1. Experimentalism (Pragmatism – Instrumentalism)
Philosophy may be defined as the general theory of education
John Dewey

2. Review – Branches of Philosophy
Metaphysics
The study of ultimate reality (what is real?)
Epistemology
The question of truth and knowledge (how knowing takes place, how we know that we know, how we decide what knowledge is most worth having…?)
Axiology
The question of value (value in what people do and enjoy)
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3. Review – Plato & Aristotle
Metaphysics
The World of Ideas, Forms
The physical world and our perception/experience of it
Epistemology
A rational, orderly body of truth
The discovery of logical, orderly truth of the external world
Values
Absolute, eternal, and universal
Natural law
The Learner
A mind, soul, and spirit capable of emulating the Ideal
An orderly, sensing, and rational being capable of understanding the world of things
Education
Spiritual and intellectual development
Development of the rational faculties and proper dispositions (a balance between passion & reason)
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4. Pragmatism – Metaphysics
Experience
It is our inquiry rather than the “real” world, that is the author of of genuine and authentic reality
Transaction
We do things to the world, and then we undergo the consequences (intelligence is our ability to associate our doings with their consequences)
Process
Reality is a process: Experience
Educational Implications
Subject matter of social experience, the social studies
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5. Pragmatism – Epistemology
Knowing as a process
A kind of dialectic with cosmos, reflective thinking
Inquiry / Scientific method
The Complete Act of Thought (see the schema of scientific method)
Truth as what works
Only experience that is common to everyone, testable and warranted is capable of yielding what we call knowledge
Educational Implications
Problem solving, project method
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7. Pragmatism – Axiology Ethics: The public test
Every ethical situation arises from a desire to improve some state of affairs
Aesthetics: The public taste
The work of art and is what the product does with and in experience
Educational Implications
Making group decisions in light of consequences
Participating in art projects
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