Republic of the Philippines

Laguna State Polytechnic University

San Pablo City Campus
Brgy. Del Remedio, San Pablo City

GRADUATE STUDIES AND APPLIED RESEARCH

Subject Code : EDUC 202

Course Description : Foundations of Education
Assigned Facilitator : Ternida, Lerio Ann O.
Professor : Dr. Agripina F. Banayo
Course and Major : MAED- Social Science
Address : Bocboc, Lopez Quezon
Email Address : 0320-3341@lspu.edu.ph
Contact Number : 0907-657-8934
Name of Institution : Laguna State Polytechnic University- SPCC
School Address : Brgy. Del Remedio, San Pablo City, Laguna

Topic: Key Proponents of Educational Philosophies

ILOS: No. 12 Know the philosophical concepts and significant works of

the different educational philosophies.

Rationale:

PRAGMATISM
Also known as Experimentalism, Pragmatism was introduced
by writers such as Charles S. Peirce, William James, George
Herbert Mead, and John Dewey. While Idealists see reality as
residing in true ideas, and Realists view reality in terms of the world of
nature, Pragmatists argue that reality is always changing and is
dependent on what we observe and experience. Knowledge claims and
even values are not permanent and absolute, but are tentative and
subject to revision. Rather than searching for universal ideas, it is more
pragmatic to focus on using knowledge to help us achieve our desired
outcomes. In the context of education, schools should help students to
grow. Through activities, problems, resolutions to the problems and a
network of social relationships, students will grow by learning more
effective, meaningful and satisfying ways to deal with a changing reality
and to direct the course of their own lives (Gutek, 2004). To achieve
the educational goal of growth, schools should not be just academic
institutions; they are social institutions to prepare students for
democratic living. As a miniature community, the school offers
opportunities for teachers and students to engage in active learning,
experiment with new ways of thinking and doing, solve problems, and
build social consensus. Rather than stressing knowledge of traditions
and cultural heritage, the Pragmatists prefer content and activities that
are relevant to the students’ interests, needs and problems. The
curriculum should be inter-disciplinary, integrated and action-oriented,
rather than divided into specialized and theoretical subjects. However,
the weakness of a pragmatic form of education is that it may deprecate
the acquisition of knowledge and water down the curriculum since
there is no in-depth exploration of specific disciplines (Ozmon &
Craver, 2003). Some educators are also uncomfortable with the
pragmatic claim that all knowledge claims and values are tentative and
changeable. They are concerned that this might lead to a relativistic
and situational approach to life problems.

ORIGINAL GIANTS OF PRAGMATISM

Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914) was the founder of
American pragmatism (after about 1905 called by Peirce
“pragmaticism” in order to differentiate his views from those of
William James, John Dewey, and others, which were being
labeled “pragmatism”), a theorist of logic, language,
communication, and the general theory of signs (which was
often called by Peirce “semeiotic”), an extraordinarily prolific
logician (mathematical and general), and a developer of an
evolutionary, psycho-physically monistic metaphysical system.

Although Peirce is generally acknowledged as the founder of the

American philosophical movement known as pragmatism, few
have recognized the significance of Peirce’s form of pragmatism
as an educational philosophy capable of providing a basis for
the development of sound educational practices. In his 1868
essay “On a New List of Categories,” Peirce established an
ontological set of categories (firstness, secondness, and
thirdness) as the keystone of his philosophical system. Nearly
everything else that Peirce wrote after this early piece was
founded upon this set of categories. Peirce believed that this
“new list” would stand as his greatest achievement and argued
for this set of universal categories by showing that they are
necessary for bringing together all of the elements of
experience. As such, these three categories also comprise the
keystone of his embedded philosophy of education. Peirce’s
“new list of categories” and the philosophy of reasoning he built
upon these are fundamental to the development of sound
educational practices.

Arguably, each of the assumptions listed below, could merit a

discussion of this length all on its own. However, because of
length constraints, we will begin with four basic assumptions.
Three of these are basic to teaching; one is specific to aspects
of Peirce’s pragmatism.

1. Educators already have access to knowledge concerning the

appropriate subject matter that their students need to master.
2. The short-term effectiveness of any educator is reflected by
the degree to which his or her students demonstrate, at the
completion of a course of study, mastery of the skills and
subject matter which that teacher has taught.
3. The long-term effectiveness of a teacher and of any
educational program in general, should be measured in
terms of the degree to which students are able to continue to
develop as learners once they have left a particular teacher’s
class or a particular educational program.
4. Those educators who master the skills for deliberately
applying Peirce’s three categories can measurably enhance
both their short-term and long-term effectiveness as
educators.
Our proposition here is that, in addition to developing subject-
matter expertise, the core purpose of teacher education should
be twofold. First, educators should be required to learn and
demonstrate mastery of the fundamental set of skills for effective
reasoning: qualification, analysis, and interpretation. These
three sets of skills are reflective of the capabilities necessary for
deliberately maneuvering within each of Peirce’s three
categories. Secondly, educators should learn (and demonstrate
mastery of) the pedagogical skills for assisting students to
develop these same capabilities.
William James (1842–1910), one of the staunchest advocates
of pragmatism was William James, whose ability to translate
difficult philosophical principles for laypersons helped spread the
tenets of pragmatism during the 1890s and the first quarter of
the twentieth century, although James himself died in 1910. One
of James's most important contributions to the study of
pragmatism is his concern with religion. According to James,
truth should be evaluated based on its impact on human
behavior; therefore, one's religious faith can be justified if it
makes a positive difference in one's life.
According to James, “Idea must have practical and satisfactory
results”. “Pragmatism is a method of solving or evaluating
intellectual problems and a theory about the kinds of knowledge
we are capable of acquiring.”
John Dewey was a leading proponent of the American school of
thought known as pragmatism, a view that rejected the dualistic
epistemology and metaphysics of modern philosophy in favor of
a naturalistic approach that viewed knowledge as arising from
an active adaptation of the human organism to its environment.
John Dewey is probably most famous for his role in what is
called progressive education. Progressive education is
essentially a view of education that emphasizes the need to
learn by doing. Dewey believed that human beings learn through
a 'hands-on' approach. This places Dewey in the educational
philosophy of pragmatism.
Pragmatists believe that reality must be experienced. From
Dewey's educational point of view, this means that students
must interact with their environment in order to adapt and learn.
Dewey felt the same idea was true for teachers and those
teachers and students must learn together. His view of the
classroom was deeply rooted in democratic ideals, which
promoted equal voice among all participants in the learning
experience.
Dewey's pragmatic and democratic approach to schooling may
not stand out as radical today, but in the early and mid-1900s,
his view of education was in contradiction to much of the then-
present system of schooling. Dewey's approach was truly child-
centered. A child-centered approach to education places the
emphasis of learning on the needs and interests of the child. In
Dewey's view, children should be allowed to explore their
environments.

He believed in an interdisciplinary curriculum, or a curriculum

that focuses on connecting multiple subjects, where students
are allowed to freely move in and out of classrooms as they
pursue their interests and construct their own paths for acquiring
and applying knowledge. The role of the teacher in this setting
would be to serve more as a facilitator than an instructor. In
Dewey's view, the teacher should observe the interest of the
students, observe the directions they naturally take, and then
serve as someone who helps develop problem-solving skills.

Traditionally, a teacher would stand in front of a group of

students who are all sitting in rows. The teacher is usually the
deliverer of information and the job of the students is usually to
receive this information and regurgitate it in some form of a
written test.

In contrast, in a classroom based on the ideas of John Dewey,

you may see a teacher deliver background content information,
but you would also likely see students working in groups, with
those groups exploring differing concepts within the content.
You would see lots of conversation and lots of collaboration.
While you may see a written test, you may also see student
projects, presentations, or other differentiated techniques of
evaluation.
G. H. Mead (1863-1931) is often portrayed as a thinker of
exceptional import and originality whose unwillingness to write
down his ideas has prevented him from achieving an even
greater recognition in fields as varied as sociology, social
psychology or philosophy. According to this view, the task of
current practioners is to engage with the scant materials
available, including lecture notes, and make the best of it to re-
examine contemporary problems.
According to Mead, is an emergent of the interaction between
selves and objects: the meaning of an object lies in what it
means to us, in our response to it. To understand the meaning
of an object is not so much a question of discovery of some
objective reality as it is a matter of creation. The implications of
this for educational purposes are far-reaching. As the editors
explain in the introduction, “meanings cannot be handed down
to the learner, but arise ‘only through the reaction of the
learner’.” “From this it follows that the communication of
meaning is not a process of imitation. For Mead, education is a
process of creative (trans) formation of meaning.” But, of course,
“education is not simply about evoking any response from the
learner; the key question is how and to what extent the response
of the learner can be ‘organized’.” Education, understood as the
“conveying of meanings,” is “not a process of imitation, but a
process of action and reaction, of social stimulation and
response. It is, in other words, a creative process, a process in
which meaning is constantly made, rather than reproduced”.

EXISTENSIALISM
As the name implies, Existentialism is concerned with issues
relating to one’s existence. Its key ideas originate from
existential philosophers such as Soren Kierkegaard, F. W.
Nietzche, and Jean-Paul Sartre. Existentialists reject universal
and absolute ideas and hold that reality is constructed by the
individual. The knowledge that one needs to pursue is the
knowledge about the human condition and the personal choices
one makes (Ornstein & Levine, 2003). To this end, schools
should recognize that every student is a free, unique, and
sentient being with personal fears, hopes and aspirations.
Existentialists are critical of schools that overlook and suppress
this individuality in students and view students as a collective
and passive whole to serve the needs of society. Rather than
dehumanizing them, schools should provide a broad education
with many options for students to explore, reflect on and
articulate their convictions. There is no fixed curriculum for the
Existentialists; the content and pedagogy is determined by the
needs and preference of the students. However, the humanities
and arts are especially useful in drawing the students’ attention
to the issues, challenges, dilemmas and problems that human
beings face. They also provide an avenue for students to
express their choices in creative ways such as through drama,
drawing and creative writing. By focusing on the individual
experiences, however, Existentialism has been criticized for
neglecting the needs of community and society, leading to
selfishness and egoism (Ozmon & Craver, 2003).
The existentialist teacher is one who respects the individual
freedom and choice of the student. Open-minded and reflective,
the teacher creates a learning environment where both teachers
and students are free to reflect, ask questions and engage in
philosophical dialogue about issues and moral choices in life.
Real-life examples of struggles faced by individuals could be
introduced through a variety of means such as literature, films
and music. The teacher does not prescribe answers to the
problems, recognizing instead that the responses vary from
individual to individual, and are contingent on particular
contexts, life situations and institutional constraints. In terms of
assessment, the Existentialists eschew standardized testing,
viewing it as a rigid, inaccurate and tyrannical method that
restricts the interpersonal relationship between teacher and
students, and among the students (Gutek, 2004). Instead, the
teacher should adopt authentic assessment where students are
free to set their own assessment, and produce creative
assignments such as creative writing, paintings or a portfolio. An
example of an existentialist lesson is a moral education lesson
in a secondary school where the teacher shows the film Life is
Beautiful, about a family that was imprisoned by the Nazis
during the Holocaust. In order to protect his young son, the
father constructed an elaborate lie to keep the truth from his
son. After watching the film, the teacher could let the students
reflect on the choices made by the father in lying to his young
son, and the issues, dilemmas and consequences highlighted in
the film. The learning process could be in the form of individual
reflection, journaling, group discussion or role-play. By reflecting
on and discussing the moral dilemma involved in lying, students
are encouraged to make their own moral stand and be
responsible for their own actions.

ORIGINAL GIANTS OF EXISTENTIALISM

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855) was a profound
and prolific writer in the Danish “golden age” of intellectual and
artistic activity. His work crosses the boundaries of philosophy,
theology, psychology, literary criticism, devotional literature and
fiction. Kierkegaard brought this potent mixture of discourses to
bear as social critique and for the purpose of renewing Christian
faith within Christendom. At the same time he made many
original conceptual contributions to each of the disciplines he
employed. He is known as the “father of existentialism”, but at
least as important are his critiques of Hegel and of the German
romantics, his contributions to the development of modernism,
his stylistic experimentation, his vivid re-presentation of biblical
figures to bring out their modern relevance, his invention of key
concepts which have been explored and redeployed by thinkers
ever since, his interventions in contemporary Danish church
politics, and his fervent attempts to analyze and revitalize
Christian faith.
In Kierkegaard, the singularity of existence comes to light at the
moment of conflict between ethics and religious faith. Suppose it
is my sense of doing God’s will that makes my life meaningful.
How does philosophy conceive this meaning? Drawing here on
Hegel as emblematic of the entire tradition, Kierkegaard, in his
book Fear and Trembling, argues that for philosophy my life
becomes meaningful when I “raise myself to the universal” by
bringing my immediate (natural) desires and inclinations under
the moral law, which represents my “telos” or what I ought to be.
In doing so I lose my singularity (since the law holds for all) but
my actions become meaningful in the sense of understandable,
governed by a norm. Now a person whose sense of doing God’s
will is what gives her life meaning will be intelligible just to the
extent that her action conforms to the universal dictates of
ethics. But what if, as in case of Abraham’s sacrifice of his son,
the action contradicts what ethics demands? Kierkegaard
believes both that Abraham’s life is supremely meaningful (it is
not simply a matter of some immediate desire or meaningless tic
that overcomes Abraham’s ethical consciousness; on the
contrary, doing the moral thing is itself in this case his tempting
inclination) and that philosophy cannot understand it, thus
condemning it in the name of ethics. God’s command here
cannot be seen as a law that would pertain to all; it addresses
Abraham in his singularity. If Abraham’s life is meaningful, it
represents, from a philosophical point of view, the “paradox” that
through faith the “single individual is higher than the universal.”
Existence as a philosophical problem appears at this point: if
there is a dimension to my being that is both meaningful and yet
not governed by the rational standard of morality, by what
standard is it governed? For unless there is some standard, it is
idle to speak of “meaning.”
Friedrich Nietzsche-Nietzsche's contribution to existentialism
was the idea that men must accept that they are part of a
material world, regardless of what else might exist. As part of
this world, men must live as if there is nothing else beyond life.
A failure to live, to take risks, is a failure to realize human
potential.
Some interpreters of Nietzsche believe he embraced nihilism,
rejected philosophical reasoning, and promoted a literary
exploration of the human condition, while not being concerned
with gaining truth and knowledge in the traditional sense of
those terms.
He agreed with Schopenhauer that there is no God and life is
filled with pain and suffering, but Nietzsche came to his own
conclusion that humans must get everything out of life and set
out to find out how to best do that. (Atheist Existentialist)
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (1821–1881) was a Russian
novelist, journalist, and essayist whose literary works are
foundational texts in the history of existentialism. Dostoevsky
(sometimes spelled Dostoyevsky) explored the loneliness and
desperation of the human condition. He viewed the human
condition as constrained by social, political, and economic
institutions and limited by God, whose existence, Dostoevsky
argued, imposes limits on human existence. This unit will guide
you in an exploration of the main existentialist themes in
Dostoevsky's literary works, paying special attention to the
concepts of human freedom and moral responsibility in Notes
from the Underground (1864) and "The Grand Inquisitor"
(1880).One of Dostoevsky’s existential messages is that the
purpose of life is to act properly by being authentic to you. He is
adamant that rationality alone can be deceiving. He denies the
point of view of rationalists and others who value neat schemes
above the full scope of individuality. Passions aren’t an enemy
of rationality but work in unison to help the human individual live
accordingly. It is common for one to identify solely with the
content of one’s own intellect, especially if one is intelligent, but
everyone also has other faculties, like emotions and motivations.
Dostoevsky argues that the abstraction of ideologies has no
basis in what one actually is and that makes a person live an
inauthentic life. If you are acting out an ideology, it will not fulfill
you as an individual because you are not one entity.
Martin Heidegger's (1889–1976) extensive and illuminating
meditations on what he described as the ontological "question of
being" established his reputation as one of the most original and
important philosophers of the twentieth century. Like other
philosophers commonly referred to as existentialists today,
Heidegger refused to associate his own thinking with the term
existentialism. However, his focus on human existence, anxiety,
death, and authenticity – themes shared by both his
predecessors (Kierkegaard, Dostoevsky, and Nietzsche) and his
contemporaries (Sartre and Camus) – place him at the center of
this movement. In this unit, you will explore Heidegger's thought,
especially the philosophy of existence that he introduced in his
most famous work, Being and Time (1927).
Martin Heidegger, (born September 26, 1889, Messkirch,
Schwarzwald, Germany—died May 26, 1976, Messkirch, West
Germany), German philosopher, counted among the main
exponents of existentialism. His groundbreaking work in
ontology (the philosophical study of being, or existence) and
metaphysics determined the course of 20th-century philosophy
on the European continent and exerted an enormous influence
on virtually every other humanistic discipline, including literary
criticism, hermeneutics, psychology, and theology.
Jean-Paul Sartre, (born June 21, 1905, Paris, France—died
April 15, 1980, Paris), French philosopher, novelist, and
playwright, best known as the leading exponent of existentialism
in the 20th century. In 1964 he declined the Nobel Prize for
Literature, which had been awarded to him “for his work which,
rich in ideas and filled with the spirit of freedom and the quest for
truth has exerted a far-reaching influence on our age.”
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https://learn.saylor.org/course/view.php?id=30&sectionid=295

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