An Adventure in Publishing Revisited: Fifty Years of Studies in Philosophy and Education

Abstract

First paragraph: In 1960 a new journal saw the light. The journal was called Studies in Philosophy and Education. In the first issue its editors -- Archibald W. Anderson (University of Illinois), Marc Belth (Queens College), Joe R. Burnett (University of Illinois), Hobert W. Burns (Syracuse University), Maxine Greene (New York University), James McClellan (Columbia University) and Francis T. Villemain (University of Toledo) -- characterised the birth of the new journal as "an adventure in publishing".  The editors had a clear idea about why the journal was needed. While they started their editorial introduction in an apologetic manner by stating that they were offering "yet another journal to our colleagues in education, in philosophy, and in the growing discipline that stands in between", the "major justification" they gave for starting up Studies in Philosophy and Education rested in their belief "that the philosophic problems and issues of education are of sufficient importance to warrant a publication exclusively devoted to technical philosophic inquiries that are carried out in depth". In order to achieve this, the editors not only proposed "to make STUDIES a place where the primary materials are sustained analyses, somewhat longer than most journal articles," but also emphasises the need for "debates and exchanges" on the belief that "(c)ontroversy seems to provok eand sustain growth in philosophical thought". The editors concluded their introductory statement by stating that "(u)ntil such time as the members of the Editorial Board adjudicate their conflicting truths, STUDIES will be without an official philosophic position."