INTRODUCTION
Every person has a philosophy even though he does not realise this. This is more so when we conceive philosophy in a general sense as a person's "sum of his fundamental beliefs and convictions." Moreover, teachers and students implicitly ask philosophical questions such as, "Why am I teaching? What is teaching at its best? And student asks, "Why am I studying this subject? What am I going to school for anyway?" On the other side of the coin, people have some ideas concerning physical objects, man, the meaning of life, nature, death, God, right and wrong. Of course, these ideas are acquired in varied ways -through family friends, individuals and groups or they might be as a result of some thinking, conventions or emotional bias. This represents just a popular man-on-the-street view of philosophy that is vague and blurred.
In this unit, we shall think of philosophy as an activity in three modes: The speculative, the prescriptive and analytic modes of philosophy. A description of philosophy of education and its relevance is included herein.
The word philosophy is derived from the Greek words philia (Loving) and sophia (Wisdom) and means" the love of wisdom". This is the most popular Grecian conception of philosophy, but there are conglomerate definitions of philosophy that seem more supplementary rather than contradictory.
Philosophy is a personal attitude to life and the universe. When a person goes through some unusual experience, we often inquire, "How does he take it?" Or we often declare, "He takes it philosophically". The mature philosophical attitude is the searching and critical attitude, it is the open- minded, tolerant attitude expressed in the willingness to look at all sides of an issue. It does not shrink from facing the difficult and unresolved problems of life.
Philosophy is a method of reflective thinking and reasoned inquiry. It involves the attempt to think through one's problems and to face all the facts involved. Philosophy is an attempt to gain a view of the whole world. It seeks to combine the conclusions of the various sciences and long human experience into some kind of consistent worldview.
Philosophy is the logical analysis of language and the clarification of the meaning of words and concepts. Philosophy is the study of knowledge, reason, and reality.
Educational philosophy is speculative when it seeks to establish theories of the nature of man, society and the world. Its speculative aspect on the one hand, deals with the search for values, knowledge and realities while the prescriptive aspect on the other hand is the effort towards getting the desired goals and recommending same to solve the current problems of education. Educational philosophy is analytic when it clarifies both speculative and prescriptive statements.
Every person has a philosophy even though he does not realise this. This is more so when we conceive philosophy in a general sense as a person's "sum of his fundamental beliefs and convictions." Moreover, teachers and students implicitly ask philosophical questions such as, "Why am I teaching? What is teaching at its best? And student asks, "Why am I studying this subject? What am I going to school for anyway?" On the other side of the coin, people have some ideas concerning physical objects, man, the meaning of life, nature, death, God, right and wrong. Of course, these ideas are acquired in varied ways -through family friends, individuals and groups or they might be as a result of some thinking, conventions or emotional bias. This represents just a popular man-on-the-street view of philosophy that is vague and blurred.
In this unit, we shall think of philosophy as an activity in three modes: The speculative, the prescriptive and analytic modes of philosophy. A description of philosophy of education and its relevance is included herein.
OBJECTIVES
By the end of this unit, you should be able to:- Define philosophy
- Explain the speculative, prescriptive and analytic modes of philosophy
- Define philosophy of education
- Outline the scope of philosophy of education.
Meaning of Philosophy
The word philosophy is derived from the Greek words philia (Loving) and sophia (Wisdom) and means" the love of wisdom". This is the most popular Grecian conception of philosophy, but there are conglomerate definitions of philosophy that seem more supplementary rather than contradictory.
Philosophy is a personal attitude to life and the universe. When a person goes through some unusual experience, we often inquire, "How does he take it?" Or we often declare, "He takes it philosophically". The mature philosophical attitude is the searching and critical attitude, it is the open- minded, tolerant attitude expressed in the willingness to look at all sides of an issue. It does not shrink from facing the difficult and unresolved problems of life.
Philosophy is a method of reflective thinking and reasoned inquiry. It involves the attempt to think through one's problems and to face all the facts involved. Philosophy is an attempt to gain a view of the whole world. It seeks to combine the conclusions of the various sciences and long human experience into some kind of consistent worldview.
Philosophy is the logical analysis of language and the clarification of the meaning of words and concepts. Philosophy is the study of knowledge, reason, and reality.
Modes of Philosophy
Speculative Philosophy
Speculative philosophy is a way of thinking systematically about everything that exists. The human mind wishes to see things as a whole. It wishes to understand how all the different things that have been discovered together form some sort of meaningful totality. Speculative philosophy is a search for order and wholeness, applied not to particular items or experiences but to all knowledge and all experience.Prescriptive Philosophy
Prescriptive philosophy seeks to establish standards for assessing values, judging conduct and appraising art. It examines what we mean by good and bad, right and wrong, beautiful and ugly. The prescriptive philosopher seeks to discover and to recommend principles for deciding what actions and qualities are most worth- while and why they should be so.Analytic Philosophy
Analytic philosophy focuses on words and meanings. The analytic philosopher examines such notions as 'course', 'mind', 'academic freedom', 'equality of opportunity' etc., in order to assess the different meanings they carry in different contexts. Analytic philosophy tends to be skeptical, continuous and disinclined to build systems of thought. Philosophy of Education is the application of the knowledge of philosophy to the solution of educational problems, concepts and theories. It examines, for example, concepts as equality, teaching, autonomy, freedom, morality etc., and considers their relevance to educational practice. It examines the role of aims in education as well as schools of philosophy and how they view education. Educational philosophy seeks to comprehend education in its entirety, interpreting it by means of general concepts that will guide our choice of educational ends and policies.Educational philosophy is speculative when it seeks to establish theories of the nature of man, society and the world. Its speculative aspect on the one hand, deals with the search for values, knowledge and realities while the prescriptive aspect on the other hand is the effort towards getting the desired goals and recommending same to solve the current problems of education. Educational philosophy is analytic when it clarifies both speculative and prescriptive statements.
Activity I
- Philosophy of education is not a worthwhile activity therefore, it should be deleted from the school curriculum. Do you agree? Justify your position.
- Explain briefly the difference between speculative philosophy and prescriptive philosophy.
Social Plugin