A Philosopher's Perspective on the UK’s Higher Education: Teaching in the Iron Cage

Abstract

In this collection of research articles and reflective essays, Brendan Larvor argues that the principal task of teachers in higher education is to find ways to pursue the creative, romantic and liberal goals of the ideal university, when real universities are rationalised bureaucracies, according to the thoughts of Max Weber. Larvor reflects on the differences between teaching philosophy undergraduates, expert practitioners and prisoners. He insists on the importance of the affective dimension of learning and the unpredictability of the encounter between students and curricula. This book will interest anyone concerned about the current condition of higher education, and anyone interested in the relationship between the intimate, human activity of teaching and the bureaucracies in which it takes place.