Empiricism and Beyond

Abstract

A good deal of difficulty in the field of special education stems from our lack of awareness that what often appear to be attacks on our existence---the inclusion movement is a good example---are really the results of honest efforts to improve the field. in our nearly exclusive focus on empirical data, we have failed to understand the viewpoints of fellow special educators whose values and beliefs represent a nonempirical point of view. as habermas suggests, different forms of knowledge are needed to address different kinds of interests. in our focus on rationality, we have created crises of legitimacy and motivation. in this issue, our purpose is to acquaint special educators with some alternative perspectives in order to stimulate openness to communicative ethics, and, through mutual understanding and collaboration, to ensure the survival of our field.