Unit # Unit # 4 & 5

Sources of Knowledge,
GREEK PHILOSOPHERS’
PERSPECTIVE ON EDUCATION

Online Workshop for B.Ed. (1.5) 2020

AIOU Islamabad
OBJECTIVES
 After reading this unit, you will be able
to:
1. Describe significance of different sources of
knowledge
2. Differentiate between different sources of
knowledge
3. Identify the reliable source of knowledge
 Sourc
es
Empi
rical

Ratio Revea
nal led

Autho Intuit
rity ion
 REVEALED
 This sort of knowledge is based upon revelation from some
supernatural celestial beings
 Something to relate with religion
 Basis for phenomenal properties, as well as the belief in God
 Knowledge that exists independent of human conception
 A knowledge that God has disclosed to man
 God inspired certain man to write down the truth that He
revealed to them
 External knowledge
 Who profess this knowledge totally surrendered oneself to the
source of such revelation
 Supernatural being, is eternally superior and cannot be said to
lie or make a mistake
CONT…
 In the Islamic tradition, the Quran is held to be an
authoritative and revealed source of knowledge.
 In the Christian fold dreams, visions and even the
Bible have come to be accepted as forms of
revealed knowledge
 Revealed knowledge is associated with
interpretation of messages
 It is not suitable for classroom situations as teacher
cannot impact objectives knowledge based on
revelation.
CONT…
 There is a metaphysical aspect and a physical in
revealed knowledge.
 The metaphysical teaches the nature of the Divine Unity.
 The physical provides a code of behavior.
 Revealed knowledge comes from a supernatural entity.
 According to Islamic belief, Allah created man and
provided him with the tools for acquiring knowledge,
namely hearing, sight, and wisdom. Allah says:
 “And Allah has brought you out from the wombs of your
mothers while you know nothing. And He gave you hearing,
sight, and hearts that you might give thanks (to Allâh)[al-Nahl
16:78]
INTUITION
 “Acquiring knowledge that is based on subjective
feelings,
 Interpreting random events as non-random events, or
believing in magical events
 For example, you may have heard someone say “Bad
things happen in threes.”
 Where does this idea come from?
 Intuitive Knowledge is the ability to utilize and
acquire knowledge without the use of reason.
 It is the most personal way of knowing.
 It is immediate cognition or sharp insight.
CONT…
 Intuitive knowledge is based on intuition, faith, beliefs
etc.
 Human feelings plays greater role in intuitive
knowledge compared to reliance on facts.
 Intuitive knowledge involves direct and immediate
recognition of the agreement or disagreement.
 It yields perfect certainty, but is only rarely available to
us.
 Intuition as a mode of knowledge develops on the basis
of immediate apprehension.
CONT…
 Bertrand Russel (1912) claimed that all our knowledge
of truth depends upon our intuitive knowledge.
 According to Ezewu
 “This simply means that intuition is a way of knowing
something that one cannot really explain because it
transcends ordinary sense experience or reason. Intuition
may occur as a sudden arrival of solution to one’s problem or
puzzle, having worked for some hours or days without
arriving at such solution.”
 Intuitive knowledge cannot be verified by the senses or
the intellect.
 The true knowledge that comes from beyond the
intellect and that is the intuitive knowledge.
AUTHORITY
 Authoritarian knowledge relies on
information that has been obtained from
books, research papers, experts, supreme
powers etc.
 Authoritative knowledge comes from the
experts.
 It is only as valid as the assumptions on
which it stands
 A source of information have limitations
 RATIONAL
 Rationalists believe that knowledge can be arrived at through the use of reason
or deductive reasoning.
 The view that reasoning or logic is the central factor in knowledge is known as
rationalism.
 Reason plays a role in observation, and so that the mind is more fundamental
than the senses in the process of knowledge-acquisition.
 Someone who views the world through the lens of revealed knowledge has a
belief, and then attempts to force all of the evidence to support the conclusion.
 If it does not support the conclusion, is it either discounted or discarded.
 Someone who views the world through the lens of rational knowledge would
look at the evidence and either admits he didn’t know
CONT…
 Theorize on the most probable likelihood, accepting the
possibility that he might be incorrect.
 Rational Knowledge = Evidence in search of a conclusion
 Rationalists proposed an active mind that acts on
information from the senses and gives it meaning
 For rationalists, there are rational reasons some acts or
thoughts are more desirable than others
 Rationalists emphasize reasons for behavior
EMPIRICAL
 The empirical knowledge is an attempt to discover a
basis for our knowledge in sense experience.
 It finds recourse or confirmed by the evidence of
sensory experience.
 It is thus derived from the use of five senses.
 It is the evidence of the senses that gives meaning to
empirical knowledge.
 There can be no knowledge outside sense experience.
 It is fundamentally rooted on sense experience.
 It stands to reason that observation and experimentation
will also be basic to empirical knowledge.
CONT….
 Empirical evidence—rooted in objective reality and
gathered directly or indirectly through the senses
rather than through personal beliefs or hunches
 Empiricists describe a somewhat passive mind
which acts in mechanical way
 Empiricists proposed that experience, memory,
associations, and hedonism determine not only how
a person thinks and acts but also his or her morality.
 Empiricists emphasize mechanical causes of
behaviour.
 Summary
 Revealed knowledge is the basis for qualia/phenomenal properties,
as well as the belief in God.
 Revealed Knowledge, or Revelation, is that body of knowledge
that exists independent of human conception.
 Revealed Knowledge described as a knowledge that God has
disclosed to man.
 In the Islamic tradition, the Quran is held to be an authoritative and
revealed source of knowledge.
 Intuitive Knowledge is the ability to utilize and acquire knowledge
without the use of reason.
 Intuitive knowledge involves direct and immediate recognition of
the agreement or disagreement of two ideas. It yields perfect
certainty.
 Intuition is a way of knowing something that one cannot really
explain because it transcends ordinary sense experience or reason.
CONT…
 Intuitive knowledge is supposed to be greater, finer, higher, than
the mere exercise of reason; but we are not clearly told why?
 Authoritative knowledge is derived from the written works,
documentation and reports of others
 Authoritative knowledge comes from the experts
 Rationalists believe that knowledge can be arrived at through the
use of reason or deductive reasoning
 As a product of reflective thinking, rational knowledge is based
on the three laws of rationality.
 The empirical knowledge is an attempt to discover a basis for our
knowledge in sense experience
 Empirical knowledge is knowledge of such facts as one may meet
in experience

 Positivist school developed under the auspices of this empirical

tendency.
 UNIT # 5
GREEK PHILOSOPHERS’
PERSPECTIVE ON EDUCATION

OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
1. Explain the dialectical method of Socrates.
2. Describe the fundamental principles of Socratic wisdom.
3. Critically evaluate Plato's idea of education according to
classes.
4. Evaluate Plato's theory of education and point out its
contribution to the field of
education.
5. Discuss Aristotle’ aim of education
6. Analyze Aristotle’ curriculum of education
PHILOSOPHERS
Socrates, 469-399
Believed that one arrives at the truth by questioning the
assumptions on which all things are based
Plato, 428-347
Student of Socrates
Aristotle, 384-322
Student of Plato
GREEK PHILOSOPHY & ITS
ORIGINS
Philosophy = love of wisdom
Egyptians contemplated how the
natural world around them
worked
Early Greeks used mythological
stories to explain the natural
world
7th Century BCE – Greeks looked
for new, more practical
explanations
SOCRATES (469-399 BCE)
What little we know comes from his student, Plato and
his enemy, Aristophanes
Humble birth
Wrote nothing down
Founded no formal school
Believed material things would not bring happiness
Died for his principles
SO MANY QUESTIONS…
What should we do? (i.e. how should we behave)
What is the meaning of life?
What is the meaning of happiness?
Is perfection possible?
What constitutes the good or just life?
What is virtue?
How should a man best conduct his life?
 SOCRATIC METHOD
Method of rigorous questioning technique

Designed to “sting” people into realizing their own

ignorance
Provoke genuine intellectual curiosity
True knowledge gained only by constantly
questioning assumptions that underly all we do
To achieve truth is to engage in a permanent state of
critical thinking
THE DIALECTICAL METHOD
• Socrates did not wish to convince others about the validity
and correctness of his views.
• Rather he wanted that everybody should be;
• His own philosopher
• Should be critical and think for himself
• He was convinced that every person had in him the germ for
rational thought
• He wanted to draw attention of others to the crucial
significance of philosophy for the life
• The approach of Socrates is summed up in two words—
Dialectical Method.
CONT…
• According to Socrates, “Knowledge is virtue".
• Knowledge is vision of universal truths.
• To discover this knowledge Socrates used dialectical
method.
• He has nowhere given a systematic description of this
method.
• His style of developing philosophical ideas was unique.
• He would direct the course of conversation.
• This method was dialectical because to all proposed
meanings and definitions of concepts, Socrates would bring
out the defects in people and thus persuade his debater to
modify his definition to rectify the defects pointed.
• At the end a really satisfactory definition was found.
 SALIENT FEATURES OF
DIALECTICAL METHOD
 Dialectical method as employed by Socrates clearly
displays the characteristics of
1. Methodological doubt;
2. Intellectual dialogue;
3. Deductive and inductive determination of truth
4. Theory of knowledge
5. Theory of concepts
6. Reason and definition in knowledge
7. Knowledge and virtue
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF
SOCRATIC EDUCATION

1. Knowledge is the Goal of Life.

2. Virtue can be taught.

3. Virtue is one.

4. Virtue is Bliss.
LEGACY
Socrates used the claim of wisdom as his moral basis
Chief goodness consists in the caring of the soul
concerned with moral truth and understanding
“Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings
wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and
to the state”
“Life without examination (dialogue) is not worth
living”
“I am a citizen of the world”
“I know nothing except the fact of my ignorance”
He would want you to evaluate society and your own
life regularly!
 PLATO (429-347 BCE)
The “idealist” or “dreamer”
Born into a wealthy family

Name means “high forehead”

Student of Socrates
Left Athens when Socrates died but
returned to open a school called the Academy in
385 BCE
Wrote 20 books, many in the dialectic style (a
story which attempts to teach a specific
concept) with Socrates as the main character
PLATO’S IDEAS
Idealist, believes in order and harmony, morality and self-
denial
Immortality of the soul
Virtue as knowledge
Theory of Forms – the highest function of the human soul
is to achieve the vision of the form of the good
 AIM OF EDUCATION
• According to Plato, man's mind is always active.
• Man is attracted towards the things all around.
• The educator should take advantage of this tendency in
the child and educate him.
• He should pay attention to the objects which surround the
child.
• The process of education advances through this constant
interaction.
• Human individual requires positive environment not only
in infancy but through his entire life.
 CONT…
• According to Plato, the process of education is never
complete.
• Plato has laid the greatest stress on mental development in
education.
• Education aims not merely at providing information but at
training the individual in his duties and rights as a citizen.
• In Plato's opinion, the aim of education is human
perfection
• He suggests a curriculum which comprehends all subjects.
CURRICULUM OF EDUCATION

1. Bodily Development.

2. Educational Impressions.

3. Training in Music.
 ROLE OF EDUCATOR
• Educator is like the torch bearer who leads a man.
• His task is to bring the educand out of the darkness of the
cave into the light of the day.
• Plato believes that the child learns a great deal through
imitation.
• He will acquire the behaviour of the people among whom he is
make to live.
• Keeping in mind the status of the child, he should be made to
live among people from whom he can learn good habits and
avoid bad ones.
EDUCATION ACCORDING TO CLASSES
• Plato does not envisage uniform education for one and all.
• He accepted the concept of social stratification
• He believes in individual differences
• Plato suggested various kinds of tests to be conducted at different
age levels.
• The successful individual will occupy the highest position in the
land, his word will be the law of the land.
• It is evident that Plato granted the highest place to philosophy in
his educational scheme.
 ARISTOTLE (384-322 BCE)

• Born in BC 384
• Joined the famous ‘ACADEMY’ of the
greatest philosopher Plato at the age of
17 year.
• In BC 347 left ACADEMY.
• In BC 342 became the tutor of
Alexander the Great.
• In BC 335 ESTABLISHED
‘LYCEUM’.
• Died in BC 322
 ARISTOTLES’S PHILOSOPHY

1. Direct observation of Nature

2. Gave importance to Historical Consciousness.

 AIM OF EDUCATION
• “The aim of education was not only the attainment of
knowledge but also the attainment of happiness or
goodness in life’’
• “The aim of education was the welfare of the
individual. so as to bring happiness in their lives’’.
• Education is essential for the complete realization of
man.
 ARISTOTLE’S SCHEME OF
EDUCATION

• The early education is the responsibility of parents.

• Further education is the responsibility of the state.
• At the same time parents are responsible for the moral
development.
 ARISTOTLE’S CURRICULUM

 GYMNASTICS :
• To develop sportsman spirit and to develop good habits for
the control of passions and appetites.
• Music and Literature for the moral and intellectual
development.
• Recommends Mathematics for higher education.
 ARISTOTLE’S THEORY OF
EDUCATION
• Aristotle agrees with Plato on the division of Greek education into stages
corresponding with level and years of schooling .
• He disapproves with Plato’s communism in education .
• In the communism system every individual is moulded in a single
pattern .
• Aristotle is of the opinion that any individual in the state , should be
given opportunity to develop his talents to the full , without any
impediment to his progress without censorship on the type of books he
reads or the opinion he holds.
• Aristotle believed that since state is a organic unit and since the state is
to be ruled by men who have been brought , through education to a
vision of the true form of highest goodness.
 ARISTOTLE’S METHOD OF
TEACHING

 Aristotle suggested two types of method

1. Deductive Method

2. Inductive Method
 LEGACY OF GREEK
PHILOSOPHERS
Taught us how to think
Provided a great deal of insight into the natural world
Provided many of the most profound and meaningful
answers to the great philosophical questions that have
befuddled humans since the dawn of civilization
Provided a comprehensive, valid, and reliable
method by which we could test whether or not a
given idea is true
Reflect
Reflect on Aristotle’s view on education and apply it to
the 21st century and what education’s role in our society
today.