Philosophy, Research, and Education

Research always conveys a commitment to philosophical beliefs even if this is unintended and even though it remains implicit and unacknowledged. . . . [Researchers] cannot evade the responsibility for critically examining and justifying the philosophical ideas that their enquiries incorporate. It follows that philosophical reflection and argumentation are central features of the methods and procedures of educational research. —W. Carr, 1995 (as quoted in Bridges, 1997, p. 179) Indeed . . . adapting from Plato on a different but not unrelated matter, one might say that there may be no good educational practice until all professional teachers become—rather than school effectiveness, action researchers or other empirical researchers—educational philosophers. —D. Carr, (2001, p. 475) The problems we face are not really technical—they are moral, they are ethical. A reliance on technical solutions leaves us still gasping, still empty. —M. Greene (as quoted in Ayers & Miller, 1998, p. 6)