Philosophical Foundations of Education
Neopragmatism—think Richard Rorty, Robert Brandom, or Cornel West—treats knowledge as something we do in conversation, not a mirror of an outside reality. That makes Epistemology its prime “Dimension,” with truth recast as whatever claims survive communal scrutiny. Logic stays important as the tool for clarifying those claims, while Axiology surfaces in the movement’s ethical tilt toward pluralism, solidarity, and democratic growth.
Pragmatism is the obvious home—it’s right there in the name—but neopragmatists push it further into social critique, so they also lean into Reconstructionism (using education to reshape culture and address injustice). Many educators see a streak of Existentialism as well: if vocabularies are contingent, learners must craft identities and meanings for themselves, responsibly and creatively.
A classroom shaped by neopragmatism looks like a seminar-workshop hybrid. Students swap lenses, test ideas in real projects, and ask, “Whose story is this helping?” The curriculum prizes flexible language skills, historical awareness, and collaborative problem-solving—habits that prepare young people to keep rewriting the shared narrative whenever new challenges arise.
