Legal Reasoning, Recipes, Ethics, Values , Educational Administration and Applied Philosophy

Abstract

This article is an investigation in applied philosophy. It argues that the traditional ideas that philosophy directly empowers practice is misleading and unhelpful. Using educational administration as a starting point, the author addresses the question of how theory, in this case philosophical theory, might be applied to practice in the realm of ethics and/or values. A methodology for this addressing of ethical and/or value questions in educational administration is constructed using examples from legal reasoning and Bunge 's discussion of technology. In the closing sections of this paper, an outline of applied philosophy is offered. It is argued that in the realm of morals or in any of the other traditional areas of philosophical thought, philosophy can be applied to the practice of educating (although not directly). This methodology is called "bracketed neglect".