Analytic Philosophy of Education
The Philosophical Foundations of Religious and
Moral Education in Paul H. Hirst’s Theoretical Framework
Constituting a paradigmatic example of the analytic philosophy of education (APE)
perspective, this book has been prepared based on the need for more comprehensive studies
on the philosophical foundation of religious and moral education in Türkiye. The central
argument of the research is that the prevalent “lack of philosophy” problem in Turkish
educational approaches is also clearly apparent in the approaches to religious and moral
education. Thus, this situation highlights the necessity for philosophical justifications within
alternative frameworks. Accordingly, this study aims to contribute to filling the gap in the
national academic literature by offering solutions to the aforementioned problem from the
perspective of the APE and by revealing how Paul Heywood Hirst, one of the important
representatives of the analytical tradition, philosophically grounded religious and moral
education.
The study was conducted as qualitative research using a descriptive design. The study’s
findings reveal that the viewpoint of APE can be effectively employed in all dimensions of
grounding religious and moral education. The study is significant in that it provides a
holistic perspective on religious and moral education, fosters multifaceted thinking, and
contributes to the development of theoretical knowledge. Furthermore, the study presents
a novel perspective and a model of justification by revealing how the philosophical
foundations of religious and moral education have been constructed within the analytic
tradition, by demonstrating how consistency between theory and practice can be established
in the field of education, and by offering solutions from an analytical perspective for
grounding the religion–morality–education nexus on a solid basis.
As a consequence, this study establishes a theoretical framework for the philosophical
foundation of religious and moral education, demonstrating how religious and moral
education has been philosophically justified and how these justifications have shaped
understandings of religious and moral education. Moreover, the book makes explicit how
the justification of the basic assumptions and presuppositions that underpin particularly
religious education has served as a driving force in reshaping the field from an educational
standpoint. In this respect, the study is expected to pave the way for new discussions in the
academic literature and provide a conceptual and theoretical basis for future research.
Keywords: Analytic Philosophy of Education (APE); Forms of Knowledge; Moral Education;
Paul H. Hirst; Religious Education