A discussion of Paulo Freire's contemporary pedagogy looks at the philosophy underlying the approach in the context of traditional educational philosophy. Freire's pedagogy of the oppressed, Liberatory Learning, which was originally developed as a reponse to illiteracy among Brazilian peasants, also holds significance for other culture and contexts as a model of learning for developing literacy and enabling individuals to understand, respond to, and to some degree control the circumstances and directions of their lives. The history of the approach's development is chronicled and the method examined in writing and English-as-a-Second-Language programs in U.S. universities. It is then proposed that Liberatory Learning is a re-working of fundamental principles regarding learning for Freire's specific goals, using methods usually reserved for literate, responsible learners such as Greek scholars and graduate-level business students: dialogue, student engagement, and reflection and response. It is argued that the responsibility and action Freire hopes to inspire among the illiterate, through literacy and authority, parallel the learning processes characterizing the Socratic method, Dewey's experimentalism, and the Harvard Business School case method. Illustrations and further comparisons are offered. A brief bibliography is included. (MSE)