This essay attempts to set out some ideas about the nature of our knowledge and to make a few suggestions about what they might mean for teachers. In the context of the series in which it appears, it is intended to survey general issues in the theory of knowledge that might have implications for education. This task is made somewhat awkward by the need to explain and defend the claims about truth and knowledge that are made, while still keeping space for their possible pedagogical implications. Since I think the main implication concerns getting the status of our knowledge right, I have devoted most of my space to trying to explain the philosophical issues. But of course a great deal had to be left unsaid or undefended. The theory of knowledge and its specialities such as the philosophy of science are extremely large areas of philosophical inquiry. I have had to choose topics that seem to me to be relevant to at least some teachers, but many of their questions will here go unanswered.
This little book owes its existence to the kindness of various people. I would like to single out John Gingell, Phil Snelders, my two editors at Allen and Unwin, Gordon Smith and Jane Harris-Matthews, and my Head of Department, Marlene Hamilton, whose zeal for moving us into the twentieth century produced the word-processing facilities without which this volume would never have been finished. Its contents have benefitted from the comments of Zellynne Jennings, Jacquie Moriah, and Graham Webb.
The philosophical position sketched here derives in large part from the teaching and writings of the late John Mackie. But he not only influenced my philosophical views; he also instantiated that passion for truth which underlies the view of education taken here. In this connection, I should also like to invoke the memory of two other men who, in very different ways, were fired with the same passion: Don Carter, and Bryan Matthias. To write of education one must have met educators; I am privileged to have known these teachers.
Originally published by Allen & Unwin, 1987, this version last revised June 17th, 2000.
URL http://www.uwichill.edu.bb/bnccde/epb/pref.html