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HOW COMPREHENSIVE IS YOUR CONCEPTION OF THE GOOD? LIBERAL PARENTS, DIFFERENCE, AND THE COMMON SCHOOL
Author(s) -
Suissa Judith
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
educational theory
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 42
eISSN - 1741-5446
pISSN - 0013-2004
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-5446.2010.00378.x
Subject(s) - conceptualization , normative , sociology , epistemology , multiculturalism , relation (database) , liberal education , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , value (mathematics) , philosophy of education , cultural pluralism , social science , pedagogy , law , higher education , aesthetics , political science , liberal arts education , philosophy , paleontology , linguistics , database , machine learning , biology , computer science
In this essay, Judith Suissa examines the central Rawlsian notion of a “comprehensive conception of the good” through a discussion of some recent work on issues of identity and difference, alongside a reflective account of life in a multicultural, liberal family. Suissa discusses the justificatory role the notion of “comprehensive conceptions of the good” plays in liberal theory, particularly in the context of work by philosophers of education, and she questions the normative value and descriptive adequacy of this conceptualization. Suissa suggests that there is a great deal of confusion surrounding this notion and the associated notions of “cultural coherence” and “substantive commitments,” and that this has given rise to a particular imagery regarding the relation between the liberal school and the family. This imagery, Suissa argues, is an unhelpful way to think about education, and she ends with some tentative suggestions for a more nuanced understanding of this relation.