Notes on Philosophy of Education

Introduction
​ The role of philosophy in education is to provide the student the ability to synthesize, criticize,
assimilate and evaluate a variety and huge mass of knowledge. It is aimed to make a well-developed man,
cultured, refined and well rounded. It is an important part of the student’s total development that will
provide opportunities for him to lead a life worthy of man’s dignity as an individual and as a member of
society.

The Importance of Philosophy

​ The study of philosophy is important for: (1) it will provide the individual a strong foundation in
meeting the demands of his profession and in coping with the problems brought about my multifarious
activities of man, (2) it widens our intellectual horizon and our understanding and sympathies; (3) it
permits the full functioning of life of the spirit that alone constitutes the good life, and (4) it will always
be an important feature of human experience and in the development of the complete social being, ready
to take on his responsibility in this rapidly changing world cannot be over emphasized.

The Three Major Fields of Philosophy are:

1.​ Epistemology - is derived from the Greek word “episteme” which means “knowledge” and
‘logos” which means “the study of”. It deals with the study of the origin, structures, methods,
nature, limit and veracity (truth, reliability, validity) of human knowledge; it also includes logic
and a variety of linguistic concerns and the philosophy of science. As a theory of knowledge in all
its forms and application of how it is formulated and expressed and communicated, it looks into
the role of sense experience and how knowledge is acquired.
2.​ Metaphysics - is derived from the Greek word “meta” which means “beyond” and “physikon”
which means “nature” from which is derived the word “physics”, the science which deals with
matter, energy, force, natural laws and processes. It is also concerned about the nature of mind,
self and of the universe, and the immortality of the soul. Aside from the nature of reality and the
universe, metaphysics examines time, space, cause, and chance.
3.​ Axiology - deals with the study of values. It analyzes the origin, types and characteristics, criteria
and knowledge of values. It includes values of human conduct, the nature and justification of
social structures and political systems and the nature of art and its meaning in human experience.
The question of value is a very significant issue not only among philosophers and social thinkers
but also among ordinary people and students.

Educational Implications of Philosophy

1.​ It guides the individual in coming up with the right decision from a broader perspective because
philosophy provides him the wholistic view that undoubtedly will be an integral part of his
development.
2.​ The individual cannot be intimidated by dogmatic statements and he is prepared to strive and
challenge those who would attempt to control his thoughts.
3.​ It serves as a bulwark against mental servitude and provides a framework within which the
individual can think and act intelligently.
4.​ It will always be an important feature of human experience and its importance in the development
of the complete social being ready to take on the responsibility in this rapidly changing world.
5.​ It can provide some insights which an individual can see his role in a civilized society and
determine if it has some significance.
 The Educational Philosophies of the World’s Greatest Philosophers
​
Plato
1.​ Every individual should devote his life to what is best fitted for him to do.
2.​ The important function of education is to determine what every individual is by nature capable and
fitted of doing things.
3.​ Poor leadership will lead to wrong decisions.
4.​ The physical objects are not permanent representations of unchanging ideas, and that ideas alone
give true knowledge as they are known by the mind.
5.​ Social justice is giving of what is due to whom it is due.
6.​ Intellectual aristocracy is the rule of intellectual elite.
7.​ An individual who should lead society should be endowed with superior intelligence and
possessed impeccable integrity.

Aristotle
1.​ The end of education is not knowledge alone. It is the union of the innate intellect and the
individual and his will. It is knowledge expressed in action.
2.​ Virtue which is moral excellence, goodness, and righteousness is not possession of knowledge. It
is the state of the will.
3.​ The process of correct thinking can be reduced to rules like physics, geometry, and taught to any
normal mind.
4.​ Advocates the practice of moderation.
5.​ Vices are irrational habits or practices because they often stem from passion which often goes
beyond reason.
6.​ Advocates scientific approaches to education.

Socrates
1.​ Knowledge is wisdom, which, in effect, means virtue.
2.​ The problem of evil is the result of ignorance.
3.​ Knowledge is virtue and ignorance is vice.
4.​ Knowledge is the basis of all right actions including the art of living.

Confucius
1.​ Development of moral and ethical principles to promote peace and order and to preserve human dignity.
2.​ The family should serve as model for correct relations among men.
3.​ Postulated the golden rule for all men to follow, “Treat others as you wish them to treat you.”
4.​ Reason and natural law constantly enjoy man to live righteously. To offend no one and to give one this due.
5.​ Order and harmony should begin in the inner nature of man.
6.​ Man can enjoy inner peace and harmony and happiness by observing God’s law which is enshrined in every
individual conscience.
7.​ Emphasized the importance of self-control. “He who conquers others are strong; he who conquers himself
is the greatest victor.”
8.​ Reason is supposed to rule and regulate the lower craving of man such as appetites and passions.
9.​ Justice and love always go together.
10.​ The coming into being of the perfect man in a perfect social order is simply the full development of the
human personality through which the realization of man’s powers and natural endowments–his physical,
intellectual, emotional, pol;itical and economic aspirations.

Lao-Tze
1.​ He emphasized the virtue of passivity, humility and frugality.
 2.​ To achieve happiness, men should bring themselves into harmony with the Tao which he was not a god but
the supreme and governing principle of the universe.
3.​ To achieve happiness is: “Be yourself, be natural; live in accordance with your true, good and best nature.”

Comenius
1.​ Development of the whole man before he becomes professional.
2.​ Effective learning is done through the use of vernacular.
3.​ Following the order of natural law.
4.​ Train for character development.
5.​ Both boys and girls should be included in education regardless of their socio-economic status.
6.​ Advocate the use of visual aids in classroom teaching.

John Locke
1.​ “Tabula rasa” or “blank slate” theory – A child is born with a blank mind neither good or bad.
2.​ Education can help shape the pupil according to the disposition of the teacher.
3.​ Emphasized formal discipline, moral, and physical education.
4.​ Methods of instruction should consider habit formation through drill and exercise, memorization and
reasoning.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

1.​ Man is by nature good and virtuous.
2.​ Development of the child according to his inherent endowments.
3.​ The child is the most important component of the school system.
4.​ Use of instinctive tendencies as the starting point of any educational pursuit.
5.​ “Everything is good as it comes from the hand of author of nature.”

Pestalozzi
1.​ Education is a social process of organized growth and development.
2.​ Education should be in accordance with the laws of natural growth and development of the child.
3.​ Lessons were to be learned through direct experience with objects and places through observation, inquiry
and reasoning.
4.​ Emphasis on method and technique of imparting knowledge and information.
5.​ Reality is objective and is composed of matter and form; it is fixed, based on natural law.
6.​ Knowing consists of sensations and abstraction.
7.​ Values are absolute and eternal based on nature’s laws.
8.​ Subject matter curriculum should be humanistic.

Froebel
1.​ “Father of Kindergarten”
2.​ Creative expression should be encouraged.
3.​ Education should be accompanied with spirit of informality and joy.
4.​ Self-activity as a means of development
5.​ Individual differences should be respected.
6.​ Knowing is the rethinking of latent ideas.
7.​ Values are eternal.
8.​ Play, spontaneous activity should be utilized to promote self-realization.
9.​ A subject matter curriculum emphasizing the great and enduring ideas of culture.
10.​ Social development

Herbart
1.​ Principles of appreciation and doctrine of interest.
2.​ Learning should lead to character formation.
3.​ Aim of education should be ethical and moral.
 4.​ The leader gets meaning from previous experiences to which it is related.
5.​ The curriculum should include a wide range of subjects.
6.​ Unity could be achieved through reflection and could be greatly aided by a correlation of subject matter.
7.​ Preparation – recall of old ideas in the learner’s experience to which the new instruction can be related.
8.​ Preparation – a story, demonstration, experiment or a reading assignment that includes facts or new
materials or ideas of the new material.
9.​ Comparison – connections and associations between the old and the new.
10.​ Generalization - general principles that is formed from the lesson.
11.​ Application – putting the new ideas to work.

Herbert Spencer
1.​ Knowledge acquired that is best for use in life is also the best for the development of power.
2.​ Emphasis on physical activity.
3.​ Science oriented curriculum.
4.​ Societies are bound to change.
5.​ Opposed to free public education; those who really want an education should work hard to acquire the
means to attain it.

John Dewey
1.​ Learning by doing.
2.​ Educations is life, not preparation for life.
3.​ Education is a social process.
4.​ Education is growth and a continuous reconstruction of experience.
5.​ The center of education is the child’s own social activities.
6.​ The school is primarily a social institution.

​ It is interesting to note that the various philosophies of education of the world’s greatest philosophies that
have tremendous influence to education are applied today.

Philosophical Thoughts of Great Thinkers in Education

Education as a Necessity of Life
-​ Education makes possible continuance/renewal of social life
-​ Education is a communication making experience.
-​ Education is a shared possession.
-​ Education is a self-renewing instrument of a complex society.

Education as a Social Function

-​ Education provides the social environment that leads to the development of attitudes necessary for
a continuous and progressive life.
-​ As an educative environment, the school performs three social functions:
a)​ simplifying/ordering the factor attempts to develop;
b)​ Crystalizing the existing social function; and
c)​

Education as Direction
-​ Education directs the natural impulses of the young to agree with the life customs of the group
through commands, prohibitions, approvals and disapprovals.
-​ The business of education is to make the young understand the internal controls
Education as Growth
-​ Education is all one with life; life is growth and, therefor, education has no end beyond growth.
-​ Growth in education is not physical but growth in insight and understanding of relationships
between various experiences and learning episodes.

Education as Preparation
-​ Education is preparation when it:
a)​ Progressively realizes present possibilities, thus, making the individual better fitted to cope
with later requirements; and
b)​ Makes the present rich and significant, thus, merging into the future.

Education as Unfolding
-​ Education is unfolding when it draws out from the learner what is desired through suggestive
questioning or other pedagogical device.
-​ Education is unfolding from within.

Education as Training of Faculties

-​ Education as training of original impulsive activity is selecting those responses that can be utilized
by the individual.
-​ Education is not more “exercise” of the faculties of the mind but the development of initiative,
inventiveness, and adaptability.

Education as Formation
-​ Education is formation when it consists of the selection and coordination of native activities so
that the subject matter of the social environment is utilized.

Education as Recapitulation and Retrospection

-​ Education is not “repeating” the past but utilizing it as a resource in developing the future.

Education as Reconstruction
-​ Education is the reorganization of experiences which adds to its meaning, increasing its ability to
direct the course of subsequent experience.
-​ In education as reconstruction, increment of meaning corresponds to increased perceptions of
connections and continuities of experiences.
-​ Education is the fundamental method of social reform.

Education as a Democratic Social Function

-​ Education gives the individuals a personal interest in social relationship and controls the habits of
the mind which secure social changes without introducing disorder.
-​ Education emphasizes the cooperative nature of shared human experiences which embraces three
key elements:
a)​ Common – represents shared objects, ideas;
b)​ Communication – occurs when people share their experiences; and
c)​ Community – results when individuals discuss common experiences through shared
communication.
 Notes of Philosophy of Education
Naturalism ​
A doctrine denying anything in reality that has supernatural significance; that there is no reality
beyond nature.

Idealism ​
A philosophical view that the mind or spirit constitutes the fundamental reality. It starts with an
idea and ends up with an object; thought is prior to being.

Realism ​
The tendency to be concerned solely with reality as opposed to ideals, specifically the tendency to
think and act in the light of actuality, disregarding idealistic motives. The realist starts with a thing
and ends up with the idea; being is prior to thought.

Pragmatism ​
Uses the practical consequences of ideas and beliefs as standards for determining their values and
worth. It holds what is real, true, and good is what works and what is useful and satisfactory.
Reality is the sum total of what we experience (in line with realism). Man and environment are
equally responsible for everything that is real. Knowledge is the transaction of man and his
environment.

Progressivism
This school of thought believes that the child is the center of the educative process. It believes that
the child grows and develops as a whole. It is closely related to pragmatism. It believes that
experience is the source of knowledge and human thinking is the process by which man can adjust
to his changing environment. The progressivist believes that all knowledge is derived through
experience, it involves the aspect of doing and understanding. According to this education
philosophy of progressivism: a child grows and develops as a whole through his own experience
through self-activity.

Perennialism
An educational philosophy that is based on the premise that human nature is rational and
knowledge resides in unchanging, absolute, and universal truths. Truth is universal and does not
depend on the circumstances of place, time or person. Education is a liberal exercise that develops
the intellect. It is subject-centered.

Reconstructionism
More concerned with social change or social reform, encourage individuals to try and make life
better than before; believes that education is the most effective and efficient instrument for making
such change in an intelligent, democratic, human way. It is radical, bold, and attached to taking the
utopian view of education. It leans heavily on pragmatic philosophy for strategy and tactics to
achieve this utopia (future oriented.) Hence, goal-seeking is regarded as the central theory of
learning.

Two premises: (1) that society is in need of constant reconstruction of change, and (2) that social
change involves both a reconstruction of education and the use of education in reconstructing the
society. Its goal is toward the establishment of a global village, world community, brotherhood,
truth and justice.
Humanism
An educational philosophical outlook that emphasizes the personal worth of the individual and the
central importance of human values as opposed to religious belief. It is a system of thinking in
which man, his interests and developments, are made central and dominant, tending to exalt the
cultural and practical rather than the scientific and speculative. It teaches that all persons have
dignity and worth. It aims at social reform and the improvement of human relationship (related to
reconstructionism).

Essentialism
Is a conservative educational theory that arose in response to progressive education. It is an
educational theory holding that certain basic ideas, skills and discipline essential to our culture
should be taught to all alike by certain time-tested methods. It emphasizes the authority of the
teacher and the value of the subject matter curriculum. In the educational philosophy of
essentialism, ideas are eternal and unchanging (related to perennialism). What is absolute is
essential.

Experimentalism
Holds that reality is a matter of individual existence, that each human being exists in a world that
is without purpose and a fundamental absurdity. Many of the believers of this school of philosophy
are either atheistic or agnostic.

Instrumentalism
Applied to Dewey’s theory of reason that says: ideas are plans of action. Ideas are instruments in
the reconstruction of experience.

Scholasticism
Is the philosophy of the “schools”. It is basic realism that connotes a belief that all knowledge is
desired through the sense and sense data as a source of philosophical truth, closely related to
theology because scholasticism developed in a Christian context and was frequently utilized to
explain theological points.
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