Understanding Voice, Self, and Mind - Notes from the Editor

Abstract

Introduction: We do not think of ordinary people as preoccupied with such difficult and profound questions as: What is truth? What is authority? To whom do I listen? What counts for me as evidence? How do I know what I know? Yet to ask ourselves these questions and to reflect on our answers is more than an intellectual exercise, for our basic assumptions about the nature of truth and reality and the origins of know ledge shape the way we see the world and ourselves as participant in it. They affect our definitions of ourselves, they way we interact with others, our public and private personae, our sense of control over life events, our teahcing and learning, and our conceptions of morality. (Belenky et al, 1986, p. 3) This is the opening paragraph of Women's Ways of Knowing. It could well be found in some other teacher material prepared for Philosophy for Children. It is this theme, the theme of the importance of asking questions which help us to understand self, voice and mind and are therefore basic issues within teaching and thinking which ties together the three books under discussion in the Book Review Section. Women's Ways of Knowing is the first book under consideration. It is the broadest in scope and raises the most significant questions. Learning How to Learn is next considered. It presents research by Joseph Novak and D. Bob Gowin on two specific approaches to learning to learn. Finally, a volume edited by Robert Sternberg called Concepts of Giftedness ends the Review Section.