• Philosophy of Education: Meaning and Scope • Relationship between education and philosophy • Impact of philosophy on education Philosophy: Meaning, Nature and Scope
• The term philosophy came from Greek 'philo’, Love, and
'Sophia’, wisdom, • Philosophy is, literally defined, “the love of wisdom”. • it is the study of the most basic and the most profound matters of human existence. • Philosophy, in the West, began in the Greek colony of Miletus with Thales (c. 624/623 – c. 548/545 BC, who, according to ancient sources, was the first to ask “What is the basic stuff of the universe from which all else comes?”) • The mathematician and mystic Pythagoras was the first to call himself a philosopher. Origin of Philosophy: • Wonder is said to be the origin of philosophy. The Greek thinkers, wondered at the phenomena of the world and tried to explain them by principles. • Thales (600 B. C.) looked upon water as the primary stuff of the world. • Anaximander regarded the infinite atmosphere or air as the fundamental reality. • Heraclitus conceived of fire as the only reality. • Empedocles (450 B. C.) thought of earth, water fire, and air as the permanent substances. Thus the Greek philosophy originated in wonder. • The Vedic thinkers also wondered at the grand and sublime aspects of nature, and conceived of the sun, the moon, the sky, the wind or storm, the rain, and the like as animated by spirits. • They thought of a large number of nature-Gods, who gave men rich crops, cattle, health, wealth and victory in battles. • They gradually conceived of the world-architect who created the world. • Then they conceived of Brahman or the infinite Spirit pervading the universe and guiding the human souls. • Thus Indian philosophy also sprang from wonder. Later philosophical speculation in India sprang from a deeper craving for the attainment of the highest good. • Modern western philosophy sprang from doubt. Rene Descartes, the father of modern western philosophy, started with doubt. • Sense-perception may be illusory. • Reason may be so constituted that it may lead to error. • Authority is unreliable. • Experience, reason, and authority or traditions are doubtful. But the fact of doubting is undoubted. • To doubt is to think. To think is to exist. • Descartes :“I think, therefore I am”(Latin: Cogito, ergo sum,) • The present age also is one of doubt and perplexity. Tradition and authority have lost their hold on the human, mind. Religion is dissolving and losing its grip on the human mind. Fundamental notions of science are being revolutionized. • The concepts of matter, time and space have been profoundly altered. The deepest layers of the mind are being discovered. Political, economic, social, and religious theories are breaking down. • Unfathomable mysteries of matter, life, and mind are being revealed. Man has become the master of the forces of nature; yet he is unhappy and discontented. He has lost faith and vision. He has lost sense of moral values. He is a prisoner in the prison of his scientific inventions. Man has mastered nature but enslaved himself. He has become sceptical, cynical, selfish, and greedy. • Some definitions:
• the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live
(ethics); what sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning (logic) (Wikipedia) • investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values, based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods (American Heritage Dictionary) • the study of the ultimate nature of existence, reality, knowledge and goodness, as discoverable by human reasoning (Penguin English Dictionary) • the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and ethics (WordNet) • the search for knowledge and truth, especially about the nature of man and his behavior and beliefs (Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary) • the rational and critical inquiry into basic principles (Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia) • the study of the most general and abstract features of the world and categories with which we think: mind, matter, reason, proof, truth, etc. (Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy) • careful thought about the fundamental nature of the world, the grounds for human knowledge, and the evaluation of human conduct (The Philosophy Pages) • Philosophy has three major parts: • Epistemology, Ontology and Axiology, • Epistemology is the theory of knowledge. • Ontology is the theory of reality. Ontology deals with matter, life, mind, and God. It deals with their essences and qualities and activities. • Axiology is the theory of values. • Different philosophers provide different definitions emphasizing the different branches of philosophy. • The following definitions identify philosophy with epistemology, and ignore ontology and axiology: • “Philosophy is the science and criticism of cognition” (Kant). • “Philosophy is the science of knowledge” (Fichte). • These definitions regard epistemology or theory of knowledge as philosophy. Epistemology enquires into the nature, origin, validity, and extent of knowledge. It enquires into the conditions of valid knowledge. It is a preliminary step to metaphysical investigation into the nature of the reality. • Kant was the founder of epistemology. Fichte was his successor who laid great stress on epistemology. • The following definitions identify philosophy with ontology or metaphysics, and ignore epistemology and axiology: • “Philosophy aims at the knowledge of the eternal, of the essential nature of things” (Plato). • “Philosophy is the science which investigates the nature of Being as it is in itself, and the attributes which belong to it in virtue of its own nature” (Aristotle). • The following definitions identify philosophy with sciences: • “Philosophy is the science of sciences” (Gomte). • “Philosophy is the sum total of all scientific knowledge” (Paulsen). • “Philosophy is the unification of all knowledge obtained by the special sciences in a consistent whole” (Wundt). • “Philosophy is completely unified knowledge—the generalizations of philosophy comprehending and consolidating the widest generalizations of science” (Herbert Spencer). • These definitions identify philosophy with completely unified scientific knowledge. Philosophy systematizes, organizes, and unites them into a unified system. However, to unify all the sciences into a unified system is too ambitious/difficult. Moreover, sciences hover over the surface of reality. • Even if they adequately explain all, physical, biological, and mental phenomena, yet unexplained residues remain, which is beyond their grasp. • Besides, philosophy is, concerned with intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and religious values. Sciences are not concerned with values but with facts, events, or phenomena only. • Therefore, philosophy cannot be defined as the sum total of sciences or as the completely unified scientific knowledge. Philosophy goes beyond facts and values, and seeks to explain them, and interrelate them by an all-comprehending reality, which is impenetrable to the sciences. • It estimates their value, worth, meaning and significance. It evaluates facts, and probes into the meaning of the universe. Nature of Philosophy: • Philosophy literally means ‘love of wisdom’. It is an attempt to arrive at a rational conception of the reality as a whole. It enquires into the nature of the universe in which we live, the nature of the human soul, and its destiny, and the nature of God or the Absolute, and their relation to one another. • It enquires into the nature of matter, time, space, causality, evolution, life, and mind, and their relation to one another. • It is the art of thinking all things logically, systematically, and persistently. It is the art of thinking rationally and systematically of the reality as a whole. • Plato rightly conceived of philosophy as the persistent attempt to seek clear notions. It examines, clarifies, and explains popular and scientific concepts of matter, space, time, causality, evolution, mechanism, teleology, life, mind or soul, God or the Absolute, right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, and the like, and arrives at a rational conception of the reality. • It systematizes our scientific knowledge, and moral, aesthetic and religious experiences. It analyses the popular and scientific concepts, examines their validity in the light of reason, and interrelates them to one another. Its method is logical and rational. Its chief instrument is logic. Its method is rational speculation—logical analysis and synthesis. • Philosophy is the rational attempt to have a world-view. It endeavors to reach a conception of the entire universe with all its elements and aspects and their interrelations to one another. It is not contented with a partial view of the world. • Sciences give us a sectional view of the world. But philosophy harmonizes the highest conclusions of the different sciences, co-ordinates them with one another, and gives a rational conception of the whole world. • It investigates the nature of the fundamental concepts of matter, time, space, life, mind, and the like and interrelates them to one another. It enquires into the nature of the universe, its stuff or material, its creator or God, its purpose, and its relation to man and his soul. • Is the universe material or spiritual? • Is it made of mind or spirit? • Is it mechanical or teleological? • Or is it governed by mechanical laws of nature, without any purpose? • Is it made of matter and energy? • Or is it created and sustained by God? • Is life a by-product of matter? • Or is it a new entity different from matter? • Is mind or soul a function, or a by-product of the brain? • Or is it something different from matter? • Is it free or determined by heredity and environment? • Is it mortal or immortal? • Are Truth, Good and Beauty mere subjective creations of the human mind? • Are they mere projections of the human heart with no counterparts in reality? • Are they mere hopes and aspirations of man? • Are they merely subjective ideals with no foothold in reality? • Or are they real and objective? • Are they firmly rooted in reality? • Philosophy seeks to answer these questions by logical thought and rational reflection. Philosophy is the criticism of life. It enquires into the nature, meaning, purpose, origin, and destiny of human life. It is the interpretation of life, its value, and meaning. • It is an enquiry into its source and destiny. It investigates the nature of the supreme norms, ideals, or values of life. It investigates the relation of values to reality. In this sense, philosophy is the interpretation of life. • Man, as a rational being, cannot but philosophize. Philosophy is a rational reflection on life; it is a criticism of life and experience. • Man is a rational animal. He lives and reflects upon his life. He thinks how he lives and why he lives. He reflects upon the nature, meaning and destiny of life. He unconsciously forms a world-view. This unconscious world-view is the germ of philosophy. Scope of philosophy • Metaphysics – The Study of Existence (so named for Aristotle’s work on the subject. Far from being a definitive term in Aristotle’s day, the word 'metaphysics’ was given to the book by his editor who placed it after his work 'Physics’. In Greek, 'meta’ simply means 'after’ and the title was originally only meant to mean the one piece came after the first). • This branch of philosophy is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. Cosmology and ontology are the two traditional branches of metaphysics. Cosmology seeks to understand the origin, evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of the universe at large, as well as the natural laws that keep it in order. Ontology is the investigation into what types of things there are in the world and what relations these things bear to one another. • Epistemology – The Study of Knowledge (from the Greek 'episteme’, Knowledge, and 'logos’, word. Epistemology asks how we know what we know, what exactly is 'knowledge’, why do we have it. Plato attempts, in his dialogue of Meno, and elsewhere, to answer these questions by claiming we do not 'learn’ but, rather, 'remember’ what was learned in a previous existence). • Epistemology is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (including limitations) of knowledge. It addresses four main questions. 1) What is knowledge? 2) How is knowledge acquired? 3) What do people know? 4) How do we know what we know? • Ethics – The Study of Behaviour/Action (from the Greek 'ta ethika’, on character, popularized by Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics which he wrote for his son, Nichomachus, as a guide to living well. Ethics is concerned with morality, how one should live and upon what basis to make decisions). Politics – The Study of Governance (from the Greek 'Polis’, city, Politikos meant 'that which has to do with the city’. Far from simply being concerned with running a government, however, Politikos also has to do with how to be a good citizen and neighbour and what one should contribute to one’s community. This branch, like all the others, was first definitively examined and popularized in the work by Aristotle). Aesthetics – The Study of Art (from the Greek 'aisthetikos’, sense/sentience, or 'aisthanomai’, to perceive or feel, Aesthetics concerns itself with the study of beauty, perception of beauty, culture and even nature, asking the fundamental question, “What makes something that is beautiful or meaningful 'beautiful’ or 'meaningful’?” Both Plato and Aristotle give answers to this question attempting to standardize objectively what is 'beautiful’ while the famous Sophist Protagoras argued that if one believes something to be 'beautiful’ then it is beautiful, and that all judgements are entirely subjective). Logic – is the study of reasoning. Logic is often divided into two parts, inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. The first is drawing general conclusions from specific examples, the second is drawing logical conclusions from definitions and axioms. •
In addition to these, there are other branches concerned with philosophical questions arising from other disciplines, including: • Philosophy of Mind : (the study of the nature of mind, consciousness, etc) • Philosophy of Religion: (the study of the nature of religion, God, evil, prayer, etc) • Philosophy of Language: (the study of the nature, origins, and usage of language) • Philosophy of Education : (the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education) • Philosophy of History : (the study of the eventual significance, if any, of human history) • Philosophy of Science : (the study of the assumptions, foundations, and implications of science) • Many others could be added to this list such as Philosophy of Law, Philosophy of Sociology, Philosophy of Mathematics, Philosophy of Ethnology (also known as Ethnophilosophy), Philosophy of Psychology, even Philosophy of Philosophy (also known as Meta-Philosophy). Philosophy of Education: Meaning and Scope • Love of wisdom of education • Philosophy of education is the branch of applied or practical philosophy • concerned with the nature and aims of education and the philosophical problems arising from educational theory and practice. • the subject is wide-ranging, involving issues in ethics and social/political philosophy, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of mind and language, and other areas of philosophy. • it looks both inward to the parent discipline and outward to educational practice and the social, legal, and institutional contexts in which it takes place, philosophy of education concerns itself with both sides of the traditional theory/practice divide. • Its subject matter includes both basic philosophical issues (e.g., the nature of the knowledge worth teaching, the character of educational equality and justice, etc.) and problems concerning specific educational policies and practices (e.g., the desirability of standardized curricula and testing, the social, economic, legal and moral dimensions of specific funding arrangements, the justification of curriculum decisions, etc.). • In all this the philosopher of education emphasizes conceptual clarity, argumentative rigour, the fair-minded consideration of the interests of all involved in or affected by educational efforts and arrangements, and informed and well- reasoned valuation of educational aims and interventions. • A philosophy of education is a statement (or set of statements) that identifies and clarifies the beliefs, values and understandings of an individual or group with respect to education. Defined in this sense, it may be thought of as a more- or-less organised body of knowledge and opinion on education, both as it is conceptualised and as it is practiced. • A philosophy of this sort is critical in defining and directing the purposes, objectives and focus of a school. • It also serve to inspire and direct educational planning, programs and processes in any given setting. • A philosophy of education may influence what subjects or topics are taught, how they are taught, and perhaps more importantly, the supporting beliefs and values that are taught, both implicitly and explicitly, within and around the core curriculum. • However, Philosophy is generally regarded as a great synthesizing and speculative discipline. • The philosophy of education is, thus, also philosophising of educational experience rather than a body of conclusion. • It is a philosophical process of solving educational problems through the philosophical method, from a philosophical attitude to arrive at philosophical conclusions and results. • It is the criticism of the general theory of education. It is a synthesis of educational facts with educational values. Definitions: • Philosophy of education is a fundamental basic skill formation, concerning to the power of thought (intellectual), the power of feeling (emotional), and human nature (John Dewey, 1957). • Educational philosophy is a science that is essentially the answer to the questions in the field of education. Philosophy of education is an application of philosophical analysis to the field of education. (Imam Barnadit, 1993) • D J O’Connor defines the philosophy of education as “those problems of philosophy that are of direct relevance to educational theory.’ • Frankena defined, “When we speak of the philosophy of education, we do not mean simply philosophy, we mean doing the thinking that philosophers do, but doing it about education”.
• According to Bertrand Russell, philosophy of
education is a new branch or a new subject which discusses educational problems from a philosophical point of view. It is a branch of applied philosophy. Of the three divisions of philosophy viz., epistemology, metaphysics and axiology, philosophy of education comes under the division of axiology. Therefore it is generally concerned with the value of education. Scope of Philosophy of Education • The philosophy of education as an independent study has its own scope and function. • The scope of the philosophy of education includes the critical evaluation of aims, ideas and education, analysis of human nature, educational values, the theory of knowledge and the relationship of education and social progress. • Thus, it seems to perform three functions: 1) speculative, 2) normative, and 3) critical. • The speculative function of philosophy of education consists in pursuing and enquiry, forming theory about education, its causes and nature. While doing so it tries to make a survey of the whole field. • Normative functions are related to the formation of goals, norms and standards. • The Critical function consists in scrutinizing rigorously the terms and propositions involved in educational thought and practice. • On the basis of the three functions of philosophy of education, it may be understood that it analyzes the following problems of education within its scope or which form its subject matter: • What is the nature of education? • Why should education be imparted? • What is the need of education? • For what objectives should education be imparted? • What is the relationship between Education and Philosophy? • What is the impact of philosophical thoughts on education? • How to theorize or philosophize the educational practices? • How can the excellence of education be brought about? • What are educational values? • To what extent can the values be taught? Relationship between education and philosophy • Education is modification of behaviour, philosophy points out the direction of this modification • It gives meaning to all aspects of education which go to complete the training of the child • Philosopher contemplates on the real nature of universe and man and accordingly lays down certain ultimate aims. Education is the means to realize these aims. • Philosophy clarifies the conflicting problems in the field of education. It provides us with a frame of reference for evaluating the aims and methods of education. • The great philosophers of all the times have also been great educators. • Philosophy determines all the Broad Aspects of Education • Gentile: “the process of education cannot go along right lines without the help of philosophy.” • Ross says, “Philosophy and education are two sides of the same coins where the former is the contemplative while the latter is the active side.” • Sir John Adam said, “Education is the dynamic side of philosophy.” • Dewey.“Philosophy is the theory of education in its most general phase”. • Fichte.“The art of education will never attain complete clearness without philosophy”. Impact of philosophy on education
• Philosophy and Aims of Education: It is the
philosophy of the time /place, which determines whether the aim of education, should be moral, vocational, intellectual, spiritual or liberal. Rusk, therefore, says, “Every system of education must have an aim and the aims of education are related to the aims of life. Philosophy formulates what should be the end of life while education offers suggestions how this end is to be achieved. • Philosophy and curriculum: When aims are set, the next step is to find means to achieve those aims. Curriculum is the means through which educator realizes his goal. • Philosophy and Text Book: The choice of textbooks also involves philosophy. • Philosophy and the methods: Methods are means through which goals of education can be realized. pragmatists advocate project method. Naturalists, learning by doing and for the idealist, the school is a garden and teacher a gardener, Gandhiji advocated basic education. • Philosophy and discipline: repression, impression, emancipation • Philosophy and the role of teachers: UNIT 2: Various Indian Schools of Philosophy and Education
• Vedic Philosophy: Different concepts of Vedic
philosophy, Implication in education • Yoga and Philosophy: Different types, Astangika Yoga, Implication in education • Buddhist Philosophy: Four principles, Implication in education Vedic Philosophy: Different concepts of Vedic philosophy, Implication in education Yoga and Philosophy: Different types, Astangika Yoga, Implication in education Buddhist Philosophy: Four principles, Implication in education