PHILOSOPHIES OF EDUCATION

Specific objectives
At the end of the session , the student will be able to:
• State the meaning of philosophy
• Define philosophy
• Identify the branches of philosophy
• Explain the relation between education and philosophy
• Differentiate between education and philosophy
• Classify philosophies
• Explain the common philosophies under selected
hesdings
“EDUCATION WITHOUT PHILOSOPHY IS BLIND
AND PHILOSOPHY WITHOUT EDUCATION IS
INVALID”
THOMAS ,1968
 PHILOSOPHY
MEANING
• The term has been derived from two Greek
words, ‘Philos’ means love and ‘Sophia’ means
wisdom.
• Philosophy means love of wisdom, love for
knowledge or passion for learning.
• Wisdom is a combination of knowledge,
intelligence and initiative helps us to recognize
the value of life and to identify our place in the
world
• Philosophy is the values and beliefs every
individual has in life
 MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy as:
• Love of knowledge
• An Activity
• A comprehensive picture of the universe
• A guide to a way of life
• Philosophy and Science
 Definition
• Philosophy is an attempt to think truly about
human experience or to make out whole
experience intelligible. Brightman
• Philosophy is a search for comprehensive view of
nature, an attempt at a universal explanation of
nature of things – Alfred Weber
• Philosophy is unceasing effort to discern the
general truth that lies behind the particular facts,
discern also the reality that lies behind
appearances - Raymond
 Branches of philosophy
• Epistemology: Deals with origin and sources of
knowledge
• Logic : systematic study of knowledge and its
interrelationships
• Metaphysics: deals with ultimate true nature of
things
• Esthetics: studies about the beauty and harmony
in life
• Axiology: concerned with the nature of morality
and value
 PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

• Philosophy of education may be defined as

the application of the fundamental principles
of a philosophy of life to the work of
education.
• Philosophy of education offers a definite set of
principles and establishes a definite set of aims
and objectives.
 PHILOSOPHY AND EDUCATION- THEIR
INTERDEPENDENCE
• Philosophy and education are closely
interrelated.
• Education is application of philosophy or
philosophy of education is applied philosophy.
• It is the application of philosophy to study of the
problems of education that is known as
philosophy of education.
• According to Ross, “Philosophy and education
are like the sides of a coin, presenting different
views of the same thing, and that one is implied
by the other”.
•Education is the strongest instrument for the
realization of the ideals of life and a civilized attempt
to bring about the desired development of human
personality.
• This indicates the fact that plant of education draws
its nourishment from the soil of philosophy.
•Philosophy answers all the ultimate questions of
education.
 EXPERTS VIEW IS GIVEN BELOW:

• John Dewey- “Philosophy may be defined as the

theory of education in its most general phase”.
• Spencer- “True education is practicable only to
true philosophers”.
• Dewey- “Education is a laboratory in which
philosophical distinctions become concrete and
are tested”.
• Fichte- “The aim of education will never attain
complete clearness without philosophy”.
 Education Vs Philosophy
Philosophy Education
• It is the theory • It is a practice
• It is contemplative • It is an active side
• It deals with ends • It deals with means and
• It determines what techniques
constitute good life • It determines how to make
life worth living
 Educational philosophy
• A sound philosophy of education is based on
an adequate philosophy of life
• Philosophy serves as the source of objectives
required by education.
 Influence of philosophy in cardinal
areas of education
• Philosophy and aims of education
• Philosophy and curriculum- curriculum is the
sum total of all the activities and experiences
provided by the school to its pupil in order to
achieve the aims of education
• Philosophy and methods of teaching- critical
thinking is essential to device a method
• Philosophy and teacher : teacher help the
child to develop a philosophy of life
• Philosophy and discipline – discipline reflects
philosophy of life
• Philosophy and textbook: important means for
the realization of educational aims
• Philosophy and science:
Bonds between education and
philosophy
Natural Logical
bond bond

Philosophy Social
Religious
bond and bond
education
Human Cultural
bond bond
 Educational philosophies
Traditional Modern/ Contemporary
• Naturalism • Perennialism
• Idealism • Essentialism
• Pragmatism • Existentialism
• realism • Reconstructionism
• Progressivism
NATURALISM
 NATURALISM
• BASIC CONCEPTS:
• Occurred during 18th century
• Based on the basic assumption that the nature
as a total system explains all existence
including human beings and human nature
• Material and the physical world is governed by
certain laws and man who is the creator of the
material world, must submit to it
• Denies the existence of anything beyond
nature, behind nature and other than nature
• Emphasis on empirical and experimental
knowledge
• Stress on sensory training as senses are the
gateways to learning
• Values are developed from human beings
interaction with the environment
• Instincts and impulses are expressed rather
than repressed
• There is no absolute good or evil in the world.
• All values of life are creations of human needs
• No place for class rooms, textbooks, time
tables, curriculum, formal lessons or
examinations
• Teacher acquaints the children with their
environment
• External discipline is altogether out of place
• Discipline through natural consequences
 Principles of naturalism
• Child centered education
• Education as the natural development of
child’s power and capacities
• Negative education in early childhood- the
simple persuasive way of initiating learning
instead of using force
• Education should be based on child’s
psychology
• Role of teacher should be that of a guide
 Chief proponents
• Jean Jacques Rousseau
• Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi
• Herbert Spencer
• Rabindranath Tagore
 Forms of naturalism
• Physical naturalism: laws of physical nature
govern the laws of human life and adherence
to natural laws is essential for human
existence
• Biological naturalism: explains man in terms of
lower form of life from which he has
• Mechanical naturalism: believes man as a
mere machine, there is no spirit or soul and
only matter is everything
 Naturalism and aims of education
• Development of self-realization, self-expression
and self-preservation in children
• Cultivating self restrain and a sense of moral
values
• Making a child adjust himself both physically and
psychologically to his immediate environment
and to challenges surrounding his life
• Equipping the child to struggle for existence and
ensuring his survival by making him the fittest
• Promoting better humanity through the
transmission of not only physical characteristics
but also moral values
• Promoting the perfect development of
individuality of a child through the development
of natural endowments.
• Customizing the teaching learning process
according to the child’s nature, tendencies,
capacities, likes and dislikes
• Redirection of human instincts
 Naturalism and organization of
education
• The existence of school is a natural necessity-
dependent nature of man
• Attaches less importance to the existence of a
formal school and textbooks because it
hinders the natural development of children
• Rousseau- Everything is good as it comes from
the hands of the author of nature, but
everything degenerates in the hands of man
• Gandhiji’s philosophy of education is also
naturalistic in setting
• Children should be educated in an
atmosphere of freedom
• Liberate education from the four walls of the
classroom and extends to the natural
surroundings
Naturalism and methods of education
• The school to the naturalist is in no way
different from the home
• Froebel called the school as Kindergarten-
garden for children
• Montessori calls it Case-de-Bambini or home
for children
• Pestallozi- There should be no difference
between the school and home
• Learning by doing
• Play way method- Caldwell Cook- spontaneous
effort and free interest
• Observation and experimentation
• Self education : life long process
 Naturalism of Tagore
• Education given in natural surroundings develops
intimacy with the world
• More faith on the individual rather than
institutions
• Live in nature
• School- a large home in where the children and
teachers live together with their families sharing
a common life of high aspirations, planned living,
contact with nature and with a spirit of joy
• Believes in the principle of individual differences-
every child has unique capacity to acquire
knowledge
• Pace of learning is also unique
• School should respect personal diversity
• Advocates the methods of teaching that offer the
child an opportunity for self-education, self-
expression, creative activity and integrated
growth in an atmosphere of unrestrained
freedom
 Naturalism and curriculum
• Emphasize the study of sciences dealing with
nature such as physics, chemistry, biology,
zoology and botany
• Importance to the study of language and
mathematics
• Very insignificant place to spiritualism in the
curriculum
• Tagore do emphasize spiritual values which
should be imparted not through lessons but
practice
• Spencer- importance to self preservation- laws of life
and principles of physiology, High place for science
• Huxley- aesthetic culture to be imparted
• Rousseau- negative education: subordination of the
child to natural order and his freedom from the social
order
• One which perfects the senses that are the instruments
of knowledge before giving them this knowledge
directly
• Genuine education is based on the laws of readiness
and needs of human beings
 Naturalism and teacher
• Teacher is not only provider of information and ideas, but is
the observer and facilitators of the child’s development
• Ross- Teacher is only a setter of the stage, a supplier of
materials and opportunities, a provider of an ideal
environment
• Non-interfering observer
• Tagore- the natural teachers ie., the trees, evening,
moonlight etc nourish the child’s nature spontaneously
• A real teacher humanizes the learning process and activates
the mind instead of stuffing it
• It is the teacher who kindles independent thinking,
imagination and judgment
• Rousseau : teacher should not be in a hurry to
make the child learn but should be patient,
permissive and nonintrusive
• Teacher cannot tell the student what the truth
is but rather must stand back and encourage a
students’ self discovery.
 Naturalism and discipline
• No emphasis on external rigid discipline
• Free discipline to child for optimum desired
learning to take place in nature
• External discipline is totally out of place
• Formal education is the invention of society
which is artificial
• Rigid man-made discipline must be avoided
 IDEALISM
• Oldest system of philosophy
• Origin in ancient India and in the west by Plato
• Idealists believe that ideas are the true reality
• Human spirit is the most important element of life
• All of reality is reducible to one fundamental
substance: spirit
• The act of knowing takes place in the mind and not
through senses
• Advocates the use of intuition for knowing the ultimate
• Values are eternal
• They believe in three spiritual values: the
truth, the beauty and the goodness
• The truth is an intellectual value, the beauty
an aesthetic value and the good a moral value
• Purpose of education is the development of
the mind and self of the pupil
 Principles of idealism
• Presence of universal mind
• Regards man as spiritual being
• The world of ideals and values are superior
than the materialistic world
• The real knowledge is perceived in mind
 Educational implications
• Education is a process of unfolding and
developing that which is a potential in the human
person: unfolding of what is already enfolded
• Learning is a process of discovery in which the
learner is stimulated to recall the truth present
within the mind
• The teacher should be a moral and cultural
exemplar or model of values that represents the
highest and best expression of personal and
human development
 Proponents
• Plato
• Guru Nanak
• Rabindranath Tagore
• Mahatma Gandhi
• Dayananda Saraswathi
• Sri Aurobindo
• Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
• Socrates
• Ross
 Idealism and aims of education
• Exaltation of human personality
• Self realization of individual towards duties of
self, cleanliness, satisfaction of all desires,
punctuality and regularity, avoidance of
obscenity, profanity and immoral language
• Indian idealism advocates for liberation (mukti or
nirvana as the ultimate aim of life
• Students should acquire achievement in art,
literature, mathematics and sciences which
promotes new inventions
• Provide opportunity for the acquisition and
enrichment of cultural heritage
• Development of moral sense and values
• Promoting the development of self culture,
which includes polite behavior, good manners,
self control, generosity, sincerity etc
• Promoting universal education without any
discrimination
Idealism and organization of education
• Recommends well planned formal class rooms
for teaching learning activity
• Teacher is considered as a mature person who
transfers knowledge
 Idealism and methods of teaching
• Formal class room methods such as lectures,
discussions, presentations, self activity, project
methods, questioning and role play
• Knowledge is transferred from a more mature
person to a less mature person through formal
and well planned teaching learning methods
 Idealism and curriculum

• Curriculum based upon the idea of spiritual

nature of man
• Curriculum is a body of intellectual or learned
disciplines
• Arrange curriculum in the form of a hierarchy
with general disciplines in the top followed by
particular subjects
 Education

Physical
activities Spiritual
activities

Care
of skill Moral aesthetic Religious Intellectual
body
 Subjects
• Intellectual: language, literature, science,
mathematics, history and geography
• Aesthetic: Study of art and poetry
• Moral: Study or religion and ethics
• Dr. S Radhakrishnan: moral education should
be a compulsory part of education at primary
and secondary level
• He advocates for physical education also
 Idealism and teacher
• Pupils catch fire from a teacher who is himself
a flame
• High expectations of the teacher
• Teacher must be intellectually and morally
ideal serve as an example for the student
• Teacher is a model for emulation
• Dr. S Radhakrishnan: the type of education
which we may give to our youth depends on
the fact that what type of teachers we get
• The school is a garden, the educand is a tender
plant and the teacher is a careful gardener
• According to J Donald Butler, the teacher should
 Personify culture and reality for the student
 Be a specialist in knowledge
 Be a kind person who commands the
students’ respect by virtue of what he is himself
 Be a personal friend for individual student
According to J Donald Butler……….
Awaken students’ desire to learn
Be a master of art of living
Be one who capably communicates his subject
Appreciate the subject he teaches
Aid in the cultural rebirth of generations
 Idealism and discipline
• Self realization is the prime aim of education
and recommend strict discipline for the
attainment of self realization
• Idealism is against free discipline
• A disciplined mind only can attain the highest
values of life
• Discipline begins externally but ends internally
through self control
 PRAGMATISM
• Pragmatism adopt a midway between
idealism and naturalism
• Derived from Greek word “Pragma” means
action
• Known as instrumentalism or functionalism
• Learning by doing or learning by experience
 Proponents
• Williams James
• John Dewey
• Charles Saunders Pierce
• S Kilpatrick
• Margaret H
 Definition
• Pragmatism is essentially a humanistic
philosophy maintaining that man creates his
own values in course of activity, that reality is
still in making and awaits its part of
completion from the future
• Creation through continuous activity
 Forms of pragmatism
• Humanistic pragmatism: that which satisfies
the needs, requirements, aspirations,
objectives of the human beings and cater to
the welfare of mankind only can be
considered true and real
• Experimental pragmatism: whatever can be
experimentally verified is true or what worked
is true
• Biological pragmatism: power and capacity
possessed by human beings is valuable and
enables him to adjust with his environment
according to his needs
 Principles
• Man is considered as essentially a social and
biological organism
• Knowledge should be experimentally verified and
should be useful to the learner
• Pragmatism has faith in man’s capacity to shape
his destiny
• There are no absolute values, what works as
useful becomes a value
• Dewey advocates learning by doing
 Aims of education
• All round harmonious development of individual
• Personal and social adjustment of an individual
• Learning through activity and experiences
• Reconstruction of experiences
• Creation of new moral and aesthetic values
• social efficiency
• Continuous and varied experiences
 Educational implications
• Pragmatism revolutionized the education
system
• Pragmatic trend is known as progressivism in
education
• Education must prepare the child to become
an effective member of the community
• Curriculum should include varieties of
activities of real life
 Curriculum
• Recommends broad field curriculum based on
few principles
• Principle of utility- language, physical
education, science, history, geography,
agriculture, home science etc
• Principle of interest-interest in conversations,
creation and expression, investigation and
construction
• Principle of experience: curricular and co-
curricular activities: provision for productive
learning experiences
• Principle of integration : integration of various
subjects and experiences: knowledge cannot
be divided into watertight compartments :
connection and correlation between various
units
 Pragmatism and methods of teaching
• Gives importance to the child than the book,
teacher and subject matter
• Dynamic methods
• Deny any outdated, lifeless and rigid methods
of teaching
• Participatory approach of teaching
• Interactive lecture, discussion, role playing,
demonstration, experimentation, activity
oriented teaching
 Pragmatism and methods of teaching
-Principles of selection of teaching methods
• Principle of progressive learning: self learning,
self effort, productive practical activities
• Principle of learning by doing: real life
experiences and real life situations
• Principle of integration : integration of
different subjects to get a unified view
 Pragmatism and discipline
• Does not believe in strict and rigid discipline
• Believe in social discipline which develop from
child’s experiences
• Purposeful co-operative activities help the
child to develop mutual interest, initiative,
self- reliance, tolerance and consideration for
others
 Pragmatism and teacher
• Consider teacher as a friend, philosopher and
guide to the children
• Maintain a close relationship with children for
understanding their interests and awareness
regarding the social condition
• The pragmatist teacher teaches his pupils to
think and act for themselves rather than to
know or to react
 REALISM
• First explained by Aristotle and later modified
by Gemore, Russel and John Wild
• Things we see and perceive are real and
knowledge acquired through senses only is
true
 Definition
• Butter: Realism is the reinforcement of our
common acceptance of this world as it
appears to us
• Seeing is believable
 Forms of realism
• Humanistic realism
• Only education can bring about human
welfare and success
• Erasmus : knowledge of things and words
• Rebelias :liberal education
• Milton: complete and generous education
 Forms of realism contd..
• Social realism:
• education system should promote working
efficiency of individuals
• Sense realism: knowledge primarily comes
through senses and not through words.
• all knowledge originates from the external
nature
• Neorealism: more inclined towards science
education
 Principles of realism
• Worldly realities of everyday life are true.
• It does not believe in the existence of any absolute truth.
• It accepts only sensory experiences of the external world
as real.
• It looks at man like a physical being controlled by rules and
laws.
• Real knowledge is obtained by analysis and experiencing
sensations.
• It advocates the methods and principles of physical science
for acquired knowledge.
 Realism and aims of education
• Prepare the child for a real life
• Prepare the child for a happy and successful
life
• Fosters mental and physical powers of child
• Developing and training of senses
• Providing vocational education
• Make the child familiar with the nature and
social environment
 Realism and curriculum
• Prefers subjects and activities which can
prepare children for day to day living
• Science and vocational subjects enjoy
predominant position in curriculum followed
by arts, literature and languages
 Realism and methods of teaching
• Oppose bookish knowledge as it fails to
prepare the child for real life
• Justifies the use of audiovisual aids
• Recommend objective method of teaching
• Importance for observation, experimentation
and activities
 Realism and discipline
• Believes in self discipline
• Advocate moral and religious education
 Realism and teacher
• Honorable position is reserved for teachers
• Well versed in content and aware about the
needs of children
• Interested in research and
• transferring knowledge in a clear and
intelligible way
 THEISTIC REALISM OR
SUPERNATURALISM
• Originated from Christian philosophy
• There is a personal God
• God is the author or creator of nature and man
• God helps His children to attain the eternal
destiny
• Man is made up of a body and soul
• Education is regarded as an active social process
and can take place in the family , school and
church
Theistic realism and aims of education
• Social development
• Economic competency
• Moral development
• Spiritual perfection
• Physical development
 Theistic realism and methods of
teaching
• Discussion
• Lecture
• practical experience
 Theistic realism and discipline
• Against rigid discipline
• Favors self- discipline
• Teacher’s role important in fostering discipline
 Theistic realism and teacher
• Teacher as a guide
• Bringing out the child’s hidden potential and
nurturing leadership qualities
 HUMANISTIC EXISTENTIALISM
• Youngest philosophy
• Modern philosophy
 Main assumptions
• Man’s existence
• Self knowledge
• Freedom and responsibility
• Man is not complete
 Educational implications
• Primary aim of education is the making of
individual as one who lives and makes decisions
about what he will do
• School should provide an environment where the
individuals find security, encouragement and
acceptance by teachers
• All school subjects and activities should provide
situations for the development of human beings
• Teacher has to facilitate development or
originality and creativity
• The teacher has to be very active and equip
the student to face challenges
• School should nurture democratic ideas
• Concern and respect for the individual student
 ECLECTISM
• All educational philosophies consider
education as a dynamic process
• No single philosophy alone can help the
education to maintain its’ dynamic nature
• Create a new philosophy by pooling all the
good and relevant features from different
educational philosophies
• The newly created one is “Eclectism”
 Need for Eclectism in education
• Education is driven by societal needs which
changes from time to time
• An efficient education system promptly
foresee the future needs of the society and
reprioritize its aims accordingly
• This reprioritization helps the education to
meet the demands of the society
• Certain aspects of educational philosophy gets
outdated while some other aspects of the same
philosophy remains valid
• This motivate the educationists to identify valid
and relevant ideas from various philosophies and
pool them to formulate agreeable philosophy
namely eclectism
• Eclectism is a harmonious combination of recent
tendencies in education and agreeable features
of different philosophies
• Eclectic tendencies of education
 Salient features
• Aim of education is to prepare good citizens
• Recommends broad and flexible curriculum
• Importance to co-curricular activities
• Emphasis on co-ordination of various subjects
• Ensure availability of subject experts
• Suggest scientific teaching methods based on
the principle of learning by doing, learning by
play and learning by observation.
• Consider education as a tool for social control
• Recommends professional status for a teaching
job
• Importance to self discipline
• Highlight governmental responsibility in providing
education
• Emphasis on adult and social education
• Harmonious relationship among school, home
and society