Liberalism, Education and Schooling Essays by T.M. McLaughlin [Paperback]

Terry McLaughlin's sudden death in 2006 deprived the academic world of a leading British philosopher of education, and the author himself of the opportunity to publish a planned synthesis of his work. This volume brings together a collection of his essays from a variety of leading journals. They have been selected by former colleagues well-acquainted with his thinking to celebrate his work and make it available in a convenient and accessible form.

McLaughlin's tireless pursuit of pressing questions at the heart of educational policy and practice is displayed in a series of finely crafted, painstaking and searching analyses. In terms of clarity and rigour, these are models of their kind. But what comes through also is the vision of the good life that informed his work as a whole. The collection presents a remarkable insight into the achievement of a leading figure in the field, and it will be a landmark in philosophy of education for years to come.

McLaughlin seeks to get to grips with the fundamental issues behind certain vitally important contemporary controversies in educational policy and practice... [T]hese papers exemplify the clarity and power of contemporary analytical philosophy of education at its best. They exemplify too the expository power that made their author one of the most respected and valued contributors to work in this field. They deserve to be widely read and digested by both professionals working in education and by concerned members of the wider public.

Terry McLaughlin managed to bring clarity into complex issues of educational concern without losing the subtlety of the argument. He was one of the best exponents of the analytic tradition in philosophy of education, in part because his analysis was always informed by a depth of both scholarship and personal understanding. His many admirers across the world will be delighted to see so much of his central work brought together for the first time in this collection.