Journal of Philosophy of Education, zyxwvut Vul. 20, Nu. zyxwv 1, 1986 zyxw 133 REVIEW ARTICLE On Reconstructing the Concept of Human Potential JOHN WHITE On Human Potential: an essay in the philosophy of education ISRAEL SCHEFFLER, 1985 Boston and London, Routledge zyxwvu & Kegan Paul pp. xii+ 141, E14.95 I Israel Scheffler writes “My aim in this book is to show the roots of the concept of potential in genuine aspects of human nature while at the same time freeing it, through analytical reconstruction, of outworn philosophical myths. I hope thereby to improve its theoretical and its practical applicability (p. xi). This aim is not transparent as it stands and needs further explication. But it is at least clear so far that Scheffler thinks (a) that there zyxwv is a coherent concept of potential, (b) that this concept is in some sense rooted in an account of human nature, (c) that the concept has to be ‘reconstructed’ so as to detach it from inadequate accounts of it, (d) that the reconstructed concept is useful theoretically and practically. Scheffler’s aim needs to be understood in relation to the larger enterprise of which Of Human Potential forms only one part. The Harvard Project on Human Potential was set up at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1979 with a grant from the Bernard van Leer Foundation of the Netherlands. The latter asked the Harvard team for ‘illumination of its fundamental aims and guidance in conceiving its basic activities’ (p. zy 2). The Foundation describes itself as promoting “innovative models in education related to socially deprived children and young people. It supports projects which enable the young to benefit as fully as possible from their educational and social development opportunities; and thereby, to fulfil their own potential and to make their maximum contribution to the advancement of society” (p. 1). The Foundation asked the project group to develop ‘a theoretical framework for conceiving human potential that would be both analytically sound and scientifically informed, the assumption being that, aside from its intrinsic interest, such a framework would be practically valuable for the guidance of education’ (p. 2). The Harvard Project took up this challenge, dividing the work into psychological, philosophical and anthropo- logical studies. Israel Scheffler took on the philosophical task among these, of investigat- ing the concept of potential. Whether Scheffler succeeds in his task we shall have to see. Meanwhile, it is interesting to note that the Project group did take up the challenge that the Foundation set it. In doing so, it seems as if they must have been committed from the start to seeing the development of a sound, scientifically informed, theoretically and practically useful way of conceiving human potential as a viable project.