Doctor of Ministry , Ashland University, 2025, Doctor of Ministry Program

The purpose of this project was to create a resource that develops a Christian philosophy for the praxis of adult Christian education in the local church. The resource written for this project entitled Meeting People Where They Are At and Giving Them What They Need: A Christian Philosophy for Adult Education in the Local Church explores the relationship between philosophy and adult Christian education in the local church. The resource was evaluated by ten expert readers using qualitative and quantitative questions. The results show that the resource fulfilled the project goals.

Committee: Shane Johnson (Advisor) Subjects: Education Philosophy; Religious Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2024, Educational Leadership

This dissertation investigates the impact of digitalization on teachers' perceptions of their professional subjectivity and relationships within K-12 education in the United States. Assuming schools are political and ideological spaces, this project explores how digitalization informs teachers' identities, agency, and pedagogical values through a narrative inquiry approach. I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight teachers from five high schools in the Midwest, utilizing narratives analysis to examine their personal and professional stories. These interviews provided insights into how teachers navigate the tensions between digitalization's promises, impacts, and realities. By analyzing the narratives, I uncovered underlying values of relational democratic aims and ethics in education. Grounded in two central questions: how have teacher identity, subjectivity, and agency been challenged and uniquely developed within the digitalization of education and how teachers perceive its potential for fostering participatory agency – I utilize critical pragmatism and narrative analysis to highlight the tensions between the promise of digitalization and its practical realities that structure subjectivities. Teacher participants expressed frustration over students' struggles with technology, revealing a disconnect between the anticipated benefits and actual implementation. This project contributes to the literature by addressing the ethical implications of digitalization, arguing that while it has the potential to enhance educational practices, it often perpetuates ideologies that prioritize convenience and efficiency over relational values. Ultimately, this research advocates for more critical inquiry into digitalization, emphasizing the need for educational stakeholders to embrace the complexity and ambiguity to foster environments that uphold democratic educational values and relational ethics

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Chair); Kate Rousmaniere (Committee Member); Lisa Weems (Committee Member); Thomas Misco (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education Philosophy; Educational Leadership; Educational Technology; Educational Theory; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2024, Spanish and Portuguese

This dissertation addresses the question of how we should approach the study of identity to advance the emancipatory goals in Latin American and Latinx studies. In answering this question, I aim to shed light on the debate about identity and its intricate connections with culture, language, and power—core themes in the humanities and social sciences. This dissertation intervenes in this debate both at the metatheoretical level—aiming to rethink the philosophical presuppositions that guide our theorizing, determine our questions, problems, values, and goals—and at the theoretical level—aiming to restructure the analytic concepts we use in our thinking. Chapter 1 critically engages with Nestor Garcia Canclini's "Culturas Hibridas", where he argues that “hybridity,” rather than “identity,” should be used to study cultural forms. By identifying the critical ontological, epistemic, linguistic, and axiological questions that any research paradigm must address, I aim to characterize both modern and postmodern paradigms and identify their potential problems. Specifically, I critique the postmodern paradigm's descriptivist view of language and metaphysics of chaos. I propose a pragmatist research paradigm that highlights the normative functions of discourse of identity, arguing that terms like “identity,” “hybridity,” and “authenticity” are better understood as linguistic devices used to negotiate cultural practices. Chapter 2 shifts focus to Latinx studies, examining Gloria Anzaldua's notion of “new mestiza consciousness.” This chapter aims to assess the theoretical and political adequacy of mestizaje, clarify the challenge of essentialism for emancipatory research, examine the influence of postmodern values on Latinx research, and showcase the philosophical advantages of a pragmatist approach combined with Systemic Functional Linguistics. I trace the emergence of Latinx studies and the importance of emancipatory values. By critically evaluating mestizaje, essentialism a (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Ignacio Corona (Advisor); Fernando Unzueta (Committee Member); Paloma Martinez-Cruz (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethnic Studies; Hispanic American Studies; Latin American Literature; Latin American Studies

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 2023, Arts and Sciences: Philosophy

The epistemic regress problem targets our ability to provide reasons for our beliefs. If we need reasons for our beliefs, then we may also need to provide reasons for those reasons, and so on into regress. Because the epistemic regress problem is often cast as an attack on our ability to achieve justification, it is often thought that epistemic positions which do not rely on notions like justification escape without difficulty. The first goal of this dissertation is to establish the generality of the epistemic regress problem, beyond all technicalities regarding the nature of justification. To do this, I propose a new minimal epistemic standard, that we should hold no bald assertions to be epistemically acceptable. I then use this epistemic standard to construct two new forms of the epistemic regress problem. The first version of the problem is reminiscent of the classical problem in that it attacks our ability to locate any such reason. The second version of the problem attacks our ability to unite any such reason to a particular claim that it is supposed to support. The second goal of this dissertation is to argue that pragmatism fails as a solution to the epistemic regress problem. The pragmatist seeks to avoid the regress by provisionally accepting their beliefs to be evaluated later. In so doing, the pragmatist seeks to have reasonable beliefs, but only after having accepted them provisionally. After eliminating other theoretical alternatives that the pragmatist may use to bolster their position, I argue that the pragmatic solution is not successful because (1) it is committed to some foundational beliefs that are necessary to facilitate the evaluation of their provisional beliefs which fall prey to the regress, and (2) the employment of these criteria of evaluation encounters the regress in its second form. I conclude by advocating for an understanding of Pyrrhonian skepticism under whi (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Polger Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Robert Skipper Ph.D. (Committee Member); Andrew Cullison Ph.D. (Committee Member); Zvi Biener Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2023, Philosophy (Arts and Sciences)

The contemporary debate between evidentialism and pragmatism on the ethics of belief has resulted in both sides becoming entrenched in their opposition to the other, with the prevailing viewpoint being that they are fundamentally unreconcilable positions. Productive discussion towards reaching a middle ground has thus become difficult. Contrary to this trend, in a recent paper Tsung-Hsing Ho has begun the work of synthesizing the specific positions of both Nishi Shah and Susanna Rinard – two major contemporary positions for evidentialism and pragmatism, respectively. Though he attempts to argue for parts of both positions, Ho sides more with Rinard, as he argues that pragmatic considerations are relevant for answering normative questions about belief, while the evidentialists instead answer a different question – how to believe. Ho argues that how to believe can only be answered after coming to a normative conclusion. I attempt to adapt Ho's argument to advance the reconciliation he began. Using Stephanie Leary's notion of motivating reasons, I affirm Ho's central claim that evidentialists and pragmatists are answering different questions, but I argue that neither question can be asked in a vacuum. Instead, inspired by Jay Wallace's commentary on Jonathan Dancy's Practical Reality, I argue that they are two sides to the same coin, and that the order in which the questions are answered is due to the justification the agent has in mind for their belief. In making this argument, I aim to introduce a position in which the central theses of evidentialism and pragmatism are combined, thereby making a true middle-ground position intelligible.

Committee: James Petrik (Advisor); Al Lent (Committee Member); Christoph Hanisch (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Bioethics

This project is a critique of the concept of consensus and its relation to secular moral reasoning. Proponents of public deliberation argue that achieving consensus is crucial to informing moral norms in secular pluralist societies. Without a transcendental basis for morality, ascribing authority to moral norms requires a process of deliberation. Many bioethicists are concerned with formulating ways to ensure discourse is tolerant, non-coercive, mutually respectful, and grounded in intersubjective understanding. The problem is that secular discourse is fraught with varying conceptions of human rights, ethical principles, and what constitutes a morally authoritative consensus. Bioethicists acknowledge the tyranny of the majority problem, but secularism lacks a sufficient rationale to identify when a majority is wrong. Since competing visions of the good comprise bioethics and consensus does not necessarily indicate moral truth, moral uncertainty is the logical result of secular pluralism. Some moral scientists argue that science can inform moral norms, but a careful reading of their work suggests that what is being espoused is moral nihilism. From determinism to deep pragmatism, many scientists are inadvertently supporting a view of reality that obliterates the possibility of values. In secular pluralist societies, consensus is required to establish basic norms, but no account of consensus can indicate when moral truth is known. Consensus is necessary to fulfill the visions of moral scientists, but such scientists implicitly endorse nihilism. What secularists are discovering – by their own reasoning – is that moral truth is elusive, science cannot inform human values, and bioethical dilemmas are incapable of being resolved. The conclusion to this project offers an Engelhardtian solution. Not only is the principle of permission the only viable basis for secular pluralism – the principle coincides with moral scientists' own account of human nature.

Committee: Matthew Vest (Advisor); Ryan Nash (Committee Member); Ashley Fernandes (Committee Member) Subjects: Ethics; Philosophy; Philosophy of Science

Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, 2021, American Culture Studies

Though not obscure as a figure in American intellectual history, Randolph Bourne has largely been overlooked by American culture studies. My main argument is that Bourne's cultural writings show a distinctly American approach to the complications of modernity that show the early 20th century as worthwhile grounds for more contemporary consideration within cultural studies. I explore the foundations of Randolph Bourne's cultural idealism, beginning with an analysis of philosophical pragmatism. Bourne radical understanding of pragmatism was a framework to reimagine two important cultural concepts: youth and national identity. I proceed to examine the role of irony in Randolph Bourne's cultural idealism. I show how Bourne drew from the history of irony to create a cultural concept that served two purposes. First, it was a companion to philosophical pragmatism that would help resolve some of the philosophy's shortcomings in dealing with social values. Second, it was a means to a creative, social empathy needed to fulfill the promises of American democracy in an increasingly complicated world. Finally, I examine Bourne's cultural idealism through his social aesthetics, which was his way for the individual to, through cultivation of personal taste, regain agency and subjectivity in modernity. This is largely framed through Bourne's essays arguing against the hierarchical and undemocratic cultural idealism of English poet and critic, Matthew Arnold. Finally, I look at Bourne's idealism as expressed through the function and power of taste. This project, by looking closely at Bourne's radical cultural idealism, posits that he had a considered theory of culture meant to answer social problems posed by modernity to early twentieth-century American life.

Committee: Jolie Sheffer Ph.D. (Advisor); Andrew Schocket Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: American Studies

MA, Kent State University, 2020, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy

Meliorism is the belief in the possibility of progress—a possibility whose actualization is dependent on, but not guaranteed by, both our efforts and our belief regarding the possibility of the success of those efforts. In this thesis, I have two joint goals: first, to explicate the philosophy of meliorism and its justifications; and second, through this elucidation, to demonstrate why and how one is to become a meliorist. To this end, I undertake the development of the intellectual, moral, and existential organization of meliorism. In the first chapter, concerning meliorism's intellectual organization, I develop and justify the definition of meliorism as the belief in progress. In the second chapter, I extend this to meliorism's moral organization—the issue of what counts as “progress” or “betterment”—by expounding John Dewey's ethics. In the third chapter, in regard to meliorism's existential organization, I attempt to estimate what I call the existential weight of meliorism and sketch out ways in which meliorists can go about managing this weight. Throughout this undertaking I relate the various aspects of meliorism to the issues of our contemporary society to establish a concrete sense of the ways in which I believe this philosophy can help us in our lives as we grapple with challenges such as climate change, corruption in politics, and navigating competing ideals and values in political discourse.

Committee: Frank Ryan (Advisor) Subjects: Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2019, Educational Leadership

In this project, I examine the theoretical and practical arenas in terms of the conceptualization, implementation, and pedagogy of moral character. The fundamental concern is embodied in the reductive fallacy and the conceptual blurriness between moral character and moral virtue facing extant moral character definitions, as well as the attribution error and confirmation bias (Harman, 2000) for empirical measurements of moral character. The review of contemporary literature confirms but does not provide conceptually concrete and structurally holistic solutions to the fundamental problems diagnosed above. So I dive deep into the four legendary philosophers, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, and Dewey to explore how they conceptualize experiential moral character in terms of the five dimensions of its forming logical structure (i.e., distinct appearances, intrinsic motivations, operative strengths, active self-agency, and awakened supreme moral principles). Through reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of historic conceptualizations by the four philosophers, I re-conceptualize experiential moral character based on the Body-Heart-Mind-Soul model. In the end, I briefly analyze the three areas in which experiential moral character can be applied: empirical measurements in research, experiential moral character education intervention or practice, and self-meditation practice.

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Advisor); Joel Malin (Committee Member); Thomas Poetter (Committee Member); Aimin Wang (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership

Master of Arts, Miami University, 2019, History

This thesis explores the phenomena of nation branding, an informal political institution of national reputation and its usefulness to authoritarian countries, specifically Singapore and China. It discovers that branding has been a vital part of the enduring stability of authoritarian regimes by pacifying the populace against greater calls for democratization. Singapore and China both had to contend with and use history in their respective branding projects in order to continually hold power internally against an international pressure toward more democratic government throughout the world.

Committee: Yihong Pan Dr. (Advisor); Stephen Norris Dr. (Advisor); Ann Wainscott Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: History

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Educational Studies

Enriching teacher-student relationships is timely considering the increase in school violence, the changing demographics in schools, and the fact that educational aims focused on high-stakes testing often ignore relationships. When applying philosophy to teacher-student relationships, we must ask both whose voices are missing from our current conversation and how we can apply their insights to improve education. While philosophers such as John Dewey, Paulo Freire, and Nel Noddings have all contributed to that conversation, William James's philosophy and pedagogy provide a unique perspective on teacher-student relationships that is largely absent within the field of philosophy of education. In this dissertation, I explore the relationship between the philosophy of James, his personality, and the productive relationships he had with students. I suggest that there is a link between his pragmatism, pluralism, and psychology, and the way he interacted with students. His philosophy can be evaluated from its actual effects in the world and by how it changes us as individuals. I suggest that the cash value, or impact in real life, of James's philosophy in the context of education, plays out in particular forms of relationships of openness, experimentation, curiosity about others, spontaneity, and communication.

Committee: Bryan Warnick (Advisor); Jackie Blount (Committee Member); Antoinette Errante (Committee Member) Subjects: Education; Education History; Education Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2019, Educational Leadership

Beyond the examination of individual White privilege, which often results in fragility, silence, and fatigue, White student affairs graduate students have little understanding of White supremacy as a system of racial oppression and the root cause of racism in higher education. This lack of racial awareness and preparation can lead to harm done to peers and faculty of Color in student affairs graduate preparation programs and an inability to advocate for students of Color or challenge institutional racism as working professionals. In other words, the current approach to engaging White student affairs graduate students may actually serve to reinforce White supremacy in higher education, creating barriers to achieving the goals of student affairs as a field. In order to address this problem, I co-engineered a Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS) course for the student affairs in higher education graduate preparation program at a public teaching university located in the rural Midwest. This qualitative Critical Participatory Action Research (CPAR) study was guided by the following question: How does participating in a CWS course inform the professional socialization of White student affairs graduate students? Ten White student affairs graduate students, who were enrolled in a CWS course, gathered for research group reflection sessions and responded to written narrative prompts, which all served as data for the study. This data was analyzed both collaboratively in the research group reflection sessions and individually, using a Grounded Theory data analysis method. Key findings of this study indicate that participating in a CWS course provides White student affairs graduate students with an opportunity to reflect on how hegemonic Whiteness is constructed in their lives, a space to actively deconstruct hegemonic Whiteness, and a blueprint for how to critically reconstruct Whiteness both personally and professionally. The findings of this study present implications for (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathy Goodman (Committee Chair); Kathleen Knight-Abowitz (Committee Member); Brittany Aronson (Committee Member); Denise McKoskey (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; Higher Education

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1958, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Education

MA, Kent State University, 2016, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Philosophy

At the onset of the Great Depression, John Dewey articulated the problem of the Lost Individual as a person who was unable to exert authority and power over their own life because their interests and faculties had been submerged by the corporate machine. This project traces the developments of the Lost Individual into modern-day America. In observing the typical business structure, there appears to be a quality exuded by certain extraordinary lower-level employees that allow them to be freed from the problem of the Lost Individual, namely Service. I investigate this notion of Service through different levels of the American corporation to determine whether or not Service is possible in the entirety of the company. I note the important consequences of implementation of Service for both those at the lower-level of a corporation and those at the middle-level and upper-level of management and argue that Service, when implemented within the confines of a corporation, offer an avenue for individuals to solve the problem of the Lost Individual and arrive at a new individuality that encourages innovation, creativity, and empowerment in their own lives. I further note the implications this has for business, society, and culture, as a whole.

Committee: Frank Ryan PhD (Advisor); Jung-Yeup Kim PhD (Committee Member); Kim Garchar PhD (Committee Member); Mark Cassell PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2016, Philosophy, Applied

This dissertation defends an ideal of democratic citizenship inspired by John Dewey's theory of human flourishing, or “growth.” In its emphasis on the interrelatedness of individual development and social progress, Deweyan growth orients us toward a morally substantive approach to addressing the important question of how diverse citizens can live together well. I argue, however, that Dewey's understanding of growth as a process by which conflicting interests, beliefs, and values are integrated into a more unified whole—both within the community and within the self—is inadequate to the radical pluralism characteristic of contemporary liberal democratic societies. Given the pragmatist insight into the crucial role of socialization in identity formation, the problem with conceptualizing the ideal self as an integrated unity is that, for many, the complexity and diversity of our social world presents an insuperable obstacle to sustaining a unified (or always unifying) self. Most of us have multiple “selves” forged by the various groups with whom we identify and the often incongruous roles we play in our personal, professional, and/or public lives. Hence I offer a reconstruction of Deweyan growth that accounts for persistent yet positively valued diversity, both within the self and within the community. On the view I urge, which draws on the work of neopragmatist Richard Rorty and Chicana feminist Gloria Anzaldua, divisions within the self and between citizens are not merely problems always to be overcome, but potential resources for creating a stronger, more inclusive democracy.

Committee: Don Callen (Committee Chair); James Campbell (Committee Member); Albert Dzur (Committee Member); Kevin Vallier (Committee Member); Montana Miller (Committee Member) Subjects: Epistemology; Ethics; Philosophy

M.A. (Master of Arts in Liberal Studies), Ohio Dominican University, 2015, Liberal Studies

An analysis of the judicial philosophy of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Jr. according to the standard of traditional American political theory as embodied by the Declaration of Independence and the U. S. Constitution.

Committee: Ann Hall Ph. D. (Committee Chair) Subjects: American History; Legal Studies; Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2015, Educational Leadership

Skillful teachers are key to developing good schools. Because of this, understanding the school as a workplace is necessary to investigate why teachers leave and what encourages them to stay. The relationship between the principal, as the boss, and the teacher, as the employee, is one under-researched component of the school workplace which is important for developing a broad understanding of teacher turnover. This cross-sectional study uses a definition of principal mistreatment behaviors from the literature in the development of an original mixed method survey and a random sample of teachers from public schools in the State of Ohio to investigate how often principal mistreatment behaviors are experienced by a random sample of teachers in K-12 public schools. Mistreatment behaviors were paired with an opposite principal support behavior using Likert-style response options and were specifically focused on the 2012-2013 school year. Open-ended questions were included which asked for more general experience with principal mistreatment behaviors, effects on the teachers health, opinions about school culture and student bullying, and the effects of principal treatment behaviors on the teachers sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. The result of the study suggests that principal mistreatment and lack of support behaviors are widely experienced by teachers in the sample; however, these behaviors occur at a low frequency. Almost half of the teacher experienced severe level principal mistreatment behaviors, as defined by past research, during the school year. Mistreatment behaviors experienced by teachers resulted in a variety of teacher's health concerns. A majority of teachers considered the principal-teacher relationship as an important factor in their sense of efficacy and job satisfaction. It is recommended that the education of future teachers and principals include a model of administration leadership which is developed by actual teacher experience. Further researc (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Thomas Poetter (Committee Chair); William Boone (Committee Member); Kathleen Knight Abowitz (Committee Member); Andrew Saultz (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Leadership; School Administration

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2014, Educational Leadership

This case study dissertation uses the tenets of pragmatism as defined by Cherryholmes (1999) to examine student writing in a business writing course wherein the curriculum was specifically designed using poststructural performativity theory with the intent of providing the students with a learning experience that would allow them to examine, challenge, and reframe their own identities as students and businesspeople. The study considers the consequences of thinking that resulted from a business writing curriculum that had been redesigned from a structural, case-based model, to a poststructural, experiential learning based model. The case consists of the formal and informal writing done by students taking the course over the four semesters in which the curriculum was used. Each semester, students were placed into groups and were challenged to develop a non-profit business, activist group or student organization that would improve their community. The work done to create those organizations became the subject material for the formal writing assignments the students created in the process of learning to become business writers. Discourse analysis of student writing was conducted as part of the pragmatic process of reflecting on, analyzing, and improving curriculum. The analysis uncovered ways in which various binaries, such as “student/businessperson” and “classroom/real-world,” were challenged within the curriculum, as well as the fluidity of student identity and their access to agency and power. Implications for the construction and improvement of experiential and pragmatic curricula were developed based on these findings.

Committee: Thomas Poetter PhD (Committee Chair); Kathleen Knight Abowitz PhD (Committee Member); Richard Quantz PhD (Committee Member); Katharine Ronald PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Business Education; Curriculum Development; Education; Educational Theory; Higher Education; Pedagogy

M.M., University of Cincinnati, 0, College-Conservatory of Music: Music History

This thesis examines the previously undocumented friendship between John Cage and Van Meter Ames from 1957 to 1985 and Cage's residency at the University of Cincinnati (UC) from January to May 1967. It considers Zen Buddhism as the framework of their friendship, and the residency as evidence of Cage's implementation of his 1960s philosophy. Starting in 1957, Cage and Ames explored their common interest in Zen and social philosophies through extensive correspondence. This exchange added to the composer's knowledge of Zen and Western philosophies, specifically pragmatism. Cage's five-month tenure as composer-in-residence at UC enabled the two friends to be in close proximity and proved to be the highlight of their relationship. I suggest that this friendship and Ames's publications contributed to Cage's understanding of Zen during the 1960s and the development of his philosophy from this period. In the 1960s Cage's spiritual belief diverged from his study of Zen with Daisetz T. Suzuki in the 1950s and was similar to Ames's philosophic outlook. Cage and Ames both sought to bridge Western and Eastern cultures, assimilate Chinese philosophy, and modify Zen philosophy for modern society by adopting Thoreau's humanistic and social theories, and relating pragmatism to their ideal social model. This study documents the friendship between Ames and Cage, and Cage's residency at UC through programs, newspaper and magazine articles, correspondence, and Ames's 1967 diary. It also examines Ames's articles and monograph Zen and American Thought (1962), and unpublished typescript “A Book of Changes” (1967–71), which demonstrates Ames's insight of the composer's music, personality, and aesthetics. Cage implemented his 1960s philosophy throughout his residency at UC. In a broader view, the residency realized part of his personal global planning that was to fulfill Marshall McLuhan's concept of a global village, through his visiting appointments at various institutions of higher l (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: bruce mcclung Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Jeongwon Joe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Allen Otte M.M. (Committee Member) Subjects: Music

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2013, Educational Leadership

While the academic field of educational administration is multivocal and contested, its field of policy and practice is increasingly trapped in the logic of economic efficiency and the language of standardization and accountability. The modern department of educational administration is nowadays at this difficult crossroad, constantly forced to justify any kind of intellectual multivocality against a standard of means-end rationality. Still, celebrating and negotiating multivocality while resisting the technical logic covert in neo-capitalism should be a prime concern to any liberal democracy, including its democratic public schools. This is because democratic public education should be deep-rooted in culture and its politics. Based on a historical review of the field of educational administration, and using a critical pragmatist framework that draws from George Herbert Mead's pragmatist sociology of language, John Dewey's naturalism, Valentin N. Voloshinov's critical philosophy of language,019 and work by Helen Gunter and Peter Ribbins on mappers, mapping, and maps, this study investigates four popular introductory educational administration textbooks used in the preparation of educational administrators in pre-service educational administration programs in colleges of education. More specifically, this study investigates (1) the degree of multivocality reflected in these textbooks and (2) their critical democratic potentials and limitations. In the course of this investigation, the selected textbooks are found to be monovocal, drawing mainly from a structural, functional, and rational organizational theory. By naturalizing one specific version of the ontology, epistemology, and axiology of schooling, and by ignoring any substantive debate about education in its relation to democracy, culture, and politics, these textbooks are also found to lack in critical democratic inclinations.

Committee: Kathleen Knight Abowitz PhD (Committee Chair); Richard Quantz PhD (Committee Member); Karen Stansberry Beard PhD (Committee Member); Thomas Misco PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Educational Theory