1. EDUCATIONAL
PHILOSOPHY
What is a Philosophy of
Education?

2. Philosophy of Education
• Philosophy centers on three major
questions. What are these?
– What is real?
– What is true?
– What is good and beautiful?
What is Philosophy?
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_philosophy.html
http://www.philosophypages.com/index.htm

3. Educational Philosophy
• Love of wisdom; pursuit of wisdom
• Offers an avenue for serious inquiry into
ideas, traditions, & ways of thinking
• Help develop new insights into educational
problems
• Role is to examine critically the intellectual
disputes & suggest different ways of
viewing things

4. What is Content of Philosophy?
• Activites
– Prescribing
– Speculation
– Analysis
– Synthesizing
• Attitudes
– Self-awareness
– Comprehensiveness
– Penetration
– Flexibility

5. Body of content of Philosophy
• Metaphysics – what is real to you
• Epistemology – how do we know
• Axiology – values
Ethics – morality, behavior
Asthetics – beauty, comfort

6. Everyday problem vs. Philosophical
analysis of problem
• Philosophical conflicts
• Look beyond the obvious = philosophical
analysis

7. Assumption
• Taken as true
• Example: If a student does well on the
TAAS, ACT, SAT, etc., they are educated.

8. Hypothesis
• A considered guess or hunch in regard to
which some pertinent data are available; a
trial answer to be tested.

9. Intuition
• Instinct – feel something
• Low level – gut feeling
• Based on past experiences

10. Theory
• “A theory is an instrument, a guide to
thought, not necessarily a guide to direct
practice.” Richare Pratte, Contemporary
Theories of Education (1971).
• Invites argument and counterargument
• Organize ideas for eventual practical
activity

11. Practice
• Provides raw materials and testing
grounds.
• Experiences shared, critically analyzed for
improvement, taken back into practice for
testing
• Serves to expand theory and direct it
toward new possibilities

12. Theory and Philosophy
• What is the relationship between theory
and philosophy?
• Is theory a set of assumptions? Explain
• Explain how questions such as why, what,
how, etc. build a theoretical basis from
which to operate.

13. Metaphysics
• The view that reality exists beyond the
observable world
• Conceived to be transcendental to
humankind’s sensory experience
• Beyond, independent of, superior to, &
separate from the world of experience
Metaphysics Resources;
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/Metaphysics-Principles-Reality.htm
http://websyte.com/alan/metamul.htm

14. Areas of Metaphysics
– Cosmology-order in being
universe? Human?
– Teleology- final causes, end
– Theology – study of God
– Anthropology – study of humankind
– Ontology-existence, nature of being

15. Cosmology
• Order in being
• Study of the origin, nature & development
of the Universe
• Our picture of the order & priority of values
in the structure of the Universe
More on Cosmology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmology

16. Teleogy
• Study of purpose of being
• Is there an end?
• Afterlife?
Fetus by: Leonardo da Vinci
Three Views Outline

17. Theology
• Theological questions
– How do I answer questions I have about
God?
– Can God allow evil if he is good?
Examples of Theological Questions and answers if God were a
computer programmer:
http://www.meyerweb.com/other/humor/theology.html

18. Anthropology
• Two views:
– Judeo-Christian
human beings have worth & dignity
Free will
– Scientific
determined by our environment
No free will

19. Ontology
• Study of being
• Existence, nature
• What are the essential qualities of the
human being?
• Value - priority
More on Ontology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology

20. Problems of metaphysics?
• What does it mean “to be”?
• When does life begin?
• Is this a dream or reality?
• When does life end?

21. Reality vs. Appearance
• Perception
• Reliability of sense data

22. Referent vs. Symbol
• Symbol = red
• Referent = what you think about
• Language is a catalogue of symbols

23. Static vs. Dynamic Culture
• Characteristics of cultures
– Universals – society agrees on these
– Specialties – some people know
– Alternatives – society disagrees on these
Universals > Alternatives = static
Alternatives > Universals = dynamic

24. • Culture is static = subjects used for study
are static
• Culture is dynamic = subjects used to
teach people to think

25. Epistemology
• What is true?
• The nature of truth and knowledge
• The source of truth and knowledge
Quotes on Truth and Wisdom:
http://www.wisdomquotes.com/cat_wisdom.html

26. In Education
• Metaphysics – deals with content
• Epistemology – deals with instruction,
strategy used to deliver content:
– direct instruction, cooperative learning, inquiry
learning, etc.

27. Scientific Knowledge vs.
Intuition
• Knowledge - Truth – Epistemological – Is
truth an absolute?
• Intuition - Gut feeling; you just know;
innate sense of knowing; information is
immediate w/o any reasoning involved;
react spontaneously w/o knowing why

28. Levels of Intuition
• Simple Awareness
• Scientific Intuition
• Artistic Level
• Religious Intuition

29. Problems - Epistemology
• Truth vs. truth
• Vicarious vs. Direct Learning
• Objective vs. Subjective Knowledge
• a priori vs. a posteriori

30. Truth vs. truth
• Is there an absolute truth in the Universe?
Are there absolutes? What are absolutes?
• Something that NEVER changes
• “T” Classical Phil
• Truth changes - small “t”
• Contemporary Phil

31. Vicarious vs. Direct Learning
• Vicarious – indirectly through others
• Direct – experience, by doing

32. Objective vs. Subjective
Knowledge
• Objective - Knowledge is out there to be
discovered. How can I discover
knowledge?
• Subjective – Knowledge is inside
everyone. How can I create knowledge?

33. a priori
• Deductive knowledge based on principles
that are self-evident apart from
observation or experience.
• Independent of sensory experience
• Proposition is necessarily true or false
based on purely logical or semantic
(meaning in language) grounds

34. a posteriori
• Knowledge gained as a result of
experiences

35. How do we know?
• Sense data
• Common sense
• Logic
– Syllogism
– Dialectic
• Intuition
• Science
• Choice making

36. Rationalism vs Empiricism
• Rationalism – the basic source of
knowledge is reason.
• Adherents think that each person either is
or has a mind that has the ability to know
truths directly.
• Things need not be perceived by the
senses.
– idealism, classical realism, dualistic theism

37. Rationalism vs Empiricism
• Empiricism – the basic source of
knowledge is experience, not reason.
• Adherents emphasize that human learning
centers on perceptual, sensory experience
instead of being centered on the
mentalistic, speculative reasoning or
rational process.
– behavioral experimentalism, logical
empiricism, cognitive-field experimentalism

38. Axiology
• What is good and beautiful?
• A general theory of value
• Primary concepts are ought, duty, right
and wrong

39. Ethics
• Ethics = a theory of behavior
• Morality = a practice of behavior

40. Axiological problem in U.S.
• Growth of mass society
• Depersonalization
• Alienation
• Law of Interchangeable Parts
• Cloning

41. What do we deal with in Ethics?
• Good “G” vs. good “g”
– Free choice vs. determinism on the other
• Means vs. Ends
– Do ends justify the means?
• Conceived vs. Operative Behavior
– What you believe you should do vs. what you do
• Morality vs. Religion
– Varied agreement of morality vs. rules

42. Aesthetics
• Beauty
• “Feeling good part”
• Who are you? What do you like?
• Taste – good or bad

43. Aesthetic Experience
• Euphoric state
• Beauty of something overwhelms you
• Transcend self
• Lost in the experience

44. Two areas of Aesthetics
• Art for Art’s sake – something is done for
the purpose of beauty-nothing else
• Art for our sake - decide what it is to be
used for, then design it.
– Form follows function

45. 21st Century Educational Issues
• Identify major 20/21st century problems
relative to education, such as:
– National standards
– High Stakes Testing
– Vouchers
– Federal dollars to religious organizations
– others

47. 2. Why does man
exist?
Man is only a
product of chance
in a closed
universe.
Like all existence
man is a
manifestation of
God (Brahman)
Man was created
by God, distinct
form all creation.
3. What is the basis
for human
dignity?
Finally nothing.
Relatively, man is
the highest form of
evolution.
Nothing. Man’s
uniqueness
separates him
from oneness with
God.
Made in the
image of God,
man exists for
personal relation-
ship with creator.
4. What is the basis
of personality:
that man thinks,
wills, has
emotions?
Finally nothing.
Relatively:
a. genetic
formation
b. Conditioning
Personality is
illusion. Man must
deny personality
to enter into the
unity of God.
God is personal.
God thinks, wills,
feels, etc. Man is
made in divine
image.
ATHEISM PANTHEISM THEISM
1. Why is there
something
instead of
nothing?
Something always
existed. The
universe is mere
time, space +
chance
Everything that
exists is God (a-
personal)
particularized in
the universe.
An infinite
personal God
created all that
exists from noth-
ing (ex-nihilo)
THREE BASIC WORLDVIEWS
Dr. J. Scott Horrell Dallas Theological Seminary

48. 7. What is the basis
of ethics, morals
and values?
Only relativism:
a. social-State
democracy,
communism,
etc.
b. individual (I’m
OK, you’re OK)
Finally nothing.
Relatively, laws of
karma..
The moral nature
of God, revealed
in the Torah,
Bible or Koran
THREE BASIC WORLDVIEWS
ATHEISM PANTHEISM THEISM
5. What is the basis
for reason and
rationality?
Finally, nothing.
Relatively:
a. Genetic
formation
b. Language
c. pragmatism
Nothing.
Reason is illusion.
Final reality (God)
is a-rational. Truth
is known by
gnosis
(illumination).
While divine
reason is beyond
ours. God is
rational; the laws
of logic are based
in the nature of
God.
6. What is the basis
for moral
feelings, i.e.,
conscience?
Social
conditioning.
In the final sense,
Moral conscious-
ness is illusion.
Although fallen
(conditioned)
moral feelings
reflect the image
of God.
Dr. J. Scott Horrell Dallas Theological Seminary

50. 10. What is the
place of the
individual in the
universe? (The
problem of unity
and diversity)
a. All is unity: man
has no freedom.
Determinism.
b. All is diversity,
man floats in an
absurd
universe.
Ultimately there is
only unity; all
individuality is
mere illusion.
a. Islam; fatalism,
determinism
b. Christianity:
God as Trinity
includes unity
and diversity.
Both have
THREE BASIC WORLDVIEWS
ATHEISM PANTHEISM THEISM
8. Why is there evil
in the universe?
a. Physical evil is
normal
(plagues)
formation
b. Moral evil is
relative to indi-
vidual or social
perception
Because God is
everything, there
is no real evil.
Laws of karma are
arbitrary.
a. Moral evil de-
rives from free
will of finite
persons;
Satan, Adam
b. Physical evil is
a judgement of
moral evil.
9. What is the basis
of happiness,
pleasure and
aesthetic
appreciation?
Genetic formation
and social
conditioning
a. Human plea-
sure separates
from God.
b. The true bliss is
only through
unity with God
(nirvana).
In the imago dei,
man has an
innate aesthetic,
given to enjoy his
God and creation.