Philosophy and Education 1 Philosophy and Education

AGENDA CHAPTER 1 What is Education? Subdivisions of Philosophy Relationships between Philosophy and Education John Dewey, “The Future of Philosophy”

What is Education? What does it mean to be educated? What is the opposite of being educated? How do you know what you know? (homework) (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Subdivisions of Philosophy Metaphysics Speculations about the nature of ultimate reality. What is real? Epistemology Knowledge and knowing. How do we know what we know? Axiology Values – the “shoulds” and “oughts” of our lives. What and why do we value a thing, action, or relationship? Metaphysics p. 4 (Read excerpt) What do you believe are real areas of knowledge that should be included in the curriculum? Epistemology --What do you believe is the most authoritative, true, and valuable way of knowing? How do you know what you know (ask several students). ……Then…Which of these authorities is most creditable? How you believe you know what you know transfers into how you would educate others on what they should know. Axiology Helps society shape values and beliefs about what is right and wrong. Book: Education, in any society seeks to develop a particular kind of character that exhibits preferred behavior. Also Religious institutions. All serve to influence how we live and act. (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Subdivisions of Philosophy (cont.) Ethics A subdivision of axiology, deals with issues of good and bad, right and wrong. What makes an action good or bad or right or wrong? Aesthetics A subdivision of axiology, deals with issues of beauty. What makes something beautiful or ugly? Logic The rules or procedures of correct thinking. Are we thinking correctly, in a logical manner? Asthetics How we determine what is beautiful or ugly. What is harmonious or discordant. How do you determine what is beautiful? (ask several students) Influences come from a variety of places, but Education in literature and poetry and the fine arts—music, art, drama, and dance are all aspects of education that influence appreciation in the creation of beauty. Is beauty culturally relative? Book p. 7 Logic Described as a pattern used to make a case for or against something, to provide an explanation, or to organize evidence to reach a decision. Two major patters: deduction and induction. Deductive reasoning begins with a general principal then uses specific ases and examples to support the starting generalization. Inductive reasoning is the opposite moving from specific instances, cases or situations to larger generalizations. This is a key element of scientific method and statistical analysis. Back to curriculum: traditional school patterns of organizing students into grades follows a deductive reasoning pattern. Courses, units, and lessons are organized to follow each other in a sequence that is preorganized and articulated with each other in a pattern. The organizing assumption is that learning is cumulative—each skill or subject learned lays a necessary foundation fo the next higher-order skill or subject. Progressive and constructivist curriculum development uses inductive methods—not preorganized sequenced learning experiences, but assumes that the most effective kind of learning comes from what students are interested in and from their direct experiences—hands on, process oriented learning experiences. Students are able to incorporate new knowledge into what they already know and construct their own generalizations. (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

John Dewey, “The Future of Philosophy” Why does Dewey argue against the proposition that philosophy should deal with metaphysical issues? What are the implications of his rejection of metaphysics for education? Do you agree or disagree with Dewey’s argument that philosophy should not deal with questions about the unchanging and eternally true principles, but rather with changing relationships? (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

SUMMARY CHAPTER 1 What is Education? Subdivisions of Philosophy Relationships between Philosophy and Education John Dewey, “The Future of Philosophy”