From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically

by Richard PRING Oxford University

1. Introduction: the ‘analytic tradi- But it is the traditional job of philosophy tion’ of philosophy from Plato onwards to scratch beneath Few university departments of educa- the surface of ‘agreed meanings’ and to tion now offer courses in the philosophy show that what was thought to be clear is of education despite the fact that philoso- in fact very muddled, leading to unaccep- phical problems permeate the educational table consequences. Language, as the phi-

questions which we need to address. Poli- losopher Wittgenstein demonstrated, can año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 tical answers to educational problems are so easily ‘bewitch the intelligence by the too often muddled because they have not use of words’, thereby leading to the belief addressed questions about the nature and that life is much less complicated than it division of knowledge, about what is worth really is. A major task of philosophy is to learning, about the relation of theory make people –especially those who think to practice, or about who should control they have the right answer– puzzled, un- revista española de pedagogía learning. Such have always been the pro- sure that they really are right, recogni- vince of philosophy from Plato onwards, sing the need to think more clearly. namely, epistemology (that is, theory of knowledge), ethics (that is, exploring A very good example of this is provided what is good and worthwhile), political by Plato in the Republic (Part I, 338). The philosophy (that is, the exploration of rather arrogant Thrasymachus defines ‘jus- what we mean by justice and the relation tice or right’ as ‘what is in the interest of the of the individual to the political power). stronger party’. Socrates sees a problem in that definition. What is meant by ‘in the in- Of course, we think we know what is terest of’? Socrates enlarges on his puzzle- meant by ‘education’, or by what is meant ment. For instance, Polydamas the athlete by ‘having learnt something’, or by ‘high is stronger than us, and it’s in his interest standards of achievement’ (as in the po- to eat beef to keep fit; we are weaker than litical responses to the four yearly PISA him, but you can’t mean that the same diet international comparison of standards). is in our interest and so right for us?’ 249 Richard PRING

Thrasymachus now gets irritated as the tradition of Plato as exemplified in he refines his original definition to embra- the Socratic dialogues. Plato was aware of ce the state or government as the stron- ambiguity in words which played a pivo- ger party. In other words, those in power tal role in the other person’s argument. A are the ones who define what is right and lot hung on a particular and contestable just –which, in fact, would often seem interpretation. By giving counter-exam- to be the case. Socrates presses on with ples, he was able to bring this out –and the possible objections to this definition, (as in the example above) revealed the providing counter examples. Eventually, distinctively moral nature of the discour- Thrasymachus exits in a fit of temper. se on justice. Moreover, that verbal pro- What seemed straightforward had been bing led to deeper questions about the proved not to have been so. nature of the state and its relations to the individual members of the state– indeed, Typical of what is referred to as ‘socra- to the constitution of the Republic and to tic dialogue’ is the constant questioning of the form of education appropriate to the ‘what do you mean?’ Behind the apparent future citizens of the Republic. There is clarity of the words used are different an interconnection of ‘meanings’ through ‘usages’ conveying important differences which we understand the social world of meaning. But Plato (or Socrates) was and act intelligently within it. One task not simply going through the mechanical of the philosopher, and of the philosopher motions of asking ‘what do you mean?’ of education in particular, is to examine whenever someone said something he critically the understandings embodied disagreed with. In most every day con- in the language of the social world which versations, there is no ambiguity and no affect the policy and practice of education. significant disagreement about meaning. It would be odd indeed if, when someone It is within such a tradition that the asked you to sit on that chair, you respon- philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1958) ded by asking ‘what do you mean by ‘sit’ declared: or ‘chair’’. However, the meaning of many words is ‘contested’. That is, beneath su- «my aim is: to teach you to pass perficial agreement there are deeper dis from a piece of disguised nonsense to agreements, too often not recognised in something that is patent nonsense» disputations. The world of education is (1:464) full of them, as I shall illustrate in what follows –for example, what it means to be There is a lot of disguised nonsense in educated, or what counts as having un- what educational policy makers say and

revista española de pedagogía revista 2014, 249-261 año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto derstood a scientific explanation, or what in what educational researchers write. do you mean by ‘skill training’. This I shall illustrate though the importance attached to such policies as: first, Much philosophy of education (within the need to produce a more skilled work- what is often referred to as ‘analytic phi- force; second, to distinguish between aca- losophy’ or ‘linguistic analysis’) is within demic and vocational learning and cour- 250 From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically ses; third, to raise standards especially in dancer, even of skilled thinkers amongst the light of the PISA international com- whom one would need to include Plato’s parisons; fourth, to improve the quality of Sophists (and there are now courses in teaching. ‘thinking skills’).

There are, indeed, overlapping mea- 2. Working through examples nings. But assimilating these uses from different contexts leads to the wrong be- 2.1. Promoting a ‘skilled workforce’ lief that there is more in common than In Britain, as no doubt in most coun- there really is. For example, assump- tries, there is deep concern about the need tions are made about ‘transfer of learning for a more skilled workforce if the country skills’ which permeate different kinds of is to compete successfully in the ‘global thinking. Policies are promoted for the economy’. Too many leave school without development of skills as such in order to qualification and try to enter employment overcome the predicted shortage. Is this without the necessary skills. For this rea not a case of being deceived by the assimi- son, a report was commissioned by the lation of meanings through the shared use Government to find out what skills were of a word? As Wittgenstein pointed out, needed in the future, how many skilled assimilating the descriptions of the uses workers there were currently, and what of words in this way cannot make the uses

must be done to close the gap. There- themselves any more like one another. año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 fore, the consequent Leitch Review (2006), For, as we see, they are absolutely unlike. Prosperity for All in the Global Economy: World Class Skills argued that the eco- Therefore, whether or not the economy nomy by 2020 would require only 600,000 will need only 600,000 unskilled workers by unskilled workers as opposed to the seven 2020 is not an empirical matter (for exam- million today. Hence, the sense of crisis. ple, adding up the number of skills), but revista española de pedagogía However, other research contradicts this, a conceptual one. It all depends on what suggesting that there will remain the se- one means by ‘skill’, and there will be as ven million jobs requiring workers with many differences of meaning as there are out skills. Who is correct? contexts in which the word ‘skill’ is applied.

However, the problem of deciding who Let us take, for an example, the task is correct is partly a conceptual one. Is the of cleaning, in which many are occupied word ‘skill’ being used in the same way? but on very low wages. Is cleaning a si- It would surely have to be so if one is to killed job or not? And if it is classified as add up the number of non-skilled workers a skilled job, is that because it requires to 600,000 or to seven million. So, what one skill or several –sweeping up the dirt, do we mean by a ‘skill’? We talk of a per- removing stains, polishing the furniture? son being a skilled orator (even though If these are separate skills, do they need what he or she has to say is superficial), separate training courses (as well as ex- of a skilled carpenter, of a skilled ballet perience) for the cleaner to be a good clea- 251 Richard PRING

ner? It is not clear whether ‘cleaning’ is sense. Hence, the dualism between acade- or is not included in the Leitch Report’s mic and vocational, when examined, does enumeration of the skilled workforce re- not make sense. It is part of the ‘disguised quired by 2020. It all depends on what nonsense’, resulting, first, in the -demo one means. tion of the arts and design and technology from general education for all, second, in the failure to see the kind of intelligen- 2.2. Distinguishing between acade- ce and the practical knowledge which are mic and vocational embodied within demanding practical ac- The distinction is constantly made bet tivities, third, in the perpetuation of the ween ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ subjects. distinction between two radically diffe- The former is identified with the acqui- rent kinds of learners. sition of knowledge and understanding which can be written down and thereby All this has implications for when we assessed. The latter is associated with the come to answer the question: ‘what do we training of skills (howsoever difficult it is, mean by an educated person?’ Should our upon reflection, to define a skill) useful for view of the ‘educated person’ include the doing a job effectively. The former is seen capacity to engage intelligently in prac- as part of a general education, with all tical matters without the theoretical in- the social associations of that. The latter sight which no doubt a more ‘academic’ is often used synonymously with practical learning might have brought about? And learning –training in a specific skill as a should that idea of ‘the educated person’ preparation for specific employment. As a exclude the person who is good at theori- result of this distinction, so-called vocatio- sing, but fails to relate that theory to the nal studies are provided for the ‘less acade- practical issues and problems which con- mic’, and the ‘academically able’ learners front us? Many were the highly intelligent do not touch the ‘vocational’. Indeed, the economists whose theoretical knowledge new bench-mark of educational success in did not prepare them for the universal England (the EBacc or English Baccalau- recession and thus for the practical pro- reate) is a six subject academic award. blems of running an economy.

But what does one mean by ‘academic’? The philosopher John Dewey saw ‘fal- It would seem that it refers to those stu- se dualisms’ in the way we think about dies which are essentially book-based and the world and the problems we face (for can be examined through written work. example, between the mind and the body, But what of the arts (for example, pain- between traditional and progressive edu-

revista española de pedagogía revista 2014, 249-261 año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto ting, dance or drama)? These are neither cation, between education and training, academic in that sense nor vocational in between knowledge and experience, bet the sense of training in a set of skills use- ween academic and vocational) as a sig- ful for employment. Furthermore, ‘design nificant barrier to thinking properly –a and technology’ neither fits the academic matter of language ‘bewitching the intelli- model nor is vocational in this narrow gence’. Thus, he saw ‘vocational’ to refer to 252 From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically

«a direction of life activities as ty with high status testing, and parental renders them perceptibly significant choice made in the light of the publica- to a person because of the consequen- tion of test scores. However, one needs to ces they accomplish… The opposi- ask what one means by ‘high standards’. te of a career is neither leisure nor What is lacking in this reduction of stan- culture [another false dualism], but dards to the language of TQM is any sen- aimlessness … the absence of cumu- se of vision of what education is for, or of lative achievements in experience…» logical connection of the language of mea- (Dewey, 1916, 307). surable performances to that of educational values and quality of learning. In other words, the poverty of the dua- listic contrast between the academic edu- The consequence is that standards are cation and vocational training is revealed identified with the targets which are in- when a deeper examination is given of the creasingly narrowed so that they can be aims of education. more easily measured. To improve standards, one needs to spell these out in detailed specifications of ‘can do’s’, teach 2.3. Pursuit of higher standards more effectively to these targets, measure Every four years, the OECD reports on the outcomes, evaluate the programme in the comparative standards of 15 year olds the light of the results, and possibly chan-

in reading, writing and science across 63 ge the targets or means of getting them año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 countries in what is called the Performan- in the light of the evaluation. Research ce of International Student Achievement by Warwick Mansell (2007) demonstrates (PISA). These are taken very seriously clearly the ‘gaming’ which such a politi- by Governments –either confirming that cally inspired testing regime encourages. their policies are right (when they come The ‘games’ which teachers play in order out on top of the international league ta- to hit the targets have nothing to do with revista española de pedagogía bles) or indicating that much more needs the quality of learning. to be done if they are to move up the ta- bles. Pursuit of higher standards is at the It is necessary, therefore, to think cri- top of the political agenda. Economic diffi- tically about what we mean by standards, culties are blamed in part on ‘poor stan- about their identification with performan- dards’ in schools. That pursuit of higher ce indicators, and about their absorption standards is translated into the setting of into the language of TQM with all its con- targets within what is called ‘total quality sequences for policy. management’ or TQM. Standards are the bench-marks by TQM requires precise definition of which we assess whether the aims of an standards in terms of targets (the attain- activity have been met, and thus they ment of which can be measured) and of the depend on the nature of the activity. The conditions which spur teachers to reach standards by which we assess whether those targets, in particular, accountabili- someone is a competent driver depend on 253 Richard PRING

what one means by ‘good driving’. That been much research, is that of teaching. would no doubt include not only the ability The meaning of teaching may seem quite to use the gears and brakes appropriately obvious. But is it? but also the values concerned with driving safely. Similarly, ‘high standards’ in First it is important to distinguish tea- education depend logically upon the aims ching as a ‘task word’ from teaching as an of education –what one means by an edu- ‘achievement word’. To say that someone cated person. Does ‘hitting the targets’ in is teaching (in the sense of a task word) reading constitute ‘high standards’ when is to describe a particular sort of activi- the student gains no interest in reading ty –namely, that of someone trying to get literature– indeed, might well be put off another person to learn something. As an by the training to pass the tests? achievement word, however, it is to claim that someone has successfully learnt that The logical problem with the testing which the teacher was trying to get them industry, which now dominates student to learn. If that intended learner never learning in so many countries, is that the learns anything as intended (that is, there indicators, which can be measured, are is no teaching in the sense of achieve- not the same thing as the states of mind ment), then one might question whether which they are indicators of. There is con- teaching is an appropriate description fusion between the aims, on the one hand, of the task –and, in so doing, eliminate and, on the other, the indicators by which many claims to be teaching. one assesses that the aims have been rea- ched –between the quality of learning and Take for example the following. The the finite and limited modes of evidence university professor, in lecturing to the for the quality of learning. undergraduates on nuclear fission, reads the same notes as he has done for seve- Moreover, standards cannot logically ral years. The veracity of his notes has be the sort of thing which go up or down. not been affected by subsequent theore- If that were the case, then that going up tical developments. Formally, she would or down could be assessed only by referen- be fulfilling her obligations as a univer- ce to a higher level standards by which sity teacher. But would she be teaching? up or down might be judged. But those What she says bears little relation to the higher level standards, by which the lower present knowledge of the students. There level standards are to be judged might is no attempt to connect her words (and also be seen to go up or down –and so on their meanings within physics) to the un- ad infinitum. derstandings within the minds of the stu-

revista española de pedagogía revista 2014, 249-261 año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto dents. Or take the teacher who, having to take a class in biology and having only 2.4. Teaching minimum knowledge of the key ideas or The fourth example of the need to pur- concepts, downloads teaching notes from sue the meaning of a key concept in edu- the web and follows those faithfully. But cational studies, about which there has would he be teaching? Can one be said to 254 From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically be teaching if either one does not have a worth learning. John Dewey, for exam- grasp of the subject matter to be taught or ple, referred to teachers as ‘the true pro- one has no idea of the level of understan- phet and the usherers in of the kingdom ding of those to be taught? A lot of so-ca- of God’. But what is meant by ‘culture’ to lled teaching falls into one of these two which access is being given or by ‘enhan- categories. cing our understanding of humanity’?

Teaching, therefore, involves someone –the teacher− intending someone else 2.5. Interim conclusion to learn something (e.g. the concept of The insights gained from such philo- osmosis) by performing a task which is sophical deliberations about ‘what one both a logically related to the concept of means’ reveals the complex way in which ‘osmosis’, and yet psychologically within language shapes our understanding. the grasp of the learner. It requires there Careful analysis of usage challenges the fore, first, understanding by the teacher impoverished understandings of key con- of that which is to be taught, second, a cepts such as those of ‘teaching’, ‘skill’ understanding of the current levels of un- and ‘standards’ –and thereby the conse- derstanding of the learners, and, third, quent target-driven, high-stakes testing the ability (the pedagogical skills) to link culture which now prevails. It challenges, the two –that is, to affect the thinking of too, the false dualisms which shape our

the learners through the introduction of understanding of educational policy and año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 the new concepts or theory. practice. In each case, the analysis points to deeper questions which occupy phi- However, this purely conceptual point, losophers: in ethics, concerning what is though important, does not yet do justice worth learning, in epistemology, what it to how the word ‘teaching’ operates within means to acquire knowledge and unders- what Wittgenstein referred to as ‘a form tanding, in the philosophy of mind, what revista española de pedagogía of life’. Different philosophers go beyond is the relation between thought and the this, given their different presuppositions world we think about, and in social and about the aims of education or what is political philosophy as to who should con- worth learning or what it means to be hu- trol education. How we teach and what man. They see a moral dimension to what we think is worth teaching, embody dee- it means to be a teacher. The word ‘tea- per assumptions about the value of what cher’, as with any other word that has a is learnt, about the logical nature of that history, is learnt and understood within which is to be learnt, and about the rela- ‘a form of life’. The simple definition does tion of what is learnt to the wider culture not reflect that. Rather does the concept we have inherited. of teaching partakes in a wider under standing of what it means to help young The rest of this paper focuses upon the people flourish as human beings through ethical issues. access to a culture which enhances our understand of humanity and of what is 255 Richard PRING

3. Educating persons amongst those who attend. Thus, in asking where one was educated, one would 3.1. Descriptive and evaluative sen- name the school or university. But there ses of ‘education’ is the evaluative sense where one talks of The pursuit of ‘higher standards’, and, the ‘educated person’ or when, to use the in that pursuit, the pursuit of ‘total quality words of John Dewey, the so-called ‘edu- management’, has transformed the langua- cation’ was in effect a ‘mis-education’ –the ge of education. The aims of education beco- result was boredom, and disinclination to me the targets which have to be sufficiently continue with one’s studies. Thus, in the specific for the attainment of them tobe dominant evaluative sense, education im- easily measured through national tests. plies not simply that learning has taken Those areas of learning, therefore, which do place, but that the learning was worth not help with the attainment of those tar- while. The learner was thereby a better gets get demoted, because they do not help person. In that respect, the word ‘educa- with the performance indicators which are ted’ is similar to ‘reformed’. To say that checked through regular audits. The tea- someone is reformed is to say that in res- chers, far from being ‘the true prophets and pect of some change in character or beha- the usherers in of the kingdom of God’, are viour the person has changed for the better referred to as the deliverers of the curricu- –he is no longer violent, for example. lum –something which is written and han- ded down from elsewhere (now, in England, However, such considerations push by an all powerful Secretary of State). And us into the area of ethics. What are tho- if they deliver the curriculum successfully se characteristics of being a person, and (as reflected in test scores), they are paid thus of what it means to become a better accordingly– payment by results. person, which constitute the aims of education? One problem with so many edu- This is yet a further example of how cational ‘reforms’ is that such a question language, in this case taken from the bu- is rarely pursued. Perhaps we do need to siness world, has transformed how educa- train young people for the world of work tion is understood and indeed practised. and for the skills which the global eco- But is it not a further case of ‘disguised nomy demands from the ‘educational sys- nonsense’, requiring philosophical thin- tem’. But in what way does such a pursuit king to reveal it as ‘patent nonsense’? It make the learners better persons? What is important, therefore, to attend careful are the qualities, the kinds of knowledge, ly to usage of the word ‘education’ within the dispositions (or virtues) which must our ordinary language. be fostered if the learners are to be consi-

revista española de pedagogía revista 2014, 249-261 año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto dered ‘educated persons’? There is a need to distinguish between the descriptive and the evaluative sen- ses of ‘education’. Descriptively it refers 3.2. The form of the personal to those activities and institutions, the The philosopher John Macmurray re- aim of which is to bring about learning ferred to ‘the form of the personal’, indi- 256 From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically cating that there is something distinctive Therefore, the process of educating about calling something ‘a person’ (see young people –in developing them as per- Macmurray, 1961). The failure to see sons− needs to respect what is distinctive that distinctiveness (as when the pupil is of them as persons. That distinctive en- treated as an object to be changed with a dowment includes the capacity to reason view to raising the school’s scores in the —acquire the key ideas through which national tests), then there is the danger of we have come to understand the physi- not respecting the pupils as persons. John cal, social and moral worlds we inhabit, Dewey’s critique of schooling in America to deliberate about the ends to be pursued lay in the prevalence of education as a and to adopt the relevant actions to attain ‘transmission of knowledge’. Knowledge such ends. By acquiring such ideas each so transmitted led to superficial learning, person develops a degree of autonomy, the possible enough for the passing of tests, capacity to weigh evidence, the ability to but leaving the pupils much as they were. question received assumptions, the ima- In no way were they significantly affected gination to see future possibilities. Such or transformed as persons. a development of mind is made possible by participation in what Oakeshott refe- The philosopher Peter Strawson (1959, rred to as the conversation between the 102) argued for the ‘logical primitiveness ‘generations of mankind’ –the ways in of the concept of a person’ –its indispen- which others have come to see the world

sability in our account of the world, not in science, religion, history, drama, poetry año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 reducible to the concept of a physical ob- or literature. There is an inheritance, and ject even though it is attributed to physi- education is concerned with all young peo- cal objects. It predicates of them certain ple entering into that inheritance and the- characteristics which we cannot dispen- reby enabled to be in control as much as se with, whether implicitly or explicitly, possible of their own destinies. Respect for in our relations with other people or in young people as persons requires helping revista española de pedagogía our making sense of ourselves and of the them to enter these different ‘realms of world around us. In that sense, ‘person’ is meaning’ at whatever level they are capa- a fundamental category of understanding ble –and not to be rejected as ineducable, just as ‘physical object’ or ‘causality’ is. It and thereby undermined in their deve- is a predisposition of understanding and lopment as persons. It is also to respect communication. the process of thinking and reasoning, the struggle of each and every young person The ‘form of the personal’ has three in- to make sense of the situation they are in, terrelated aspects: first, that of the capa- rather than to reduce that ‘learning’ to the city to think and feel; the second, that of performances in which they are trained the interrelationship with other persons but which may bear little relation to the in community; the third, that of a moral ways in which they understand the world. being in the sense both of someone capa- ble of moral judgement and purposes and Furthermore, the emotions are a mode of someone deserving respect. of insight and knowing, not intrinsically 257 Richard PRING

irrational. They embody judgements or rea- ve means to some goal but to deliberate sons, correct or incorrect appraisal of the about the goals worth pursuing. We attri- facts of the situation about which, for exam- bute to persons the capacity for self-deter- ple, one feels angry. Richard Peters (1974) mination in the light of the values which spoke of the education and refinement of they have adopted. But that requires the the emotions, made possible because of nurturing of those dispositions or virtues their cognitive element, and in particular through which one pursues what is seen the place of the arts in such refinement. to be the life worth living. The ‘aesthetic’ should be seen as a highly significant form of knowing and judgment. How then through education might one nurture those feelings, emotions and There is an important sense in which virtues which are seen to be worthwhile? persons are not, and cannot be totally autonomous. Growth depends on relations with other people, participating in diffe- 3.3. Educating the whole person rent cultural communities. These might These three aspects of ‘being a person’ be the communities of scientists across the (the capacities for reasoning, for inter-re- ages, the community of one’s village or fa- lating with other persons in community mily, the community of one’s religion. We and for deliberating about the ends worth inevitably develop as members of commu- pursuing) are dimensions of ‘the whole nities. That is essential to being a person, person’, inter-related and overlapping. requiring an awareness of others, how they The education of persons, therefore, would think and feel, and aware of how interre- principally be concerned with nurturing lationships with others enrich life, expand those capacities for a fully human life –the experience and lead to a greater capacity capacities for what Dewey referred to as for reasoning. Knowledge grows through the ‘intelligent management of life’, na- criticism. But that awareness of others, the mely, the capacities to reason in its various appreciation of their points of view, and forms, to establish worthwhile ends, to re- the capacity to relate to others have to be cognise others as persons with whom one nurtured. Indeed, that implicit knowledge can interact productively, and to carry out of, and inter-relationship with others is what one sees to be worthwhile. Indeed, primary, because it is only through such Michael Oakeshott argued that ‘man (sic) knowledge and relationships, and through is what he learns to become: this is the hu- acting with or against them, that experien- man condition’ (Oakeshott, 1975, 17). ce is expanded, challenged and refined. Learning to live and interrelate with others To respect the learners as persons,

revista española de pedagogía revista 2014, 249-261 año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto is central to the ‘form of the personal’. therefore, requires supporting the growth of such capacities. It requires respecting Finally, to recognise others as persons them as centres of consciousness, as po- is to attribute moral qualities. They can be tentially self-determining, as having their responsible for their actions. They are able own mode of well-being, as open to deve- not only to reason about the most effecti- lopment as human beings with all the dif 258 From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically ferent capacities for a distinctive human plexity of the usage of words, such that of- life which that entails –not as objects to ten the apparent agreement on their use be manipulated and used for others’ pur- hides the differences of meanings, and poses. This brings education and its lan- such hidden meanings make important guage within the province of ethics, not assumptions of a philosophical nature. within that of the ‘business world’. Failure to recognise this in educational discourse and practice does, for example, Most societies have some idea (or pos- blind one to the essentially moral context sibly competing ideas) of the transforming and language of education. One result is qualities, attitudes, skills, knowledge and the hi-jacking of that language by a lan- understandings which help create the guage of efficiency gains, of measurable more fully developed and ‘educated per- targets, and of curriculum delivery. The- son’. It is difficult to think about -educa refore, questions about the aims of education without addressing questions about tion are rarely pursued. the qualities which constitute or lead to a worthwhile form of life. Therefore, one However, such a transformation of can see why there are inevitably dis- language cannot completely remove the agreements in society over what precisely evaluative meaning of education through a good education should consist of. People which we explore what it means to help disagree about the qualities which make people to develop those distinctive qua-

someone more fully a person, or what are lities whereby they flourish as persons. año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 the most important virtues to be nurtured That takes us into the realm of ethics, ex- (truthfulness, humility, obedience, caring ploring what it means to be a person and for others?) or what knowledge, in this day consider what sort of learning is worth and age, is important, or what skills one pursuing. Questions about the aims of needs to be trained in. What questions, for education are essentially a part of ethics. instance, should people be asking about revista española de pedagogía the environment or about moral issues con- However, as already indicated, the cerning race or gender? What knowledge pursuit of such questions raises other and and skills are needed for answering them? different kinds of philosophical issues. If Therefore, within the broad ethical consi- education is concerned, amongst other derations of what it means to be and to qualities, about the acquisition of know grow as a person, there remains much ledge and understanding, then questions room for further ethical argument. inevitably arise about what one means by knowledge as opposed to mere opinion. What counts as knowledge in terms of 4. Education and the disciplines of truth conditions and the verification of philosophical thinking what is believed? Can one teach anything Too often, I have argued, language with certainty, and if not, are there degrees lulls us into a frame of mind in which of doubt? And are there different kinds matters seem simple and straightforward. of knowledge, each with their distinctive However, that simplicity belies the com- modes of enquiry, evidence and tests for 259 Richard PRING

truth? These are all matters explored in MACMURRAY, J. (1961) Persons in Relation the theory of knowledge or epistemology. (London, Faber & Faber). Perhaps it is the case that the dualism between academic and vocational is partly MANSELL, W. (2007) Education by Numbers: The due to the failure to see practical activities Tyranny of Testing (London, Politico) as involving knowledge (‘knowing how’) which can be grasped at different levels of OAKESHOTT, M. (1975) A Place of Learning, re- understanding and undertaken with diffe- printed in FULLER, T. (ed.) (1989), Michael rent degrees of intelligence. Oakeshott and Education (New Haven, Yale University Press). The point is that we do live in a world of ideas. These ideas, embodied in our PETERS, R. (1974) Education of the Emotions, language, shape our thinking about prac- in PETERS, R. S. Psychology and Ethical tice in many unacknowledged ways. By Development (London, Geo. Allen and Unwin). constantly asking, as did Socrates, ‘what do you mean?’ one comes to realise the STRAWSON, P. (1959) Individuals (London, Me- complexity of the meanings or usages be- thuen). hind words which, on the surface, seem so straightforward. One function of philo- WITTGENSEIN, L. (1958) Philosophical Investi- sophy is to make those ideas explicit, to gations (Oxford, Basil Blackwell). subject them to criticism, and to influen- ce practice, not by providing alternative theories or bodies of knowledge for the Resumen: guidance of practice, but by ensuring that Del sin sentido disfrazado al sin the assumptions behind practice are tena- sentido descubierto: pensando filo- ble and coherent. sóficamente Address of the Author: Richard Pring. Una de las tareas del filósofo de la Green Templeton College, Oxford Uni- educación es examinar críticamente los versity. Woodstock Road. Oxford. United implícitos del lenguaje contenidos en las Kingdom. formulaciones que afectan a la política y la práctica de la educación. Dentro de esa Received: 29. XII. 2013. tradición, el filósofo Ludwig Wittgenstein, declaró: «mi objetivo es: enseñarte a pa- sar de decir cosas sin sentido de manera References disfrazada, a poner al descubierto esos

revista española de pedagogía revista 2014, 249-261 año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto DEWEY, J. (1916) Democracy and Education sinsentidos». Hay mucho «sinsentido dis- (New York, The Free Press). frazado» en lo que dicen los responsables de las políticas educativas y en lo que LEITCH REVIEW (2006) Prosperity for All in the escriben muchos investigadores en edu- Global Economy: World Class Skills (London, cación. Apoyaré estas afirmaciones con H.M.Treasury). ejemplos tomados de la realidad. Así, en 260 From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically primer lugar, la importancia que se atri- embodied in the language of the social buye a la «preparación de profesionales world which affect the policy and practice competentes para el mercado laboral»; en of education. It is within such a tradition segundo lugar, la separación que se esta- that the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein blece entre la «formación académica» y la declared: «my aim is: to teach you to pass «formación profesional»; en tercer lugar, from a piece of disguised nonsense to so- el interés en «elevar los estándares» edu- mething that is patent nonsense». There cativos, especialmente a la luz de las com- is a lot of disguised nonsense in what edu- paraciones internacionales realizadas por cational policy makers say and in what el informe PISA; y, por último el discurso educational researchers write. This I shall sobre la necesidad de mejorar la «calidad illustrate though the importance attached de la enseñanza». to such policies as: first, the need to produce a more skilled workforce; second, to Descriptores: Educación, filosofía de la distinguish between academic and voca- educación, política educativa, Wittgen tional learning and courses; third, to rai- stein, Sócrates, standards, Pisa. se standards especially in the light of the PISA international comparisons; fourth, to improve the quality of teaching. Summary: From Disguised Nonsense to Patent Key Words: Philosophy of education,

Nonsense: Thinking Philosophically educational policy, Wittgenstein, Socra- año LXXII, nº 258, mayo-agosto 2014, 249-261 tes, academic standards, PISA. One task of the philosopher, and of the philosopher of education in particular, is to examine critically the understandings revista española de pedagogía

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