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Abstract

The fact that “philosophy,” to many people, is just a mysterious word that brings to mind images of white beards and mysticism is no surprise. Contemporary society seem to have little reason to value a field devoted to ideas rather than production. Simply, philosophy is impractical, a distraction from the important world of growing an economy and living real life. What, perhaps, is more surprising is that philosophy is now, also, a dying field within academia itself. As research and inquiry becomes more specialized, there is little reason to indulge the pedantic meanderings of those who do not wish to do something. Educational practitioners, in particular, have little reason to worry about philosophy when they are busy trying to help students. It takes only a brief moment, though, of reflection on a few major thinkers in philosophy to realize that education has never left the world of philosophy and is in great danger of failing to do the best it can for students if practitioner’s knowledge of philosophy is passing at best. This work discusses the importance of a knowledge of both Plato and Locke to effective policymaking in education contemporarily and warns practitioners of the danger of practice without theory.

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