How has evolutionary theory shaped educational thinking over the past two centuries? This volume explores the considerable but under-appreciated influence of evolutionary ideas on educational theory and the philosophy of education. The book reveals the interplay between educational and evolutionary perspectives along the concepts of ‘adaptation’, ‘selection’, ‘inheritance’, and ‘progress’. It tracks these ideas across the works of various influential educational thinkers, including Herbert Spencer, Jean Piaget, John Dewey and Lev Vygotsky, and examines their continuing significance for how we understand and practice education today.
Aline Nardo, Dr., is Lecturer in Philosophy of Education at the Moray House School of Education and Sport at the University of Edinburgh. As a former school teacher, she completed her studies at the Universities of Basel and Edinburgh. Since joining the Faculty at Edinburgh, she has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Teachers College Columbia University and a Visiting Scholar at Jesus College at Cambridge University.