Hard knowledge, soft values

The paper contrasts two domains of school education, natural science and citizenship education (as a paradigm of “hard” and “soft” subjects), with respect to their epistemological and ethical foundations. A sharp contrast between their associated world-views within the school community is accentuated at the outset. The epistemological shortcomings inherent in both are subsequently explored, and the debate between epistemological relativism and “naturalism” (a form of foundationalism) relating to scientific knowledge is briefly reviewed. Through review of organizational principles behind selection of knowledge for presentation in schools, values are introduced as an epistemically, as well as ethically, important component of school education. Subsequent analysis aims to show that even in this respect there are more similarities between the “soft” and “hard” subjects than is standardly assumed.