Philosophical Perspectives on Lifelong Learning: Insights from Education, Engineering, and Economics

This paper is in two parts. In the first we explore traditional tools of philosophy (conceptual analysis, ethical reflection, and epistemological critique) applied to education (the philosophy of education) in the context of lifelong learning. Analysis of “lifelong learning” demonstrates how conceptual analysis increases clarity and yields ethical and epistemological questions worthy of exploration. In the second, less traditional part of the paper, we take seriously the pragmatism at the heart of the movement to, and concept of lifelong learning. We develop a notion of practical philosophy. This draws on Wittgensteinian ideas (“Look and See”). We illustrate ‘practical philosophy’ by reference to the use of narrative in educational research and the practices of pragmatic disciplines such as engineering. Practical philosophy finds a new kind of synthesis of educational theory and practice. It will be shown, too, how practical philosophy, though practical, remains genuinely philosophical.