Keeping Company in Controversy: Education Reform, Spheres of Argument, and Ethical Criticism

Abstract

Because many public controversies like education reform are highly divisive, complex, and intertwined with deeply rooted cultural, moral, and political issues, they evoke a need for a critical framework capable of addressing moral and political difference at an experiential and descriptive level. This study explicates one inventional framework for such an inquiry drawing upon both the “spheres of argument” approach and Wayne Booth's “ethical criticism.” The paper argues that the latter approach complements the former by enriching its topical framework.