Philosophy of education is that branch of philosophy that addresses philosophical questions concerning

the nature, aims, and problems of education.

For idealists, ideas are the only true reality. Conscious reasoning is the only way to locate what is true,
beautiful, and just. Plato founded Idealism and outlined its tenets in his book The Republic. For Plato,
there are two worlds. The first world is home of the spiritual or mental world where universal ideas and
truth were permanent; this world can only be found through conscious reasoning. The second world is
the world of appearances and imperfection; a world experienced through sensory experiences of sight,
sound, touch, smell, and taste. Plato outlines this duality between the two worlds in “The Allegory of the
Cave.” In this famous allegory, people are chained against walls with a fire behind them. What the
people perceive as real are only shadowed projections on the wall of cave. If one was to break free,
leave the cave, and discover the sun, this new “realm” would discover the true source of everything that
was previously known. It would be the realm of pure fact and form. This is the source of all that is real.
The real world is just an imperfect projection of these ideas, forms, and truth.

Almost two centuries later, Dutch philosopher Renè Descartes would shift Platonic Idealism toward

mind-body dualism with his famous phrase “Cogito, ergo sum (I think; therefore, I am).” For Descartes,
the only proof of his existence is his thinking—a thinking being. Like Plato, Descartes outlined a rationale
for why perceptions are unreliable, and the external world is illusory. Only through rationale deduction,
could one obtain truth. While Plato outlined a dualism between two separate worlds, Descartes
established an Idealism founded on mind-body dualism where the thinking mind is given privilege over
the physical body and external world. This dualism would heavily influence philosophy and educational
philosophy well into the 20th century.

Teaching, for Idealists, focuses on moral excellence that will benefit society. Students should focus on
subjects of the mind like literature, history, and philosophy. Students will demonstrate understanding
through participation in lecture and through Socratic-dialogues which engage students in introspection
and insight that bring to conscious the universal forms and concepts.

Key philosophers:

Plato, Descartes

Realism’s central tenet is based on a reality, or external universe, independent from the human mind.
Aristotle, Plato’s student, contradicted his teacher’s Idealist philosophy and formulated a philosophy on
determining truth through observation. Reality can be truly understood by careful observation of all the
data. Because of his emphasis on careful observation, Aristotle is often referred as the Father of the
Scientific Method. Through logic, humans can reason about the physical universe. Essences of things or
substances, therefore, can be determined by examination of the object or substance. Aristotle’s logic,
then, emphasizes induction as well as deduction, and the real world can be determined through both.

During the Enlightenment, Common Sense Realism began to counter the Idealism of Descartes. Rather
than the skepticism of the external world espoused by Idealists, the Common Sense Realists, like John
Locke, argue that ordinary experiences intuit a self and the physical world without the skepticism of the
real world outside the mind. This Realism would influence the development of Empiricism and
Pragmatism later in the Enlightenment.
For realists, teaching methods should focus on basic skills and memorization and mastery of facts.
Students demonstrate content mastery of these skills through critical observation and applied
experimentation.

Pragmatism

Like Realism, Pragmatism requires empirical observation of the real world; however, unlike Realism and
Idealism, the real world is not an unchanging whole, but is evolving and changing according to how
thought is applied into action towards a problem. Thought cannot or should not describe or represent
reality, but rather, should be applied by the practical applying thoughts and experiences to problems
that arise. The universe, then, is always evolving according to new applied thoughts turned into actions.
Pragmatism’s founder Charles Sanders Pierce posits thought must produce action towards an ever-
changing universe.

John Dewey, the founder of Progressivism, believed that experience is central to explaining the world;
moreover, experience is what is needed to be explained. One needs practical experiences and
uses explanations to find models that would best fit any given problem or situation. As new experiences
and explanations arise, reality will evolve or change to new situations and problems.

Pragmatists focus on hands-on, experiential learning tasks such as experimenting, and working on

projects in groups. Students will demonstrate understanding through applied learning tasks to concrete
problems or tasks.

Key philosophers:

Charles S. Pearce, William James, John Dewey

Existentialism

Existentialism grew from the continental philosophies forming in Europe during the 19th and early
20th century, most notably hermeneutic phenomenology—the examination of lived-experience.
Hermeneutic phenomenology and existentialism countered the dualisms inherent in both Idealism and
Realism. The world does not have any meaning outside human existence within a world. The mind/body
or mind/physical world duality and cannot have any meaning without a human being actively absorbed
in the world. Jean Paul Sarte posited that “existence precedes essence”, which means one’s existence
comes before the nature, or fact, of a thing. This means that individual human beings are free to
determine their own meaning for life and do not possess any inherent identity different than one the
individual chooses or creates.

Existentialists position the individual as responsible for their own being, or existence. “Who am I? What
should I do?”  become central questions for an individual’s project in being. If one identifies with being a
teacher, or any other identity like being a parent, then one must evaluate what does one who teaches
(or any other identity) really do? After thoughtful and careful reflection, one must choose to
authentically do the project of being a teacher (or any other identity). Acting in accordance to your
chosen beliefs and values despite social pressures is the way to have an authentic existence; however,
acting or adopting false values based on social pressures would be acting in “bad faith” and one would
be living an inauthentic existence according to Sartre.
In educational settings, Existentialists focus on giving students personal choice where they must
confront others’ views in order to clarify and develop authentic actions in terms of the students’
developing identities. Existentialists have difficulty positioning students as objects to measured, tracked,
or standardized. Teachers who adhere to an Existentialist ontology create activities to guide students to
self-direction and self-actualization.

Key philosophers:

Søren Kierkegaard, Jean Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir

Essentialism - focuses on getting back to the basics and believe that a strong core curriculum as well as
high academic standards (Armstrong, Henson, & Savage, 2009).

Why is it important for a person to have a philosophy on education? How do

the students benefit from a teachers philosophy? What can a person learn about
their philosophy on education? Every teacher has a set of beliefs; otherwise known
as their philosophy of education. A philosophy of education represents the purpose of school,
the role of a teacher, and what and how these things are taught.

Education is also seen as a place where children can develop according to their unique needs and
potential.²> education allows children the ability to expand to their full potential perfectly.

Thales’ idea that everything comes from water, Pythagoras’ more practical and mathematically
applicable observations, Socrates’ clear and critical style of reasoning, Plato and Aristotle's’ far-reaching
works, including metaphysics, logic and ethics - strange though some of these ideas may seem, they are
the ideas that laid the foundations of philosophy as we know it.

Idealism is a philosophy which holds that ideas are the only true reality; that the material world is
characterized by change, instability and uncertainty; ideas are enduring. Knowledge and Truth is not
created, but discovered. In education, this underlies the belief that the human mind is "pregnant of
truth" from birth, which means that the learners are by nature capable of knowing by themselves; that
the gift of Reason and intelligence is in the nature of every man. Given the right motivation, the learners
discover by themselves what is True, Good and Beautiful. The curriculum therefore is teacher-centered,
and structured, and the general goal of education is to discover the Absolute TRUTH, BEAUTY &
GOODNESS. Toward this goal, the teaching Approach should be deductive and the strategies may
include discovery method, and the popular Question and Answer. In this philosophy, the Teacher is the 

First off, as you describe your own educational philosophy in terms of its metaphysics, epistemology,
axiology, and logic, I would classify myself as a as a Constructivist predominantly; however, I infuse all
other student-centered, multicultural, humanistic, and related theories into my lessons. I am constantly
evolving and expanding, too, in my ideologies, since education is so cyclical in how we initiate the art of
teaching. High standards and expectations also characterize my approach since I will not accept that a
child cannot learn.

In terms of epistemology, I view my PASS objectives or state and local district (school) standards as my
umbrella ...
I hope my thoughts and ideas guide you in constructing your own safe and rigorous classroom ideas. I
have included factual information, mixed with my own classroom experience to try and provide you with
the best of both worlds. I included my references for you as well.

Idealism

The aspects of idealism have an important place in the classroom. This philosophy tends toward the
smartest kids in the classroom. It is often easy to let the low-level students consume the majority of the
time in the classroom. Additionally, this approach recognizes the importance of recalling memorized
facts. Certainly is it helpful for students to be able to recall some facts quickly. Do you agree?
Multiplication tables are a good example of the importance of recall. It is also important to promote an
environment with moral standards, as idealism favors. A classroom with moral standards is a safe
learning classroom, as students are free to express their ideas without oppression. In short, I would
borrow the idea of moral absolutes for my classroom, as well as the idea ...

Education is an admirable thing. But it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth
knowing can be taught

The top philosophers and scientists of the modern times, they have only passed opinions on God. They
haven’t really looked for him. Scientists spend all their life looking for a solution to one specific problem
or focusing on a tiny aspect of reality. Even on minor bacteria they can spend twenty or thirty years of
research. But what about God, who created all of it? If we are really serious about knowing why reality
was created, we have to devote our lifetime priority to the ultimate reason, which is God.
None of them has really searched for God. But once you really start understanding more of the cosmos, you
see that there in fact are no ‘accidents’ and that there are very calculated systems around us. It is all based
on very solid and definite principles. So it is not the job of the heart. The heart is not intelligible so it is only
hearsay that God would be known to the heart. God comes to us in the very quality He has awarded to
mankind: our intellect. That is why the mind comes to rest when it believes in God. If it doesn’t, it keeps on
telling us that there is something wrong. The heart will just be nostalgic. Blindly nostalgic. You cannot
interpret the sadness of the heart. You’re eating, you’re drinking, you’re loving and your physical instincts
are being satisfied, but still you feel nostalgic. What is the causes this feeling? It is like someone who’s
standing in the desert and who has everything with him, but doesn’t know the direction he has to go in. The
truth of the desert lies in the fact that you need a way to the oasis. So the truth of mankind is that you need
to figure out why humans were awarded this very special quality that makes it superior to all other
creations: intellectual curiosity. the growth of the intellect. First solving one problem and then going further.
I call it a process of ‘outgrowth’. From one state to the other, from one mind to the other, from physical to
metaphysical, from psychological to parapsychological and finally you’re only interested to know the blatant
Truth. So eventually you have to solve the core question: is God just a proposition or does He really exist? 
It’s not all science when we talk of God, but we should be more scientific about Him.

Such people sensed that there is something ultimate beyond all reach and they wanted to bring it closer.
There is no human society that has ever built moral laws out of itself. We have destroyed all moral laws. If
there is no religion, there will be no moral rule because the mind will go secular and amoral. I don’t say our
minds will become immoral, but they will become ‘amoral’. They will have no sense of morality and they will
think they can do whatever they feel like. But if I’m not free, then I’m responsible to answer back.

Pragmatism is a philosophic school generally considered to

have originated in the late nineteenth century with Charles Sanders Peirce,
who first stated the pragmatic maxim. It came to fruition in the early twentieth-
century philosophies of William James and John Dewey. Most of the
thinkers who describe themselves as pragmatists consider practical consequences
or real effects to be vital components of both meaning and truth. Other
important aspects of pragmatism include anti-Cartesianism, radical empiricism,
instrumentalism, anti-realism, verificationism, conceptual relativity, a
denial of the fact-value distinction, a high regard for science, and fallibilism
Educational essentialism is a theory that states that children
should learn the traditional basic subjects and that these should be learned
thoroughly and rigorously. An essentialist program normally teaches children
progressively, from less complex skills to more complex.
An Essentialist will usually teach some set subjects similar to Reading, Writing,
Literature, Foreign Languages, History, Math, Science, Art, and Music.
The teacher’s role is to instill respect for authority, perseverance, duty, consideration, and practicality.
Essentialism strives to teach students the accumulated
knowledge of our civilization through core courses in the traditional
academic disciplines. Essentialists aim to instill students with the “essentials”
of academic knowledge, patriotism, and character development. This traditional
approach is meant to train the mind, promote reasoning, and ensure a
common culture