In the decade of the 1970s, American society was brimming with humanistic and critical theories and discourses. From the standpoint of humane thought and social equity and justice, James B. Macdonald continuously challenged and criticized traditional curricula and set forth a re-conceptualized theory of curricula. This constitutes a third influence for curricular research. This essay first introduces the evolution of Macdonald's multi-faceted curricular thinking, and then explicates his curricular theory as well as his methodology for curricular theorizing, and the educational significance of his transcendental developmental ideology. Macdonald believes that both technical and aesthetic rationalities are the bases of methodology of curricula thinking. Finally, the strengths and weaknesses of his curriculum theory and its implications for current education in Taiwan are also discussed. |