''The Educated Mind: How Cognitive Tools Shape Our Understanding'' is a 1997 book on
educational theory
Education sciences or education theory (traditionally often called ''pedagogy'') seek to describe, understand, and prescribe education policy and practice. Education sciences include many topics, such as pedagogy, andragogy, curriculum, learning, ...
by
Kieran Egan.
Main arguments
Criticism of previous education theories
Egan argues that much educational theorizing pivots around three basic ideas about the aim of education:
# to educate people in content that would give them a "privileged and rational view of reality"
[Kieran Egan (1997). The educated mind (page 13). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. .] (
Plato
Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...
). Here we find the following ideas: reason and knowledge can provide privileged access to the world; knowledge drives the student's mental development; education is an
epistemological
Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics.
Episte ...
process.
# to realize the right of every individual to pursue his own educational curriculum through self-discovery (
Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (, ; 28 June 1712 – 2 July 1778) was a Genevan philosopher, writer, and composer. His political philosophy influenced the progress of the Age of Enlightenment throughout Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolu ...
). Student development drives knowledge and education is a psychological process.
# to Socialize the child - to homogenize children and ensure that they can fulfill a useful role in society, according to its values and beliefs.
Egan argues in Chapter One that "these three ideas are mutually incompatible, and this is the primary cause of our long-continuing educational crisis";
the present educational program in much of the West attempts to integrate all three of these incompatible ideas, resulting in a failure to effectively achieve any of the three.
[D. James MacNeil, review of ''The educated mind'', for the 21st Century Learning Initiative, September 1998]
"Cultural recapitulation" theory
Egan argues that knowledge and understanding arise through five kinds of understanding. This development can be explained by "logical and psychological pressures." Egan differentiates his theory from the conceptions of
recapitulation common in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
People can learn
cognitive tools that are grouped and classified into five kinds of understanding:
# Somatic - somatic understanding is the