. The 'Kingdom of God on Earth' and Early Chicago Pragmatism
5. Langue as Homeland: The Genevan of Reception of Pragmatism
6. Max Weber and the Protestant Ethic in America
7. The Discourse of German Geisteswissenschaftliche Pädagogik
C. Republicanism and Education
8. History and Language of Education. The German Tradition and the Tradition of Swiss/American Republicanism
9. The Establishment of the Standard History of Philosophy of Education and Suppressed Traditions of Education
10. Republicanism as language of Communiatrianism
About the Author :
Daniel Tröhler is Professor in Educational Sciences and Director of the Research Unit for socio-cultural research on learning and development at the University o Luxembourg.
