Syracuse University SURFACE Dissertations - ALL SURFACE May 2015 Beyond Able-Minded Citizenship: Embracing Intellectual Ability Differences in Democratic Education Ashley Taylor Syracuse University Follow this and additional works at: https://surface.syr.edu/etd Part of the Education Commons Recommended Citation Taylor, Ashley, "Beyond Able-Minded Citizenship: Embracing Intellectual Ability Differences in Democratic Education" (2015). Dissertations - ALL. 242. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/242 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the SURFACE at SURFACE. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations - ALL by an authorized administrator of SURFACE. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ABSTRACT Within philosophical literature on democratic education, philosophers of education embrace the existence of cultural, religious, racial, gender, and other social differences as important to a thriving democracy. However, they frequently ignore or marginalize the potential significance of ability differences, especially those associated with intellect and reasoning ability. In fact, prevailing understandings of civic engagement within political philosophy, social and educational policy, and institutional practice conform to norms of development, behavior, and civic contribution that assume the presence of able-bodied and able-minded individuals. There is therefore an unchallenged assumption that those who experience significant difficulties in reasoning are unable to perform the tasks of citizenship. My dissertation investigates and challenges this assumption. I consider how the recognition of existent intellectual ability differences alters our philosophical theorizing about democratic education and suggests the need for alternative frameworks of democratic participation and the education that supports it. I propose that individuals’ existent variability in intellectual processing, communicative modes, and behavior should guide our reasoning about what is required for civic participation.