Imitation and Education

Bryan R. Warnick is Assistant Professor of Philosophy of Education at the Ohio State University.

"…[Warnick's] investigation of imitation is quite meticulous." — Journal of Aesthetic Education"Warnick moves methodically through his argument, employing well-chosen examples throughout, and positions himself time and again to ask telling questions about both theoretical and practical consequences of exemplarity for education." — David T. Hansen, editor of John Dewey and Our Educational Prospect: A Critical Engagement with Dewey's Democracy and Education"In an age of often simpleminded character education programs that urge role modeling, there is a real need for a book like this one, which both affirms the value of role modeling and also develops a critical version of imitation." — Kathleen Knight Abowitz, author of Making Meaning of Community in an American High School: A Feminist-Pragmatist Critique of the Liberal-Communitarian Debates

• Acknowledgments 1. The Problems of Imitation and Human ExemplarityIntroductionThe Mysteries of Learning by Example: An Outline 2. The Historical Tradition of Human Exemplarity Imitative Models of Human Exemplarity: The Standard ModelEnlightenment Criticism and Nonimitative ExemplarsThe Historical Tradition: An Initial Assessment 3. How Do People Become Examples? The Nature of ExamplesHow Does Something Become an Example?Educational ImplicationsConclusion 4. How Do Examples Bring Out Imitation? The Link between Action and PerceptionThe Sense of Self and the Imitative Sorting MechanismThe Narrative-Self Theory of ImitationThe Social Nature of Narrative and ImitationEducational ImplicationsConclusion5. The Social Meanings of Imitation The Meanings of Following an ExampleImitation and Community IdentityImitation, Initiation, and EducationFactors Influencing Imitative MeaningImitation and Communities of LearningConclusion 6. Imitation, Exemplarity, and Moral Reason The Practical Objection to Imitating ExamplesA Social Response to the Practical ObjectionThe Theoretical Objection to Imitating ExamplesA Social Response to the Theoretical ObjectionConclusion 7. How Can We Evaluate Human Exemplars? Ancient Skepticism, Exemplarity, and CriticalityThe Turn to Practices and Exemplar RotationA Critical Education and Exemplarity: A Conclusion8. A Social Analysis of Exemplarity and ImitationNotesReferencesIndex