Inquiry without standards: A reply to Hand

Abstract

In this ‘Reply’, I am critical of several aspects of Michael Hand’s paper ‘Moral education in the community of inquiry’. I do not agree that such terms as ‘standards’ and ‘directive teaching’ are consistent with a proper understanding of inquiry generally, and philosophical inquiry, moral inquiry and community of inquiry, in particular. I also argue that the idea of openness, duly modified, remains central to all forms of inquiry, whether philosophical or otherwise. Finally, I cast doubt on Hand’s characterisation of the distinctions between controversial and uncontroversial, on the one hand, and justified and unjustified, on the other, by reflecting critically on his own examples.