A full account of the ways in which philosophy can contribute to the development of educational theory has yet to be synthesized. Education could be seeing as the initiation into the forms of knowledge evolved by society, both to develop the mind and to transmit a valuable heritage. We will argue that the disciplines themselves, in our case technology, should supply the various forms of critical thinking and value problems to be addressed, and that it is up to the teacher's job to lead students beyond their present interests to a love of knowledge of the practical and of the moral. The development of the mind is inseparable from initiation into the form of knowledge that represent a discipline. This requires that it be nondirective with respect to substantive conceptions of the good, and promote autonomy grounded in rational scrutiny of the alternatives.
Technology education fulfills then the requirements of liberal education.
However, in going beyond the rational scrutinyof the alternatives and actually selecting an alternative, it goes through the practical and moral philosophy of the issue at stake. The orthodox position has often been summed up in the statement that technology education as technology itself cannot give imperative advice. According to this position, it is only possible to give advice technically on a hypothetical imperative basis. This is expressed by saying that, if the goal is given, it is possible to state technically, without intruding value judgements, the best means for the accomplishment of the goal. The orthodox view has been criticized on the ground that it requires the possibility of a clear cut separation between means and end, whereas such separation is impossible, and hence, as a rule, the recommendation of appropriate means will entail value judgments.