1. Foundations of Education, 12th Edition Allan C. Ornstein, Daniel U
Foundations of Education, 12th Edition Allan C. Ornstein, Daniel U. Levine, Gerald L. Gutek, and David E. Vocke
Chapter 6 Philosophical Roots of Education
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2. Focus Questions for Chapter 6
What are the subdivisions of philosophy, how are they defined, and how do they reflect your beliefs and your teaching about truth and values?
What are the leading philosophies and theories of education? Have certain philosophies and theories influenced your ideas about education, your beliefs about knowledge, and your ethical values?
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3. Focus Questions for Chapter 6 (continued)
How do philosophies and theories of education influence curriculum and teaching and learning in schools, including what is taught, how it is taught, teachers’ ethical behavior with students and with each other, and their attitudes about cultural diversity and social justice?
How do contemporary trends in education such as multiculturalism, the standards movement, and educational technology affect your overall philosophy of education?
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4. What is philosophy?
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5. Philosophy is a human beings’ attempt to think speculatively, reflectively, and systematically about the universe and human relationships to the universe.
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6. What are focus areas that philosophies address?
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7. Metaphysical Beliefs
Metaphysical beliefs are beliefs about the nature of reality. They involve speculation about the nature of existence. They ask the question, “What is real?”
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8. Epistemological Beliefs
Epistemological beliefs involve speculation about the foundations of knowledge and how people come to know. They lead to questions such as, “Do our knowledge claims derive from divine revelation, empirical evidence or personal experience?”
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9. Axiological Beliefs
Axiological beliefs are concerned with value theory. They attempt to prescribe what is good and right conduct.
Axiology addresses ethics and aesthetics.
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10. Beliefs about Logic
Logic focuses on the rules of inference. How do we frame our propositions and arguments?
Logic is approached deductively and inductively.
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11. How does philosophy shape educational practice?
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12. Idealism (Roots are traced to Plato 428 – 347 B.C.)
Metaphysical Focus
The world of appearance is disorderly, imperfect and irregular. Reality is essentially spiritual.
There is a macrocosm, a universal mind, which is the whole of existence.
Epistemological Focus
Perfect universal and timeless truths are latent, but present in the minds of human beings.
A person comes to know by discovering that which is present but latent in an individual.
Axiological Focus
Values exist and are absolute, eternal and unchanging.
Logic
Logic is based on the whole-to-part relationship between the Absolute and individual minds.
School Practices
A genuine, liberal education is
universal and timeless.
Teachers arrange this knowledge
that has been uncovered into a
structured curriculum with subjects.
As students progress through
curriculum it becomes more
complex.
Cultural heritage is important.
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13. Realism (Roots found in the work of Aristotle 384-322 B.C.)
Metaphysical Focus
Objective order of reality exists regardless of our perception of it.
Reality consists of two components. They include matter and form, actuality and potentiality.
Epistemological Focus
Observation and investigation of the objective order of reality (the objects of reality) is the method to obtain knowledge.
Through sensation of objects of reality, minds acquire data. Minds arrange data in computer like fashion.
Axiological Focus
Life is transformed through knowledge. This occurs through realistic choices.
Logic
Logic is used deductively and inductively.
School Practices
Education should cultivate rationality.
This should occur through the study of
organized bodies of knowledge.
Disciplines have emerged over time.
The curriculum should consist of
various learned disciplines such as
history, geography, language,
mathematics, biology, and chemistry.
Bodies of knowledge consist of related
concepts.
Teachers should be educated in liberal
arts and sciences. Teachers should
function as professional educators.
Education is teacher centered.
There is a place for aesthetic education.
Senses enable human beings to perceive
information about works of art.

14. Realist philosophy emphasizes sensory learning and organizing objects into categories, as these students are doing in a science class.
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15. Pragmatism (developed in the twentieth century)
Metaphysical Focus
Ultimate reality is unverifiable.
Truth is a tentative assertion derived from human experience.
Epistemological Focus
Knowing is experimental.
Thinking develops when a situation is indeterminate, a need remains unsatisfied.
Intelligence is socially built while participating in experiences that deal with common concerns.
Axiological Focus and Logic
Experimentalism is applied to value issues.
Ethical and aesthetic sensibilities and actions come from human experience.
School Practices
Pragmatists challenge traditional subject
matter that is associated with schooling.
Such teaching separates knowledge.
Pragmatists support an interdisciplinary
approach.
Pragmatists believe that schooling should be
characterized by an experimental
temperament.
Pragmatists support a student-centered
curriculum. A teacher should function as a
resource person. Group learning is
supported.
Pragmatists believe that problem-solving
techniques should transfer to the larger
society.
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16. Existentialism Metaphysics
Existentialism is a process of philosophizing more than a systematic philosophy.
Existentialists believe that existence precedes essence. Human beings are born into an indifferent world and must create their own essence.
Epistemology
Existentialists believe that human beings struggle with the threat of freedom as a result of interactions with other persons, institutions, and agencies.
Human beings need to be free, inner-directed, authentic people.
Axiology
Human beings create their own values through their choices.
School Practices
Existentialists believe that students and
teachers should philosophize, question and
dialogue about their hopes, fears, and
wishes. There are no correct or incorrect
answers to these questions.
The curriculum consists of whatever
contributes to existentialist philosophizing.
Literature and biography reveal people
making choices. Technology can lead to
personal choice and freedom.
A.S. Neill’s Summerhill School in the United
Kingdom exemplifies existentialist themes.
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17. Postmodernism Originated with Philosophers Friedrich Nietzsche ( ) and Martin Heidegger ( )
Metaphysical Focus
Postmodernists dismiss metaphysical claims about universal truths. Postmodernists believe that human beings construct their own subjective truths.
Epistemological Focus
Postmodernism has implications for constructivism. Human beings construct their knowledge from their experiences interacting with the environment.
Axiological Focus
The values of marginalized groups are emphasized.
School Practices
Postmodernists work to raise student
consciousness. Postmodernists view
school curriculum as an arena of
conflicting viewpoints. Some
viewpoints dominate others.
Postmodernists believe that
contributions of underrepresented
groups should be included in the
school curriculum.
Postmodernists do not emphasize the
use of the scientific method in
curriculum. They see the scientific
method as a tool of the elite power to
be used over others.
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18. What are educational theories?
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19. Educational Theories
Theories of education often are derived from, or are based on larger, more comprehensive bodies of thought, or philosophies such as Idealism, Realism, and Pragmatism.
Educational theories are groupings, or clusters of general ideas or propositions, that explain the operations of an institution, such as a school, or the intricacies of a situation, such as teaching and learning.
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20. Essentialism
Essentialists call attention to deficiencies among U.S. students, such as lack of basic skills.
Essentialists believe that schooling should emphasize basic skills, arts, and sciences. They believe that there are “essential” basic skills that have contributed to human well being.
Essentialists believe the elementary curriculum should focus on basic skills that contribute to literacy and numeracy.
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21. Essentialism
The secondary curriculum should consist of the study of subjects such as mathematics, science, literature, and language.
Essentialists believe that legitimate authority should be cultivated in the teacher-student relationship.
Essentialists believe that mastering of skills or subjects requires effort by the learner.
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22. Perennialism
Perennialists believe that school is a social institution designed to develop human intellectual potentiality.
Perennialists believe that the important principles of education are changeless and recurrent.
Perennialists believe that human nature is constant, as should be the basic patterns of education.
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23. Perennialism
Perennialists believe that the school curriculum should emphasize the universal and recurrent themes of human life. It should be highly logical.
Perennialists emphasize a subject-matter curriculum based on disciplines such as history, language, mathematics, logic, literature, and science.
Some Perennialists, such as Mortimer Adler, argue that a genuinely equal educational opportunity should be the same for all. These Perennialists do not believe in tracking.
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24. Progressivism
Progressives believe that education should provide freedom (to a degree) that encourages children’s natural development and growth through activities. They believe in experiential learning.
Progressives believe that the instructor, as much as possible, should be guided by the interest of children and should facilitate contact with the real world.
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25. Progressivism An interdisciplinary approach to education is supported.
Cooperation should be facilitated in the educational process.
Schooling should be student-centered. The teacher should function as a facilitator, a guide to children’s learning.
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26. Critical Theory
Critical Theorists are concerned with critique and reform of the existing educational system.
Critical Theorists ask questions such as:
- Who ultimately controls schools?
- Who sets the policies that govern schools?
- Who determines the ethnic, social, and economic goals of education?
- Who establishes the curriculum of schools?
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27. Critical Theory
Critical Theorists believe that educational issues rest on the power of one group to hold another subordinate. Dominant classes use social institutions such as schools, to reproduce exploitative conditions.
Critical Theorists support multicultural education.
Critical Theorists believe that learning should begin with student autobiographies, family, and community experiences.
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28. What are some of your personal philosophical beliefs about education?
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29. Philosophical Beliefs of: _____________
My metaphysical beliefs are:
My epistemological beliefs are:
My axiological beliefs are:
My beliefs about logic include:
My beliefs about school practice include:
©2014 Cengage Learning.
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30. Revisiting the Focus Questions for Chapter 6
What are the subdivisions of philosophy, how are they defined, and how do they reflect your beliefs and your teaching about truth and values?
What are the leading philosophies and theories of education? Have certain philosophies and theories influenced your ideas about education, your beliefs about knowledge, and your ethical values?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.

31. Revisiting the Focus Questions for Chapter 6 (continued)
How do philosophies and theories of education influence curriculum and teaching and learning in schools, including what is taught, how it is taught, teachers’ ethical behavior with students and with each other, and their attitudes about cultural diversity and social justice?
How do contemporary trends in education such as multiculturalism, the standards movement, and educational technology affect your overall philosophy of education?
©2014 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.