Abstract:
The writings of George Parkin Grant (1918-1988), a
Canadian political philosopher, were analyzed according to
his view of the relationship between technology and
education. Grant's life was summarized to provide a context
for understanding his ideas. His definition of technology -
the co-penetration of knowing and making -- was
conceptually analyzed and placed within a reading of his
work that ascertained a progressive development of this
definition over three distinct phases in his academic
career. Grant's implicit vision of education, grounded in
Christian and Platonic epistemological assumptions, was
explicated and unified around his idea of the
interdependence of knowing and loving. From a comparison
with John Dewey's concepts of technology and education,
Grant and Dewey were found to be in substantial agreement
concerning the nature of modern technology, but in profound
disagreement over the meaning of an educative experience.
Grant's qualified, affirmative response to the question of
this thesis -- Is technology a threat to education? -- was
found insightful in helping to clarify some foundational
issues in educational research. As well, it provided
another perspective within which one can begin to assess the
general impact of technology on education.
