Walter Feinberg is professor Emeritus of Philosophy of Education at the University of Illinois. His most recent book is Educating for Democracy. Bryan R. Warnick is the Daniel Tanner Foundation Professor of Education at Ohio State University.

• AcknowledgmentsPart I: Introducing Feinberg1. IntroductionBryan R. Warnick2. Autobiographical Essay: The Construction of a Social Philosopher of EducationPart II: Paying Attention in the Study of Education3. Educational Studies and the Disciplines of Educational Understanding4. The Discourse of Philosophy of Education5. A Role for Philosophy of Education in Intercultural Research: A Reexamination of the Relativism-Absolutism Debate6. Critical Pragmatism and the Reconnection of Science and Values in Educational Research7. The Conflict Between Intelligence and Community in Dewey's Educational Philosophy8. Critical Pragmatism and the Appropriation of Ethnography by Philosophy of Education: Critical Pragmatism and Local Understanding9. Fixing the Schools: The Ideological TurnPart III: Public School: A Democratic Vision10. The Public Responsibility of Public Education11. The Idea of a Public Education12. Culture and the Common School13. Uncommon Identities: Hard Cases14. Affirmative Action and Beyond: A Case for a Backward-Looking Gender- and Race-Based Policy15. Faith and the Pedagogical Limits of Critical Inquiry: Toward a Generous Reading of Religious Schools16. On Public Support for Religious Schools17. Reconciling Liberalism and Pluralism in Religious Education18. Religious Education in Liberal Democratic Societies: The Question of Accountability and Autonomy19. An Assessment of Arguments for Teaching Religion in Public Schools in the United States20. Toward a New Progressive Educational MovementNotesReference BibliographyIndex

"There is still much to be learned here about the role of 'the school' where the aspiration toward some sort of common democratic project endures. Feinberg's writings strengthen the sense that this essential tension remains." — David Blacker, author of Deeper Learning with Psychedelics: Philosophical Pathways through Altered States"Feinberg's essays really help explain his approach to the philosophy of education and his particular issues of interest. He also demonstrates how contingency shapes our lives and experiences, including things like 'white privilege'—who benefits, who doesn't, and why." — David A. Granger, editor of John Dewey: A Reader for Teachers and Education Students