Dr William Hare

Dr. William Hare
Professor Emeritus

Fax: (902) 457-4911
Email: msvu.ca

Research and Teaching Interests

• Moral aspects of education and teaching
• Open-mindedness and education
• Critical thinking and the intellectual virtues
• The philosophical and educational ideas of Bertrand Russell
• Philosophy in teacher education
• Philosophy of education in historical perspective

Background

I received my PhD in 1971 from the University of Toronto and wrote my thesis in philosophy of education on the topic of responsibility. I was Professor of Education and Philosophy at Dalhousie University for 25 years, becoming Full Professor in 1979. I chaired the Department of Education at Dalhousie from 1977-80. When the School of Education at Dalhousie closed in 1995, I joined the faculty at Mount St. Vincent University. I retired in June 2008

I served as President of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society (1984-6), and I was Editor of Paideusis: Journal of the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society (1992-96). In 1995 I was the Robert Jackson Memorial Lecturer, and in 2007 I gave the Helen De Vitt Jones Lecture at Texas Tech University. I received the Distinguished Service Award of the Canadian Association of Foundations of Education (1995); the Mary Anne Raywid Award from the Society of Professors of Education (1999); and the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Philosophy of Education Society (2005). I was also the recipient of the Mount Saint Vincent University Award for Research Excellence in 2007.

Publications

I have published 6 books, 3 edited collections of essays, 1 booklet, 100+ articles/chapters, 30+ book reviews, and 1 audiotape. I have been guest editor of 4 special issues of different journals. Recent publications include:

• “Helping open-mindedness flourish”, Journal of Thought 46, 1-2, 2011: 9-20.
• “Following the argument: A philosophical memoir”, Paideusis 19, 2, 2010: 78-85.
• “A mindful approach to teacher education: An interview with William Hare”, Journal of Educational Thought 44, 3, 2010: 215-27. Co-authored with Mary Jane Harkins and Sonya Singer.
• “Taking one’s principles seriously: A teacher confronts controversy”, Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership 13, 1, 2010: 1-7.
• "Toward a more critical outlook", Journal of Thought 44, 3-4, 2009: 3-6.
• "Bertrand Russell on education and teaching", Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations 20, 1, 2009: 52-57. (Based on my talk on Russell recorded on Twentieth Century Philosophy of Education.)
• “Socratic open-mindedness”, Paideusis 18, 1, 2009: 5-16.
• "What open-mindedness requires", Skeptical Inquirer, 33, 1, 2009: 36-39.
• "Imagination, critical thinking, and teaching", in Jan Sobocan and Leo Groarke  (eds.), Critical Thinking, Education, and Assessment London: Althouse Press, 2009: 127-50.
• "Why philosophy for educators?", International Journal of Applied Philosophy 21, 2, 2007: 149-59.
• "Credibility and credulity: Monitoring teachers for trustworthiness:, Journal of Philosophy of Education 41, 2, 2007: 207-19.
• "Ideological indoctrination and teacher education", Journal of Educational Controversy 2, 2, 2007.
• "Teaching philosophy of education: the value of questions", Interchange 38, 2, 2007: 99-118. Contribution to a symposium with Ann Chinnery, Donald Kerr, and Walter Okshevsky.
• Key Questions For Educators Caddo Gap, (2007). Edphil Books, 2005. Co-edited (with John Portelli).
• "Why open-mindedness matters", Think 13, 2006:7-15.
• "The ideal of open-mindedness", in A. Irvine and J.S. Russell (eds.), In the Agora: The Public Face of Canadian Philosophy. U of T Press, 2006: 115-17.
• "Open-minded inquiry: A glossary of key concepts", Inquiry: Critical Thinking Across the Disciplines 23, 2, 2004: 37-41. (Published 2006)
• "Education for an unsettled world: Dewey's conception of open-mindedness", Journal of Thought 39, 3, 2004: 111-127.
• "Assessing one's own open-mindedness", Philosophy Now 47, 2004: 26-28.
• "Is it good to be open-minded?", International Journal of Applied Philosophy 17, 1, 2003: 73-87.
• "The ideal of open-mindedness and its place in education", Journal of Thought 38, 2, 2003: 3-10.
• "Ideas for teachers: Russell's legacy", Oxford Review of Education 28, 4, 2002: 491-507.
• "Teaching and the attitude of open-mindedness", Journal of Educational Administration and Foundations 16, 2, 2002: 103-24.
• "R.M. Hare 1919-2002", Paideusis 14, 2, 2001:72-76. (Issued 2002.)
• “Bertrand Russell and the ideal of critical receptiveness”, Skeptical Inquirer 25, 3, 2001: 40-44.  Swedish translation (abridged), "Bertrand Russell och kritisk oppenhet", in Sokaren No. 4, 2001: 35-6.
• “Bertrand Russell on critical thinking”, Journal of Thought 36, 1, 2001: 7-16. Also published in the Proceedings of the Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy 1999.
• “Reflections on the teacher’s tasks: Contributions from philosophy of education in the twentieth century”, Education Research and Perspectives 27, 2, 2000: 1-23.
• “Teaching and the barricades to inquiry”, Journal of General Education 49, 2, 2000: 88-109.
• “Portraying science accurately in classrooms: Emphasizing open-mindedness rather than relativism”, Journal of Research in Science Teaching 37, 3, 2000: 225-36. Co-authored with Patricia Harding. 

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Books

My most recent book is an edited collection of essays: 

Key Questions for Educators, 2005

My other books include: 

Open-mindedness and Education, 1979

What Makes A Good Teacher, 1993

Revised Editions

• The 3rd revised edition of a book of case studies (co-authored with John Portelli) appeared in June 2003:  
• William Hare and John P. Portelli, What To Do: Case Studies for Educators, Revised 3rd ed. Halifax: Edphil Books, 2003, pp. 1-154.  ISBN: 0-9697253-2-9
• The 3rd revised edition of a book of readings in philosophy of education (co-edited with John Portelli) appeared in December 2001:
• William Hare and John P. Portelli (eds.), Philosophy of Education: Introductory Readings Revised 3rd. edition. Calgary: Detselig, 2001, pp. 1-409.
  ISBN: 1-55059-216-5
• 25 authors, including Paulo Freire, Jane Roland Martin, Carl Sagan, Nel Nodding, Richard Rorty, Maxine Greene, and Elliot Eisner.

If our research interests overlap, I would be delighted to hear from you.  

Bill Hare

November 2009

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Contact Us

Mailing Address:

Mount Saint Vincent University
Faculty of Education
Seton Academic Centre Room 401
166 Bedford Hwy
Halifax, NS B3M 2J6

Email: msvu.ca
Phone: (902) 457-6178
Toll-Free within Canada: 1-877-433-2889
Fax: (902) 457-4911

Education Office Hours:
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