What is Philosophy?

(By Roger Hiemstra, January, 2009)

• Philosophy has been • Wisdom

called many things and it
• Reality
can have many
meanings • Theories
• Those single words or • Meaning of Life
statements on the right • Nature of being
side are only some of human
them
• Life perspectives
• What words would you
add?
Here is One Definition:

Putting the nature of the universe,

including meaning, people, and
relationships, into an understand-
able or explainable perspective

What is your definition???

The purpose of this presentation is to acquaint you
with various philosophical systems or models. Each
system or model can be interpreted in terms of the
education or training of adults.
Once you examine a particular system or model, ask
yourself such questions as (a) With what parts do I
agree and with what parts do I disagree? (b) How
might they impact on or affect the way I train or
educate adults? (c) What does the model have to say
for my role as an adult educator or trainer?
Examine the visual representation of these notions in
the next slide.
Various Philosophical Systems or Models
Idealism Humanism

Can be Interpreted in Terms

of Educating/Training Adults

With Implications for With Implications for Adult

Training/Educating Educator Roles
Adults
 IDEALISM
(See http://www-distance.syr.edu/philchap.html, Figure 12.1)

• Meaning is in the ideals of life itself

• Reality is made up of absolute truths
• However, a “truth” sometimes is only in the
eye of the beholder
• Educationally this means the use of inductive
reasoning, lecturing
• Plato was an early key proponent of this model
 REALISM
• Meaning comes through empirically proven
facts
• Reality is made up of natural laws, facts
• However, empirical facts are always subject to
change
• Educationally this involves scientific
reasoning
• Chisholm and Whitehead proponents
 PROGRESSIVISM
• Meaning comes through concrete facts
• Theory based on truth makes up reality
• Problem solving and experimenting are
instructional techniques
• But does this diminish the teacher’s role?
• John Dewey a leading proponent (had a
huge impact on American education)
 LIBERALISM
• Freedom comes through a liberated mind
• Humans endowed with reasoning ability
• Thus, educationally you teach learners the
classics and develop their minds
• But, the past may not relate to modern
problems and situations
• Aristotle was an early proponent
 BEHAVIORISM
• Human behavior tied to prior conditioning
• External forces control all human behavior
• Could learning be too complex for the control
of certain behaviors?
• Teaching methods include behavioral
conditioning, feedback, drill and practice
• B. F. Skinner well known proponent (he also
impacted heavily on U.S. education)
 HUMANISM
(Read http://www-distance.syr.edu/sdlhuman.html for background)

• Intellect distinguishes humans from

animals
• Humans have potential/innate goodness
• Thus, educationally you facilitate and
encourage self-direction
• Some educational needs may be missed?
• Abraham Maslow early proponent
 RADICALISM
• People themselves create meaning
• Knowledge leads to an understanding of
reality and, ultimately, necessary change
• This approach can be idealistic in nature
and often leads to confrontation
• Teach by dialogue and problem solving
• Paulo Freire prominent proponent
 ECLECTICISM
• Fortunately, there is a way of dealing with all the
various models
• Eclecticism is not a philosophical system or
model, but rather is the synthesizing and per-
sonal interpretation of various models to draw
out the best components for yourself
• Thus, you pull the best from various models in any
effort to build your own statement of personal
philosophy
Visit http://www-distance.syr.edu/ethics1.html for
Roger’s personal statement of philosophy to see how he
drew from various philosophical models to create his
own statement. Go here for other people’s statements.
You can do the same thing and you may want to use
the worksheets shown as Figure 12.2 in
http://www-distance.syr.edu/philchap.html, as well as
taking the Lorraine Zinn instrument, and then scoring it
(scoring directions are shown in Supplement K), as a
way of thinking through the basics of your own
statement
The overall point of this exercise is to help you see that
an ability to write a personal statement of philosophy
becomes foundational to an under-standing of ethics
and how you will apply such understanding to what you
do professionally.
 Selected References
Archambault, R. D. (1964). John Dewey on education. New York: Modern Library, Random
House.
Bambrough, R. (Ed.). (1963). The philosophy of Aristotle (A. E. Wardman & J. L. Creed, Trans.).
New York: New American Library of World Literature.
Bergevin, P. (1967). A philosophy for adult education. New York: Seabury.
Brubacher, J. S. (1969). Modern philosophies of education. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Chisholm, R. M. (1961). Realism and the background of phenomenology. Glencoe, IL: Free
Press.
Cushman, R. E. (1958). Therapeia: Plato's conception of philosophy. Chapel Hill, NC:
University of North Carolina Press.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York: Macmillan.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan.
Elias, J. L., & Merriam, S. (1980). Philosophical foundations of adult education. Malabar, FL:
Krieger.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.
Lindeman, E. C. (1928). The meaning of adult education. New York: New Republic.
Maslow, A. (1976). Education and peak experience. In C. D. Schlosser (Ed.), The person in
education: A humanistic approach. New York: Macmillan.
Rogers, C. R. (1969). Freedom to learn. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Taylor, A. (1926). Plato: The man and his work. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd.
Whitehead, A. N. (1933). Adventure of ideas. New York: Macmillan.
Zinn, L. M. (1990). Identifying your philosophical orientation. In M. W. Galbraith (Ed.), Adult
learning methods: A guide for effective instruction. Malabar, FL: Krieger.