How Do You Know?

J.M. Beach is a lecturer with the University Writing Program at the University of Texas, San Antonio, USA. He has advanced degrees in the fields of English, History, Philosophy, and Education, and has taught students in the United States, South Korea, and China. He is the Director of 21st Century Literacy; a non-profit organization focused on literacy education, and is also a poet. His research interests focus on the philosophy of knowledge, the science of culture and society, the history and philosophy of education, and literature. Some of Beach’s previous books include What Is Education? On the Social Ecology of Teaching, Learning, and Schooling (2014), Gateway to Opportunity? A History of the Community College in the United States (2011), Children Dying Inside: Education in South Korea (2011), and Studies in Poetry: The Visionary (2004). Visit the author’s website at www.jmbeach.com.

Preface: 'Clarifying the Mysteries of Intellectual Culture', by Gerald Graff, Introduction: The Knowledge Gap 1. An Institutional History of Literacy Education, Part I: A History of Education, Democracy, and Culture War 2. The Authority of Tradition: Schooling, Books, and the Development of Literacy 3. Culture Wars: Literacy, Schooling, and the Development of Democracy 4. Discontent with Democracy: Culture Wars in U. S., Part II: Subjectivity, Culture, and Bounded Rationality 5. Oral Culture and the Development of Literacy 6. The Concept of Culture 7. The Subjective Truth of Fiction 8. Bounded Rationality: The Problems of Subjective Knowledge 9. Culture, Common Sense, and the News Media 10. Is This Story True? Bias in the News Media, Part III: Philosophy, Science and the Development of Objectivity 11. Philosophy and the Development of Knowledge 12. Science and the Development of Objectivity 13. Provisional Truth: The Limitations of Science 14. Practical Reasoning: Solving the Problems of Everyday Life Part IV: The Limitations of Argument: Pluralism, Values, and Contested Communication 15. Culture Is a Debate 16. Understanding Cultural Values 17. Open Arguments and the Warrant, Conclusion: The Virtues of Toleration and Democratic Deliberation, Acknowledgements, Bibliography, Index