本研究旨在運用N. Luhmann 社會系統理論為方法論的概念工具，以比較分析英、美、德、法和澳洲五個國家教育哲學研究制度化的歷史過程，藉以彰顯教育哲學研究的共同特色及各國教育哲學發展之個殊文化特質。英國教育哲學的起源可追溯到1651 年Wotton 的《教育哲學探究》，其奠定了英國教育分析哲學之基礎，後經十九、二十世紀之交的觀念論籠罩，及至1970 ～ 1980 年代則由分析哲學主導教育哲學發展。美國二十世紀初，觀念論的教育哲學和本土的Dewey實用主義互相激盪，到1970 年代的分析哲學鼎盛。法國思想傳統素具人文主義與普遍主義特色，衍而為理性主義哲學傳統。德國虔敬派神學及神祕主義孕育了以「陶冶」為核心概念的教育哲學，後經Kant 與Hegel 及其學派樹立了具世界性影響力的觀念論哲學傳統。澳洲教育哲學由對英、美之依賴，走向試圖建立本土特色之教育哲學。1990 年代以降，各國教育哲學大多呈現了現象學、詮釋學、批判理論、後現代主義、後結構主義等各種哲學思想互相爭衡、百花齊放的景象。

Adopting N. Luhmann's system theory as methodological tool, this paper attempts to compare the historical development of the studies in educational philosophy in the U.K., the U.S.A., Germany, France, and Australia. This aim is to explicate the universal nature of educational philosophy and the characteristic features of its study in each country. The origin of philosophy of education can be traced to Sir Henry Wotton's A Philosophical Survey of Educationpublished in 1651 which laid foundations of British analytical philosophy. German idealism founded mainly by Kant, Hegel, and their followers had exerted a world-wide influence on the development of educational philosophy during the turn of 19th to 20th century. In the U.S.A., the competitions between the imported idealism and native pragmatism in the early 20th century was followed by the domination of analytical philosophy from 1970s to 1980s. In Australia, many philosophers attempted to free themselves from the dependence on American and British philosophy and to establish their native philosophy of education. Since late 1990s, the world-wide philosophy of education has been characterized by a kaleidoscopic scene of competitions among phenomenology, hermeneutics, critical theory, and various “postisms.”