ABSTRACT. This essay argues for locating the philosophy of education within a context characterized as political economy, by which is meant a holistic theory of human relations taken in the round. Smith and Marx, from whom we can still learn, were classical exponents of this approach. Their great lessons were, one way or another, all about how to see the landscapes of human action and imagination, and hence of how to understand historical human beings within their material environments. In the contemporary world classically inspired and informed political economy remains a perspective that still has the necessary intellectual and moral resources to enrich and transform the meanings of liberalism. So conceived political economy may provide a continuing and rigorous context for educational philosophy and theory. pp. 118–124

Keywords: political economy; liberalism; educational theory