PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES

OF EDUCATION
Reporter: Roldan J. Manguiran
PHILOSOPHY AND ITS DEFINITION

PHILOS LOVE
SOPHIA WISDOM

PHILOSOPHY- LOVE OF WISDOM

PHILOSOPHER- LOVER OF WISDOM
REAL DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY
“Scientia rerum per causas
primas sub lumine rationis
naturalis.”

THE SCIENCE OF BEINGS IN THEIR

ULTIMATE CAUSES, PRINCIPLES AND
REASONS ACQUIRED BY THE AID OF
HUMAN REASON ALONE.
“To bring out or to nourish”

EDUCARE
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
Metaphysics

Ethics

Aesthetics

Logic

Cosmology

Theodicy

Epistemology
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

METAPHYSICS
What are the key elements of a rational
metaphysics?

Reality is absolute.
It has a specific nature and it
must be consistent to that
nature.
Every action has a cause and
an effect.
 Metaphysics
What is Metaphysics?
Itencompasses everythingthat exists, as well
as the nature of existence itself.

Itsays whether the world is real, or

merely an illusion. It is a fundamental
view of the world around us.
Why is Metaphysics important?

Metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy.

 The degree to which our metaphysical
worldview is correct is the degree to which
we are able to comprehend the world, and act
accordingly.

 Without this firm foundation, all

knowledge becomes suspect.

 Any flaw in our view of reality will

make it more difficult to live.
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

ETHICS
 Ethics = Ethos (moral character)
• Ethics (also known as moral philosophy) is a branch
of philosophy that addresses questions about
morality — that is, concepts such as good and evil,
right and wrong, justice, virtue.

• It is the study of universal values such as the

essential equality of all men and women, human or
natural rights, obedience to the law of land, concern
for health and safety and, increasingly, also for the
natural environment.

12
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
Aesthetics deals with the
creation and principles of
art and beauty. It also
studies our thoughts,
feelings, and attitudes
when we see, hear, or read
something beautiful.

AESTHETICS
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

LOGIC
Several definitions of logic by different
authors..

 Generally, Logic is understood as the science and

art of correct thinking (Cruz, 1995).

 Logic guides man’s reasoning so he can proceed

with order and ease and without error in the
constructive activity of making definitions of
terms, propositions and inferences ( Gualdo,
2000).
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

COSMOLOGY
COSMOLOGY
– Branch of philosophy that deals
with the origin & development of
the universe with its parts, elements,
laws
-Came from the greek word
“kosmos” (world, universe) &
“logos” ( the study of)
DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

THEODICY
THEODICY
THEODICY

– Branch of philosophy that deals with

the nature of being & goodness of God

- Often referred to as rational theology

DIFFERENT BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

EPISTEMOLOGY
 What is Epistemology?
Epistemology is the study of our method of
acquiring knowledge.
For educators:
Epistemology- the nature of knowledge and
learning
Pedagogy- ways of teaching
Philosophical
Questions What is
asked in knowledge?
Epistemology What is truth?
When did
knowledge
originate?
How do we come to
know?
How do we learn?
PHILSOPHICAL FOUNDATION OF EDUCATION
(Some Philosophical Doctrines)
EXISTENTIALISM
EXISTENTIALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
It is a philosophical approach which emphasizes on individual
existence, freedom and choice. Here, humans define their own
meaning in life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing
in an irrational universe.

PROPONENTS:
• Soren Kierkegaard
• Jean Paul Sartre
• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Martin Heidegger
• Karl Jaspers
• Edmund Husserl
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• Existentialists believe that philosophical thinking
begins with the human subject-not merely the thinking
subject, but the acting, feeling, living human individual.
 
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• Subject matter of existentialist classrooms should be
a matter of personal choice. Teachers view the individual
as an entity within a social context in which learner must
confront others’ views to clarify his or her own.
• They start with the student, rather than the teacher
or the curriculum content.
• The curriculum should help the students understand and
apprecite themselves as unique individuals who accept
responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions.
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
• The teachers should give a wide variety of options from
which to choose that will unleash the students’ creativity
and self-expression.
ESSENTIALISM
ESSENTIALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
It is a view that for any specific reality, there is a
set of attributes which are
necessary to its identity and function.

PROPONENTS:
• William Chandler Bagley
• John Stuart Mill
ESSENTIALISM
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• Believes that there is a common core of knowledge that
needs to be transmitted to students in a systematic,
disciplined way.
• The aim of this principle is to transmit the traditional
moral values and intellectual knowledge that students
need to become model citizens.
• Education focuses on the fundamental and essential.
ESSENTIALISM
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• Intellectual and moral standards that schools should teach.
• The cores are essential knowledge, skills and academic.
• Schooling should be practical, preparing students to
become valuable members of the society.
• The curriculum stresses on reading, writing, arithmetic
and right conduct.
ESSENTIALISM
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
• The school should teach the basics- training to read,
write, speak and compute clearly and logically.
Students should be taught hard work, respect for
authority and discipline.
• The teachers and administrators decide what is most
important for the students to learn.
• The teachers are expected to be intellectual and moral
models for their students.
• The teachers rely heavily on the use of the prescribed
textbooks, the drill method, and lecture.
• There is also a heavy stress on memorization and discipline.
PROGRESSIVISM
PROGRESSIVISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
It is a belief where individuality, progress
and change are fundamental to one’s education and believing that
people learn best from what they consider most relevant to their lives.

PROPONENTS:
• John Dewey
PROGRESSIVISM
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• Believe that education should focus on the whole child,
rather than on the content or the teacher.
• Progressivists believe that education should be a process
of ongoing growth, not just a preparation for becoming an adult.
• Progressivists teach to develop learners into becoming
enlightened and intelligent citizens of a democratic society.
• Progressivists accept the impermanence of life and
inevitability of change.
• Education promotes a democratic society.

 
PROGRESSIVISM
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise
through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive.
• The learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes
meaning through his or her individual experience.
• Centers on the needs, experiences, interests and
abilities of the students.
• The students interact with one another and develop social
qualities such as cooperation and tolerance fro different
points of view. Students solve problems in the classroom
similar to those they will encounter in their everyday lives.
• Experiential method-Learning by doing.
PROGRESSIVISM
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
• They try making school interesting and useful by
planning lessons that provoke curiosity. The students are
actively learning.
• Progressivist teachers rely on problem-solving method,
thought provoking games and puzzles.
PERRENIALISM
PERRENIALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
Believes that the focus of education should be the
ideas that would last over centuries.

PROPONENTS:
• Robert Maynard Hutchins
• Mertimer Adler
PERRENIALISM
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• The aim of education is to ensure that students acquire
understandings about the great ideas that have potentials
for solving problems in any era.
• Man by nature is a rational animal. That is why there
is a need for this rationality and moral powers to be developed.
PERRENIALISM
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• To teach ideas that are everlasting, to seek endouring
truth which are constant, not changing.
• Focuses on attaining cultural literacy, stressing students’
growth in enduring disciplines.
• The curriculum must be universal on the view that all
human beings possess the same essential nature.
• Stresses on humanities and general education but less
emphasis on vocational and technical education.
 
PERRENIALISM
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
• The teachers must not allow the student’s interests
or experiences to substanially dictate what they teach.
• The teachers apply whatever creative techniques
and true methods which are believed to be most
conducive to disciplining the student’s mind.
PRAGMATISM
PRAGMATISM/EXPERIENTIALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
It is a philosophical movement which centers on the linking of
theory and practice. It is a process where theory is extracted from
practice and applied back to practice to form what is called
“intelligent practice”.
-Here, only things that are experienced or observed are real.
-the reality is constantly changing and that we learn best through
applying our experiences and thoughts to problems as they arise.

PROPONENTS:
• Charles Sanders Pierce(Father of Pragmatism)
• William James(First educator to offer psychology course in US)
• John Dewey
PRAGMATISM/EXPERIENTIALISM
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• Pragmatists believe that the meaning of an idea can be
determined by the consequences of its test/practice.
• If the idea works, it is true or good; if not it is false or bad.
• Education is life; a continuous reconstruction of experiences.
• Learning is best through experience.
• Education focuses on experiencing the process.
PRAGMATISM/EXPERIENTIALISM
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• Focuses on hands on problems solving, experimenting,
and projects, often having students work in groups.
• Should bring the disciplines together to focus on solving
problems in an interdisciplinary way. Learners should apply
their knowledge to real situations through experimental
inquiry. This prepares students for citizenship,
daily living and future careers.

 
PRAGMATISM/EXPERIENTIALISM
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
• The teacher is a consultant and a facilitator.
• The teacher must display democracy in the class to
have a free interplay of ideas.
IDEALISM
IDEALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
A philosophical principle which asserts
that reality as we know it is fundamentally mental, mentally
constructed or otherwise immaterial. It manifests as a skepticism
about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing.
In sociological sense, idealism emphasizes how human ideas
especially values and beliefs shape society.

PROPONENTS:
• Plato-Father of Idealism
• G.W. F. Hegel-(Absolute Idealism)-Dialectical process
• Immanuel Kant & Johann Gottlieb Fichte- Transcendental Idealism
• George Berkeley- Subjective Idealism
IDEALISM
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• The aim of education is to discover and develop each
individual’s abilities and full moral excellence in order
to better serve society.
• Education is ideal-centered.
• The ultimate goal o education is the superior life:
A life of virtues.
• Education focuses on moral, spiritual and mental aspect.
IDEALISM
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• Subject matter of mind-literature, history,
philosophy, and religion
• The teaching methods should focus on handling ideas
through lecture, discussion and socratic
language (Question and answer)
• The educative process is done mainly through imitation,
Interest and effort.
 
IDEALISM
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
The teacher must be an ideal or personification of reality.
REALISM
REALISM
PHILOSOPHICAL PRINCIPLE:
It is a philosophical doctrine which
believes that the reality exists independent of the human mind.
The ultimate reality is the world of physical objects.

PROPONENTS:
• Aristotle
• St. Thomas Aquinas
EDUCATIONAL TENETS:
• The focus is on the body/objects.
• Truth is objective-what can be observed.
• Education is a formation through cultural transmission.
• Education is viewed mainly as a transmission of information
and knowledge.
• Education focuses on objects and matter. They best learn
through their senses and reasons.
CURRICULUM EMPHASIS:
• The subject matter of the physical world, particularly
science and mathematics.
• The curriculum must be scientifically approached
and standardized based.
• Character is developed through training in the rules
of conduct.
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS:
• The teacher organizes and presents content
systematically within a discipline, demonstarting use of
criteria in making decisions.
• focus on mastery of facts and basic skills through
demonstration and recitation. Students must also
demonstrate the ability to think critically and scientifically
using observation and experimentation.
• The teacher is an authority, a master teacher.
 “EDUCATION WITHOUT
PHILOSOPHY IS BLIND AND
PHILOSOPHY
WITHOUT EDUCATION IS INVALID”
(Thomas, 1968)
THANK YOU