WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY AND PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

KOMMUNISTIEN LIITTO ry: WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY KOMMUNISTIEN LIITTO ry: Philosophy is a world view or doctrine of the structure of world, which tries to argue its statements in logical and theoretical manner. Fro this reason religious world vies is not philosophical, because it does not argue in theoretical manner. Philosophy forms theoretical synthesis of the most general views and concepts on nature, society, human and cognition. SOURCE: http://personal.inet.fi/koti/kalevi/Iluku.htm

Friedrich Nietzsche: Philosophers should not accept concepts as such, in a form that these concepts are handed to them and the just clarify and polish these concepts. Philosophers must start producing, creating and setting concepts and ask people to use them. Source: Deleuze & Guattari: Qu'est-ce que la philosophie?

Deleuze & Guattari: Qu'est-ce que la philosophie? We have frequently asked the question “What is philosophy” and we have always answered in same way: Philosophy is art of forming, discovering and producing concepts… Philosopher is a friend of concept and she has ability to create of concept… Philosophy is a discipline, which consist of creating of concepts… Concepts do not wait us like stars in space. There is no heaven of concepts. We have to invent, create or manufacture concepts and concept would be nothing without the signature of authors.

Rauno Huttunen: Philosophy means going to the roots in a way or another. It is radical in a original meaning of Latin word radix (root). Things themselves have no roots or foundation but foundation comes to be in the process of asking the foundation. Why then we should ask the foundation or reason? That is a philosophical question and one way to start to philosophize. Traditionally philosophy has asked foundation of different things like being, knowledge, human, art, moral, justice, syllogism, language, power, culture, mathematics, rhetoric, sport, education etc…

Theoretical philosophy: ONTOLOGY = What is B/being? 2) EPISTEMOLOGY = What is knowledge?

ONTOLOGY: What is Being? -> Spirit, matter, God, one, many, nature, possible, necessary, absolute, determinated, indeterminated, general, one of the kind…

MATERIALISM World is basically matter. According to reductionist materialism (physicalism) everything can be reduced to matter and its movement. Emergent materialism asserts that the mind and culture are irreducible to matter but matter forms the foundation. There also dialectical materialism, deconstructive materialism, promissory materialism etc.

IDEALISM World is basically idea or spirit. For Plato material world is pure reflection of ideal world of true beings

EPISTEMOLOGY What can be known? Can we know essence or true being? Is our knowledge a picture of reality (realism)? Is our knowledge construction which does not tell how things themselves are (constructionism)? What is truth? Comes our knowledge from experience (induction), reason (deduction) or intuition (“abduction”)?

METAPHYSICS Term refers either to theoretical philosophy or just to ontology alone. Term comes form Greek in the period of Aristotle. Aristotle’s writings were organized in library in such way that certain writings were put after physical writings and they were called ta meta fysika that is writings after physics. In these writings Aristotle deals with basic philosophical questions and Aristotle himself called this discipline as first philosophy. After Aristotle there have been other names like metaphysics, perennial philosophy, prima philosophia and ontology.

Practical philosophy Philosophy of science: What is science? Philosophy of mind: What is consciousness? Formal logic: What is valid syllogism? Some time these three disciplines are located in theoretical philosophy. Philosophy of art: What is beatiful, sublime or art? Ethics: What is moral? Philosophical antropology: What is human

Practical philosophy Philosophy of culture: What is culture? Social philosophy: What is power, ideology, social action, submission, justice, recognition? Philosophy of justice: What is justice or valid norm? Then there is philosophy of environment, feminism, psychology, mathematics, flesh, religion, politics, dead, language, sport and of course EDUCATION.

Vestergaard, Löfstedt & Ödman: Introduction to philosophy of Education We can make a strict definition like philosophy is systematic study of theoretical knowledge. This definition rules out many important areas of philosophy. So it is better to choose broad definition, which take care different schools of philosophy and different epoch’s usage of “philosophy”.

That is why answer to questions ”What is philosophy” and ”What is philosophy of education” depends on the school of philosophy and the era of philosophy.

Modern school of philosophy Analytical philosophy Hermeneutics, fenomenology and eksistentialism Neomarxism and critical philosophy Postmodernism and deconstructionism

Analytical philosophy Bernard Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein Philosophy of language Metaphysical problems are caused by misus e of language Analytical philosophy of education has example developed formal definition of education, created concept of indoctrination and promoted critical thinking and scientific rationality in education

Fenomenology: Edmund Husserl and fenomenological method Eksistentialism: Martin Heidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre; ”angst”, care, existence, the question of the meaning of life Hermeneutics: Hans-Georg Gadamer; understanding, horisont, interpretation, openness to tradition, dialogical relation

Critical philosophy Jürgen Habermas: interests of knowledge, critique of ideology, theory of communicative action - Theodor Adorno: Education after Auschwitzin -> Klaus Mollenahauer; critical pedagogy -> Robert Young; habermasian pedagogy Paolo Freire: pedagogy of oppressed -> Peter MacLaren; Henri Giroux, Juha Suoranta

Postmodernism and dekonstruktionism Jean-Francois Lyotard; postmodern situation Jacques Derrida; deconstruction (application of Heidegger’s ”de-struktio”) Michel Foucault; genealogy of power -> Michael Peters; Robin Usher; Gregory Ulmer