This book offers description and analysis of philosophies that can provide scaffolding and justification for the construction of critical, democratic, educational theory and practice. The reader is presented with a broad, historical treatment of ideas in their social, political, economic, and educational contexts; moreover, the perennial quest for certainty is contrasted with those who have decided it has always been an unhappy, unsuccessful, and dangerous quest. Richard A. Brosio argues that the scaffolding and building materials for the construction of critical, democratic education are best provided by those thinkers who recognize epistemological uncertainty, as well as the need for a broadly inclusive human attempt to make sense of our experiences, education, and world. The cast of characters includes classical Greeks, Marx, Dewey, existentialists, liberationists, Freire, politics of identity thinkers, and postmodernists – along with a touch of green.