Abstract
Richard Peters and John White have both argued that education should contribute to the meaning people are able to find in or give to life. Both dismiss the idea of ultimate or profound meaning (‘the meaning of life’) in favour of ordinary meaning, or ‘meaning in life’. Thus they exemplify the trend visible also in the general philosophical literature on life’s meaning. I argue that in their rejection of ultimate meaning and retreat to ordinary meaning they concede too much. There is room for plausible notions of ultimate meaning between the extreme they reject and the alternative they embrace. I propose two such notions, one meta-ethical, one metaphysical (specifically, Whiteheadian). If there are indeed plausible notions of ultimate meaning, and if ultimate or profound meaning is therefore a possibility we cannot dissmiss offhand, then it would be wrong to reject the possibility of ultimate meaning in education. Instead, education should both help people come to terms with doubt in this area of life, and foster their capacity to enjoy experiences of ultimate meaning.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2 |
| Pages (from-to) | 711-729 |
| Number of pages | 19 |
| Journal | Oxford Review of Education |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| Early online date | 9 Nov 2015 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2015 |