Recognition of the Spirit and Its Development as Legitimate Concerns of Education
| Author: | Grosch, Paul | |
| Year: | 2000 | |
| Pages: | 208 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-7541-9 978-0-7734-7541-0 | |
| Price: | $179.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
This study begins by examining four representative views concerning the nature and scope of spirituality. Anthropology, theology and history, biology and psychology, and finally analytic philosophy of education are all brought to bear on the question of the legitimacy of spirituality as a separate academic discipline. The book then turns to the work of historian and philosopher Pierre Hadot. By drawing parallels between the works of Hadot, MacIntyre, and Oakeshott, this study is an attempt both to resurrect the philosophical origins of a spiritual life, and to demonstrate that spirituality is an area ripe for contemporary philosophical inquiry. It also analyzes the importance to spirituality of the work of George Santayana, and concludes by examining some of the current educational policies on, and practices in, spirituality across the curriculum.
Reviews
“This book is both wide-ranging and rigorous, It is refreshing to see philosophy called back from abstract logical analysis to a focus on the big issues of living and dying. It is also good to find an emphasis on the multi-disciplinary nature of the study of spirit, an opposition to various forms of reductionsism and a recognition of the wholeness of the human person.” - Themelios
“In this well written and clearly argued text, Dr Grosch has analysed perspectives on the spirit and its development. . . he offers an argument which draws on the ideas of MacIntyre, Hadot, Oakeshott, Wittgenstein and , particularly, of Santayana to produce an account of spirituality as both an essential area of philosophical investigation and, more challengingly, as a first order activity in which all philosophers inevitably engage. . . . he indicates the possibility of an accommodation of apparently diverse philosophical standpoints within the framework of the human quest for self-identity and self –understanding. This opens up a rich field for further exploration in philosophy, in spirituality, in education and in the inter-relationship of these ‘disciplines’. Gr. Grosch’s thought-provoking book will stimulate debate in all three areas.” – Dr. Dilys Wadman
“In this well written and clearly argued text, Dr Grosch has analysed perspectives on the spirit and its development. . . he offers an argument which draws on the ideas of MacIntyre, Hadot, Oakeshott, Wittgenstein and , particularly, of Santayana to produce an account of spirituality as both an essential area of philosophical investigation and, more challengingly, as a first order activity in which all philosophers inevitably engage. . . . he indicates the possibility of an accommodation of apparently diverse philosophical standpoints within the framework of the human quest for self-identity and self –understanding. This opens up a rich field for further exploration in philosophy, in spirituality, in education and in the inter-relationship of these ‘disciplines’. Gr. Grosch’s thought-provoking book will stimulate debate in all three areas.” – Dr. Dilys Wadman
Table of Contents
Table of contents (main headings):
Preface
Introduction; Spirit, Spiritual Life and Spirituality: A Summary of the Argument
1. Spirituality: Definitions, Divisions, & Disputes
2. Philosophy as the Spiritual Education of the Self
3. Santayana and the Philosophical Nature of Spirit
Conclusion: Spirituality, Philosophy and Education
Bibliography; Index
Preface
Introduction; Spirit, Spiritual Life and Spirituality: A Summary of the Argument
1. Spirituality: Definitions, Divisions, & Disputes
2. Philosophy as the Spiritual Education of the Self
3. Santayana and the Philosophical Nature of Spirit
Conclusion: Spirituality, Philosophy and Education
Bibliography; Index