Historical, Cultural and

Philosophical Foundations of
Modern Western Education
MF7 225
Dr. Abdullah Shahin

Centre for Muslim Educational

Thought &Practice
MIHE

By the end of the session you will have:

Explored the central historical periods and

cultural dynamics informing the emergence
of modern western education
Developed knowledge & understanding about
the philosophical and psycho-social
foundations of modern western education
Discussed the role religion in shaping the
modern western schooling system
Considered whether the western perception
of education is inherently in conflict with the
Islamic conception of education ?

How do we define the west and education?

Exercise 1
discuss the concept of western world
, provide criteria for your definition
Where does the word education
come from and what are the related
concepts ?

Key historical dynamics shaping

the rise of modern western world.,
Exercise 2
What are the central historical
transformations informing the
contemporary western civilisation?

The Raise of European Modernity

Renaissance 14th to 17th centuries
Reformation 16th century
Enlightenment 17/18th centuries: the raise
of secular public sphere: egalitarian,
arguments based on reason, concern all.
Industrialisation: 18/19th centuries: the
age of technology, mass production and
consumption.
Colonialism: 16th up to early 20th centuries
Postmodern thinking : paradigm shift

History /historical method

Historia : Greek inquire, re search
Herodotus 484-424 BC
Historiography: writing of history

The Ancient Greeks:

the raise of rationality
Hellenic nations: The city states; the
Spartans and Athenians
Homeric tales of the Iliad and the
Odyssey, which had been converted
from an oral to a written form in the
eighth century BC and were used for
hundreds of years as educational
texts for the improvement of the
young

Curiosity/Inquiry :
What is the world made of ?
Thales (624-546 BC) sometimes referred to as the first
philosopher. He asked questions about the nature of the
universe, studied astronomy and successfully predicted
an eclipse of the sun in 585 BC.
Heraclitus (544-483 BC) nothing stays the same over
time, everything is in a state of flux, hence his famous
axiom 'it is not possible for anyone to step in the same
river twice'
Pythagoras (580-500 BC) of Samos who combined work
in philosophy and mathematics. He applied logical
(mathematical) thinking to
the solution of practical problems, and Pythagoras'
theorem about triangles is still part of the geometry
curriculum

SPARTA
For many centuries they were successful as
warriors and brought up their male children to
become good soldiers. Some hostile writers have
described the whole of Sparta as a kind of military
training camp
Spartan educational ideas were simple and very
limited. The purpose of education was training - for
physical fitness and military proficiency. Plato
admired some aspects of the regime, especially
the subordination of individual desires to the
greater good of the State, a view reflected in the
Republic.

Athens : Education for democratic

citizenship
Importance of public speaking or rhetoric
women and slave were excludedThe curriculum reflected the Athenian
concern for physical development and
music. (Music, derived from the Greek
muse, included poetry and dance; poetry
was intended to be accompanied by a lyre,
and all were encouraged to learn to play.

The civic participation involved educative events such

as attending the plays of Sophocles and Euripides,
which provided a kind of adult moral education.
People like Socrates thought that the mythological
stories about the gods provided very poor role models
for human behaviour. looking for ' reasonable'
explanations for the world and the human position
within it.
Aims of education : practicing inductive
argumentation; to produce a better person, in terms
of virtuous behaviour and service to the State.

Socratic method of teaching : no easy answers !

Education as a life long pursuit inquiry.

When Socrates asked 'What is justice?' it was not

to lead his audience to a correct definition as such
but to illustrate the fact that such questions did not
lend themselves to easy definitions.
This method of 'teaching' abandoned the notion of
knowledge being acquired by the process of the
transmission of ideas or information from one who
knows (the teacher) to the student.
This is a view of education that has been difficult
to overcome even today. A remarkable
achievement in the fourth century BC.

Plato's theory of education : the

Republic
education is a basic component of a good society

Developed in the context of a wider question 'What is

the good life?' It starts with a long discussion about
the nature of justice which Plato eventually replaced
by ' How are humans to live their lives so as to live
well?'
To answer that question Plato found it necessary to
analyse the relation between the individual and
society : all individuals have needs, some of which
are only satisfied in co-operation with other
individuals. The answer about the good life was
therefore a social question as well as a matter of
personal morality.

Education essentially a process of nurturing what we might now

call an individual's 'human nature' .
Plato's ideas on education were much influenced by the fact that
Athens had experienced a good deal of social unrest and
political instability by the time that Plato was writing.
Plato came from an aristocratic family, one which in predemocratic times would have been part of the ruling oligarchy.
That oligarchic regime had been overturned and replaced by
'democracy' .
Plato remained sceptical of democracy ; he thought that without
good leaders democracy will bring disaster for the society.

Plato an idealist philosopher , his Republic was a kind of Utopia for a

stable, just society in which the citizens could enjoy a 'good life ' .
The education of the three levels of citizens:
the workers or men of bronze;
the warriors or men of silver;
the guardians or philosopher-leaders, the men of gold.
A good society was one in which all individuals played a useful part.
The guardians or rulers required a philosophical training to help them
decide on policy, and to rule wisely.
The warriors and workers needed much more practical vocational
training.
Education as training for performing expected

duties.

CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY

In your own words summarise key aspects of the

topics covered
Identify areas where you need to develop further
your knowledge and understanding
What are the similarities and differences, in your
view, between the overall aims of western education
and Islamic education?