C.S. Lewis on Higher Education: The Pedagogy of Pleasure

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Why do we pursue a university education Is it to improve our employability, earning potential and status Or should the fulfilment of knowledge be justified purely for the enjoyment it brings For the first time Stewart Goetz uncovers C.S. Lewiss overlooked views on the purpose of higher education and encourages us to rethink our reasons. Drawing on Lewiss general view of pleasure as the ultimate purpose of human life, Goetz explores how this perspective informed his justification of a university education. He introduces us to Lewiss utilitarian view that learning and knowledge are valuable when they lead to experiences of pleasure, presenting Lewiss defence for his own involvement in higher education as a Christian, his response to naturalism in the academy and the practical issues of implementing Lewiss thought. Guided by these fresh views on the academy, Goetz not only sharpens our understanding of Lewiss life and work, he asks us to question why we attend, study, teach or research at a university.

Reviews

Very few Lewis scholars capture the richness of Lewiss thought in the way Owen Barfield described it: somehow what he thought about everything was secretly present in what he said about anything. In his provocative and illuminating treatment of Lewiss view of higher education, Goetz has done exactly that. * Justin D. Barnard, Professor of Philosophy, Union University, USA *
Thoughtful and thought-provoking. Stewart Goetz provides an important contribution both to Lewis scholarship and to the wider conversation about the purpose and value of education. * Michael Ward, Faculty of Theology and Religion, University of Oxford, UK *

Author Bio

Stewart Goetz is the Ross Frederick Wicks Distinguished Professor in Philosophy and Religion at Ursinus College, USA. He is the Series Editor of Bloomsbury Studies in Philosophy of Religion.