Education as if people matter: John Macmurray, community and the struggle for democracy

Abstract

The educational writings of John Macmurray, one of the finest philosophers of his generation, have a special relevance for us today. In similar circumstances of international crisis he argues for the central importance of education addressing fundamental issues of human purpose—how we lead good lives together, the emphasis on wisdom rather than knowledge alone, the advancement of a truly democratic culture, and the overriding importance of community in human flourishing. A pioneering advocate of education of the emotions, he champions the development of imagination, spontaneity and authenticity as key to educating ‘the capacity for change itself’. For Macmurray, educators must place relationships and care at the heart of all they do. Overemphasis on technique and its typical separation from wider human purposes is emblematic of much of our contemporary malaise. An inclusive, caring community is the precondition of our human being and becoming. The paper concludes by taking some of Macmurray’s key philosophical insights and developing a framework which enables us to make judgments about whether or not contemporary approaches to education support or diminish our lives as creative, caring human beings within a context of social justice and democratic human fellowship.

Keywords:

• John Macmurray
• democracy
• education
• relationships
• care
• community
• democratic fellowship

Acknowledgements

My thanks to colleagues and friends for their support and critique, in particular to Robert Calder, Harry Carson, Frank Kirkpatrick, James Porter, Jonathan Rutherford, Henry Tam, Sir William Taylor and Jeanne Warren. Whilst their involvement strengthened what I had to say, the paper’s flaws remain my responsibility alone.

I dedicate this paper to the late Irene Grant and her family, who have for 35 years helped me to better understand the nature and significance of John Macmurray’s life and work.

Notes

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2. For a very fine appraisal of both John Macmurray’s and R. S. Peters’s work in this domain see Francis Dunlop’s undeservedly neglected The education of feeling and emotion (Dunlop, 1984), which remains one of the most accessible, perceptive philosophical treatments of the subject.