BOOK REVIEW

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
Chapter 1
The Significance, Nature and Role of Philosophy of Education
1.Defend the validity of philosophy as a science.
Philosophy means "love of wisdom." It is made up of two Greek words, philo,
meaning love, and sophos, meaning wisdom. Philosophy helps teachers to reflect
on key issues and concepts in education, usually through such questions as: What
is being educated? What is the good life? What is knowledge? What is the nature
of learning? And What is teaching? Philosophers think about the meaning of things
and interpretation of that meaning. Even simple statements, such as "What should
be learned? Or What is adolescence?" set up raging debates that can have major
implications.

2.Describe man from the standpoint of philosophy.

From Latin “Humanitas”, the concept of Man means human nature, general culture
of the mind. It is also “men” in general, the human race taken as a unit. Most
philosophers defined as any human being endowed with reason. What man is the
ultimate metaphysical question.
To posit the existence of man is to make a statement not only about man, but also
about the reality outside of him: nature, out of which man developed and in which
he exists, is in principle different from nature without man. Not only is nature so
marked by the existence of man that it becomes humanized through history, but it
also indicates through man’s existence its dynamic character and productive
capacity (particularly as seen in the philosophy of Schelling), a capacity to produce
(necessarily or accidentally), under certain conditions and in definite stages, a
“highly organized material, equipped with consciousness.” Without the existence
of man as a component of nature, the conception of nature as natura naturans, i.e.,
as productivity and activity, is unthinkable.
3.Explain the phenomenon of isolation, dehumanization, and alienation which
characterize modern man.
Isolation is having a sense of loneliness or exclusion, such as being a minority in a
group.

Alienation is a theoretical concept developed by Karl Marx that describes the

isolating, dehumanizing, and disenchanting effects of working within a capitalist
system of production. Per Marx, its cause is the economic system itself.
Alienation occurs when a person withdraws or becomes isolated from their
environment or from other people. People who show symptoms of alienation will
often reject loved ones or society. They may also show feelings of distance and
estrangement, including from their own emotions.
4.Show the relevance of philosophy to education.

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Theoretical framework and philosophy about education are useful for informing
the teacher how to prepare as a content expert and to tailor their presentation as a
proficient educator with sufficient awareness to navigate what is happening within
the student, and between the student and the subject matter and facilitator.
Philosophy of education is necessary for instructors because what, why, how,
when, where, who and for what purpose instruction is used as an instrument for
making ethical-moral decisions for regulating ourselves, and the positive or
adverse consequences to our neighbors (regarding the 100-year vision for society,
family, and culture). Although a teacher may refine their philosophy of education
overtime, it is important that a new teacher is prepared to view the domain and
discipline of professional education beyond their personal world experience.
Therefore, certification of teachers is necessary to include philosophy of education.
Thinking about what has worked and not worked for the past 3500 years in the
history of education is significant for examining our duty of care, level of
accountability, and role-modeling as educators that is necessary when influencing
the next generation of responsible citizens.
Educational philosophy is part and parcel of the learning systems we use, right or
wrong. The study of how students best learn, how they think and how we can tap
into their best is a hallmark of education systems everywhere.

Chapter 2
The General Aims of Education
1.Enumerate the seven misconception of education. Explain and evaluate each.
The Fallacy of the Disregard of Human Ends
Education is an art. Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action
and purist, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has
rightly been declared to be that at which all things aim.
Inadvertent disregard for or lack of clear, well-defined ends.
It is a case of process for the sake of process.
The Fallacy of Ideas Concerning the End
If the aim of education is helping and guiding man toward his own human
achievement, then education cannot escape what constitutes the philosophy
of man, and from the outset, it is obliged to answer the question: “What is a
man?”The scientific idea of man tends only to connect measurable and
observable data.The philosophical idea of man is an ontological idea. It is
not entirely verifiable in sense- experience. If we tried to build education
solely on the basis of the scientific idea of man and carry it out accordingly,
we distort or warp the idea of man.
The Fallacy of Pragmatism
It is incorrect to view human thought as merely a response to the stimuli in
environment, that is to say, to define it in terms no more than animal learning and
reaction. Human thought is knowledge, and thinking begins, not only with
difficulties, but also with insights, and ends up with what is true.
 The Fallacy of Sociologism

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 The only concern lies in the social condition of the
student,growth,continuous growth. What being taught is to keep growing,not what
the student should aim for as a goal.

The Fallacy of Extreme Intellectualism

Teaches the idea that knowledge is everything,that knowledge is the only
thing that matters.

The Fallacy of Voluntarism

-any metaphysical or psychological system that assigns to the will
(Latin: voluntas) a more predominant role than that attributed to the intellect.
Christian philosophers have sometimes described as voluntarist: the non-
Aristotelian thought of St. Augustine because of its emphasis on the will to love
God; the post-Thomistic thought of John Duns Scotus, a late medieval scholastic,
who insisted on the absolute freedom of the will and its supremacy over all other
faculties; and the position of the French writer Blaise Pascal, who in religion
substituted “reasons of the heart” for rational propositions. Immanuel
Kant’s categorical imperative as an unconditional moral law for the
will’s choice of action represented an ethical voluntarism. A metaphysical
voluntarism was propounded in the 19th century by the German
philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, who took will to be the single, irrational,
unconscious force behind all of reality and all ideas of reality. 
The Fallacy of Belief that everything can be taught
These we may distinguish as the belief and argument conceptions
of fallacies. Only very general definitions and illustrations of the fallacies can be
given,should be thought of as epistemic rather than logical fallacies, sense alike,
and almost without connection to anything else in modern Logic at all.
2.The domain of teaching is the domain of the truth.Explain.
-a domain provides the context for the truth of a matter.
The natural world. The world of physics, chemistry, biology, earth science, and
cosmology.The human social world. The world of people, psychology, social
interaction, and social systems. Technically, the animal world as well, to a more
limited degree.The world of man-made artifacts. The world of machines, buildings,
structures, infrastructure, everyday objects, appliances, electronics, computers,
software, applications, information, and data.

Chapter 3
The Nature of Truth
1.Define truth.
Truth is the aim of belief; falsity is a fault. People need the truth about the world in
order to thrive. Truth is important. Believing what is not true is apt to spoil
people’s plans and may even cost them their lives. Telling what is not true may
result in legal and social penalties. Conversely, a dedicated pursuit of truth
characterizes the good scientist, the good historian, and the good detective.

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2.Explain the kinds of truth.
Empirical Truth
Empirical truth is hard to establish and can be inconvenient when it does not
serve an immediate need. Politicians and other persuaders love it when it
buttresses their policies, but they hate it when such truths point the other way. In
relation to time, empirical truth is more about past proof and future value than
any present purpose.
Empirical truth is the truth of science, which is driven by the principle of
empiricism. It is determined through a combination of previously established
empirical truths and rigorous experimentation that may be challenged by other
scientists before it is accepted as truth.
Convenient truth
Convenient truth is based on need, desire and emotion. It is the truth that
deceivers seek. It is the truth that people seek when they want to be right when
they suspect they are wrong. In relation to time, convenient truth is about now
and worries little about the past or future.
Convenient truth is the truth of populist politicians and journalists, who seek to
persuade without worrying too much about empirical truth. Convenient truth is
established through confident repetition, assertion and sheer power.
3.What is the matter of belief?Give it several meanings.
The definition of a belief is an opinion or something that a person holds to be
true.
The term “belief” to refer to the attitude we have, roughly, whenever we take
something to be the case or regard it as true. To believe something, in this sense,
needn’t involve actively reflecting on it.  Many of the things we believe, in the
relevant sense, are quite mundane: that we have heads, that it’s the 21st century,
that a coffee mug is on the desk.
Forming beliefs is thus one of the most basic and important features of the mind,
and the concept of belief plays a crucial role in both philosophy of mind and
epistemology. It is also common to suppose that beliefs play a causal role in the
production of behavior.

4.Explain the nature of certitude.

The term certitude derives from the Latin, cernere (Gr. ερίανειν), which means to
resolve, decide after seeing the evidence. St. Thomas Aquinas defines certitude as
"the firmness of the adherence of a knowing power to the thing known" (In 3
sent. 26.2.4). Primarily a quality of the judgment, certitude can be considered
positively to indicate the firmness of the mind in its assent and negatively, the
exclusion of all prudent fear of error.
It is distinguished from other states of mind such as doubt, which is an inability
either to affirm or deny; and opinion, which is the acceptance of a judgment as
probable. Since the intellect is made for knowing truth, and its perfect actuation is
had only when the truth is known with evidence, formal certitude is had when what
is known presents itself as objectively evident.

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5.Elaborate:
a.Truth is static
The naive conception of truth is as a static construct which persists in reality, but
reflection and introspection reveals that reality is absolutely fluid - all things
change. So, we shift our conception of truth to a conceptual construct which
mirrors reality.
But then it is impossible for something static to fully mirror something dynamic,
although there may be 'sticking points' within the patterns of a movement which
seem roughly consistent through time. We abstract from those rough consistencies
to render them static and thinkable, so we've got something to work with.
b.Truth is dynamic
The sense of any 'objective truth' of reality is thus shattered and falls into the
infinite variety of the 'truth' of different dynamically evolving perspectives.
Truth is therefore the dynamic truth of our perpetual self-creation and self-
interpretation, the succession of choices, thoughts and movements we perform
each day, every action and interaction a brush-stroke on the canvas of our self-
conceived Being, the last stroke placed in synchrony with the final breath.

c.There is a middle ground between truth as static and truth as dynamic.

It can be distilled down to Facts being Static (it is the unchanging information) and
Truth as being Dynamic (changeable).

Chapter 4
Nature of Naturalism
1.Comment on the naturalistic statement that “truth can be discovered only through
nature”.
NATURALISM – is a philosophy that views all objects and events are capable of
being accounted for by scientific explanation. Truth can be discovered only
through nature. There is only one reality, and that reality is nature. Reality is
composed of bodies moving in space. Force or energy is the ultimate reality.
Keeping close to the dominated and peaceful ways of nature is the most acceptable
way of adhering to the demands of day- to-day life.
2. Trace the philosophical roots of naturalism.
Naturalism originated in France and had its direct theoretical basis in the
critical approach of Hippolyte Taine, who announced in his introduction
to Histoire de la littérature anglaise (1863–64; History of English Literature) that
“there is a cause for ambition, for courage, for truth, as there is for digestion, for
muscular movement, for animal heat. Vice and virtue are products, like vitriol and
sugar.” Though the first “scientific” novel was the Goncourt brothers’ case history
of a servant girl, Germinie Lacerteux (1864), the leading exponent of naturalism
was Émile Zola, whose essay “Le Roman expérimental” (1880; “The

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Experimental Novel”) became the literary manifesto of the school. According to
Zola, the novelist was no longer to be a mere observer, content to record
phenomena, but a detached experimenter who subjects his characters and their
passions to a series of tests and who works with emotional and social facts as a
chemist works with matter. Upon Zola’s example the naturalistic style became
widespread and affected to varying degrees most of the major writers of the
period. Guy de Maupassant’s popular story “The Necklace” heralds the
introduction of a character who is to be treated like a specimen under a
microscope. The early works of Joris-Karl Huysmans, of the German
dramatist Gerhart Hauptmann, and of the Portuguese novelist José Maria Eça de
Queirós were based on the precepts of naturalism.

The Théâtre Libre was founded in Paris in 1887 by André Antoine and the Freie

Bühne of Berlin in 1889 by Otto Brahm to present plays dealing with the new
themes of naturalism in a naturalistic style with naturalistic staging. A parallel
development occurred in the visual arts. Painters, following the lead of the realist
painter Gustave Courbet, were choosing themes from contemporary life. Many of
them deserted the studio for the open air, finding subjects among the peasants and
tradesmen in the street and capturing them as they found them, unpremeditated and
unposed. One result of this approach was that their finished canvases had the
freshness and immediacy of sketches. Zola, the spokesman for literary naturalism,
was also the first to champion Édouard Manet and the Impressionists.

Despite their claim to complete objectivity, the literary naturalists were

handicapped by certain biases inherent in their deterministic theories. Though they
faithfully reflected nature, it was always a nature “red in tooth and claw.” Their
views on heredity gave them a predilection for simple characters dominated by
strong, elemental passions. Their views on the overpowering effects of
environment led them to select for subjects the most oppressive environments—the
slums or the underworld—and they documented these milieus, often in dreary and
sordid detail. The drab palette of Vincent van Gogh’s naturalistic painting
“The Potato Eaters” (1885; Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) was the palette of literary
naturalism. Finally, they were unable to suppress an element of romantic protest
against the social conditions they described.
As a historical movement, naturalism per se was short-lived; but it contributed to
art an enrichment of realism, new areas of subject matter, and a largeness and
formlessness that was indeed closer to life than to art. Its multiplicity of
impressions conveyed the sense of a world in constant flux, inevitably junglelike,
because it teemed with interdependent lives.
3. What are the forms of naturalism? Differentiate one from the other.

 Metaphysical Naturalism is the belief (as described in detail above)

that nature is all that exists, and that all things supernatural (including gods,
spirits, souls and non-natural values) therefore do not exist.
 Methodological Naturalism is the assumption that observable events in
nature are explained only by natural causes, without assuming either the
existence or non-existence of the supernatural, and so considers supernatural
explanations for such events to be outside science. It holds that the scientific
method (hypothesize, predict, test, repeat) is the only effective way to
investigate reality, and that such empirical methods will only
ascertain natural facts, whether supernatural facts exist or not.

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 o Absolute Methodological Naturalism is the view that it is in some
sense impossible for any empirical method to discover supernatural
facts, even if there are some.
o Contingent Methodological Naturalism is the view that, from past
experience, empirical methods are far more likely to uncover natural
facts than supernatural ones, so that it is generally an ill-advised waste
of resources to pursue supernatural hypotheses, but it would not be
impossible to confirm them empirically if any were found.
 Humanistic Naturalism holds that human beings are best able
to control and understand the world through use of the scientific method,
because concepts of spirituality, intuition and metaphysics can never progress
beyond personal opinion. Everything is regarded as a result of explainable
processes within nature, with nothing lying outside of it.
 Ethical Naturalism (or Moral Naturalism) is the meta-ethical theory that
ethical terms can be defined without the use of ethical terms (such as "good",
"right", etc), and moreover that these non-ethical terms refer to natural
properties (as opposed to relating the ethical terms in some way to the will of
God).
 Sociological Naturalism is the sociological theory that the natural world and
the social world are roughly identical and governed by similar principles. It is
closely connected to Positivism, which advocates use of the scientific
method of the natural sciences in studying social sciences.
 In addition, Naturalism is also an artistic style (referring to the depiction
of realistic objects in a natural setting), and
a literary, cinematic and theatrical style (referring to the attempt to replicate a
believable everyday reality, as opposed to a symbolic, idealistic or even
supernatural treatment).

4.What are some implications for education of naturalism?

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of

knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits. Education is the development of all
those capabilities in which the individual which is enable him to control his
environment and fulfillment his possibilities. It is a process of acquiring new
habits, knowledge & skill which together enables learners to do something that
he/she could not do before. It is a mental activity by means of which skills,
attitude, appreciation and ideas are acquired, resulting in modification of
behaviors.
Applied to education, naturalism considers child as a gift of nature with
potentialities for natural growth according to laws of nature. The child is an active
individual capable of self- development. The aim of education is to develop the
child as healthy and active personality in a natural setting. The growth process
must be natural and real without any interference from outside.
The powers of the child should be developed in natural ways by allowing the child
to freely interact with the nature. The curriculum should provide concrete and real
experiences in a natural context. The child should be exposed to a variety of
sensory and physical activities. The child learns by interacting with nature.
Morality and character learned directly with the help of natural consequences.
Discipline is developed as a result of consequences of behavior of child. The
teacher plays the role of guiding the child learning from nature.

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5. Give the basic tenets of naturalism and relate them to education.
To the naturalists, formal education is artificial and vicious. Good education
can be had only by a direct contact with nature.
Naturalism in education stands for the doctrine of “follow nature” in education. It
wants all education to be in strict conformity with the nature of the child. It stands
for complete freedom to be given to the child in learning. He is to be left alone,
absolutely free. Let him learn from the pages of nature without interference from
any quarter. He is to be thrown into Nature as an explorer and discoverer.
Naturalism emphasises free and spontaneous self-expression of the child. Its
watchword is “Back to Nature” as expounded by Rousseau and Gandhiji. Thus, the
whole of the child’s learning will come from his own experiences and their natural
consequences. His whole education will be according to the natural laws of human
development.

Chapter 5
Idealism in Philosophy of Education

1.Give the nature of the philosophy of idealism.

Idealism- it is oldest system of philosophy known to man. Its origin goes
back to ancient India in the east, and to Plato in the west. Its basic viewpoint
stresses the human spirit as the most important element in life. The human spirit is
most elements in life, the universe is essentially nonmaterial in its ultimate nature.
Idealism is concerned with supremacy of mind and self, and views man and
universe in terms of spirit or mind.
Matter or objective may be the projection or creation of mind, but ultimately
real is the idea behind it. The physical world is ephemeral and can be changed
through the ideas or imagination of man. Plato, the greatest philosopher of all ages,
claimed that the ultimate reality consists of ideas.
Plato and his teacher Socrates conceived ideas as the basis of their philosophy.
Socrates, an idealistic philosopher placed importance on question-answer and
dialogue as the method of acquiring information or gaining knowledge whereas
Plato emphasized on logical reasoning as the method of gaining knowledge.
2.Trace the development of idealism from the ancient times to contemporary times.
Idealism in sense (1) may be called “metaphysical” or “ontological
idealism”, while idealism in sense (2) may be called “formal” or “epistemological
idealism”. The modern paradigm of idealism in sense (1) might be considered to be
George Berkeley’s “immaterialism”, according to which all that exists are ideas
and the minds, less than divine or divine, that have them. (Berkeley himself did not
use the term “idealism”.) The fountainhead for idealism in sense (2) might be the
position that Immanuel Kant asserted (if not clearly in the first edition of
his Critique of Pure Reason (1781) then in his Prolegomena to Any Future
Metaphysics (1783) and in the “Refutation of Idealism” in the second edition of

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the Critique) according to which idealism does “not concern the existence of
things”, but asserts only that our “modes of representation” of them, above all
space and time, are not “determinations that belong to things in themselves” but
features of our own minds.
Kant called his position “transcendental” and “critical” idealism, and it has
also been called “formal” idealism. In the interest of generality, we will call this
sort of position “epistemological idealism”. Because of the many ways in which
the term “metaphysical” is used—for example, Kant himself used the term
“metaphysics” in two different senses, in one sense to refer to the derivation of
knowledge from pure reason that he discredited but in another to refer to his own
theory of the sources of knowledge, what we now call his epistemology—we will
call idealism in sense (1) “ontological idealism”.
3.Present a synopsis of philosophy of idealism.
There are about as many motives and reasons for endorsing idealism as there
are different aspects of reality to be known or explained.
Although we have just referred to Plato, the term “idealism” became the name for a
whole family of positions in philosophy only in the course of the eighteenth
century. Even then, those whom critics called “idealists” did not identify
themselves as such until the time of Kant, and no sooner did the label come into
use than did those to whom it was applied or who used it themselves attempt to
escape it or refine it. As already mentioned, Berkeley, the paradigmatic ontological
idealist in the British tradition, did not use the name for his own position, and
Leibniz, at least some versions of whose monadology might be considered idealist,
also did not call his position by that name.
Rather, in contrasting Epicurus with Plato, Leibniz called the latter an idealist and
the former a materialist, because according to him idealists like Plato hold that
“everything occurs in the soul as if there were no body” whereas on the
materialism of Epicurus “everything occurs in the body as if there were no soul”
(“Reply to the Thoughts on the System of Preestablished Harmony contained in the
Second Edition of Mr. Bayle’s Critical Dictionary, Article Rorarius”, 1702, PPL,
p. 578), although in this text Leibniz also says that his own view combines both of
these positions. It seems to have been Christian Wolff who first used “idealism”
explicitly as a classificatory term.
4.What educational practices in the Philippines show the influence of idealism?
Perhaps there may be other reasons behind the great influences of Idealism
but I suppose that it is mainly due to our FAITH and unwavering belief in
the Supernatural/ GOD.
For me, it’s great that Idealism massively influences Philippine education. Since
Idealism is basically about the reality that lies in the spiritual realm and in the
unfolding universal source, people who tend to lean to its’ principles become good
embodiments of the society. I’m NOT saying that ALL who rest on Idealism
principles are good, but, since Idealism cultivates morally excellent persons who
acted according to reason, then, it’s fair enough to say that their principles are
rather good and for the betterment of the society especially to the various
individuals in it.
In some schools guided by spiritual/ religious norms, Idealism may be viewed as a
gauge to:

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  Help the students to be in line with their Supernatural destiny.
 Effect individuals in conformity with the norm of morality.
 Bring about students/ individuals who can be great citizens in their future life.
 Raise morally excellent individuals in who acted according to reason.
  Awaken the individual’s innate talents, gifts, mission and spiritual essence.
 Make the individual realize that there is a GOD. That he/ she should live, act
and reason according to God’s will, for God and for the betterment of others.
Then again, I can see that Idealism is something that we cannot do without. Its’
influences are of great importance to our students and personally to us teachers as
well as it serves as a benchmark for us to draw the line between the temporal-
physical world reality and the universal-spiritual realm reality.
Idealism helps us return to (or sometimes bring us back to) our sanity and aids us
to reflect on what makes us human beings. Idealism’s influences make us realize
our real and true essence.

5.Discuss:
a.the metaphysics of idealism
Metaphysics is defined as the study of ultimate reality, what used to be
called in undergraduate courses, "the really real".  The problem arises, however,
that the question of ultimate reality assumes that we are able to study it, to perceive
it.  Later philosophers would dispute this possibility, but the ancient Greeks
assumed that it was not only possible, but profitable to do so.  Even so, there was
not universal agreement about the direction, methods and conclusion of such a
study.  Fundamental difference arose in response to roughly the same question. 
What is the nature of that ultimate reality? Is it only material? Is it non-material?
The word "metaphysics" comes from the root words "meta" meaning beyond and
"physics" meaning the physical world.
b.the epistemology of idealism
Common among all recent forms of realism is a critical stance
regarding epistemology, acknowledging that our understanding of the real world is
partial, fallible, always in revision, and never what Hilary Putnam refers to as a
God's Eye View, a single, correct understanding. Another commonality
concerns ontology, or the nature of our world, in that realists accept that the world
exists to a large degree independent of our experience of it and that there is real
causality in this world.
That is, there are real underlying dynamics, some refer to mechanisms, that are
responsible for what we observe (e.g., John stole the money because he was
hungry and realized that no one was watching). However, the outcomes of these
dynamics depend on multiple factors (e.g., John was hungry but thought he was
being watched), complicating the ‘constant conjunction’ required by deterministic
Humean models and making prediction possible only in special circumstances.
c.the logic of idealism
Logic is heavily stressed by idealism. Since mind is the prime reality, and
since the interpretation of our perceptions and the unifying of our ideas are the
methods of knowledge, it is important to master the science of formal logic.

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 The material of logic comes from our social experience. Two main sources
of such truths are the everyday knowledge of men and the accurate knowledge by
the various sciences.  The idealist believes that the truths we believes that the
truths we believe in must support and reinforce one another.  From the idealist
point of view, the growth and development of knowledge, whether in the
individual mind or in the experience of the race, is a matter of extending vision so
that individuals and classes are seen in their larger and more complete
relationships.
d.the axiology of idealism
The values human beings desire and enjoy are fundamentally rooted in existence.
They are real existents.  The values of human life are what they are largely
because they are individual persons to possess and enjoy them.  One important
way in which individual persons can realize value is by precisely relating parts and
wholes.
6. What are the implications of idealism to education?
Idealism considers student as an individuals with inner potentials. Education
should help the student to realize these potentials. Curriculum should consist of
those knowledge and experiences which help the student to attained development.
The teacher should impart essentials of knowledge and assist to develop moral and
aesthetic values in the child. As said earlier, idealism stresses more on the spiritual
development of the child.
7.Plato says”Individuals are to be educated according to their special level and
intellectual ability.”
Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual justice
and social justice. According to Plato, individual justice can be obtained when each
individual develops his or her ability to the fullest. In this sense, justice means
excellence. For the Greeks and Plato, excellence is virtue. According to Socrates,
virtue is knowledge. Thus, knowledge is required to be just. From this Plato
concludes that virtue can be obtained through three stages of development of
knowledge: knowledge of one's own job, self-knowledge, and knowledge of the
Idea of the Good.
According to Plato, social justice can be achieved when all social classes in
a society, workers, warriors, and rulers are in a harmonious relationship. Plato
believes that all people can easily exist in harmony when society gives them equal
educational opportunity from an early age to compete fairly with each other.
Without equal educational opportunity, an unjust society appears since the political
system is run by unqualified people; timocracy, oligarchy, defective democracy, or
tyranny will result. 

Chapter 6
Realism in Philosophy of Education
1.What is the nature of realism?
Realism, as a philosophical approach with relevance for the social sciences,
is a continuingly developing set of philosophical positions intended to justify
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taking seriously our commonsense experience of our world. Indeed, realism can be
thought of as a position that many, or most, want to hold, with new versions
emerging as older ones become seen as vulnerable to criticism. The result is a
diversity of realist positions defined as much by a tension with what they oppose as
by what they claim.
2.Discuss the four forms of realism.Show their impact on education.
1. SCHOLASTIC REALISM • It started when medieval thinkers wanted to
bring together a relation between faith (Christian theology) and reason
(Classical Philosophy). • St. Thomas Aquinas who wrote Summa Theologica
used philosophy to help explain the doctrine and mysteries of the church. •
Characteristics: Relied on authorities from the past; Synthesizing of
knowledge; Deductive approach to reasoning; Use of syllogistic logic •
Scholastic schools had two methods of teaching: 1."lectio" (the simple
reading of a text by a teacher/ no questions were permitted); 2. "disputatio"
(where question to be disputed was announced beforehand) • Education is
the process by which he lifts himself up to the eternal.
2. HUMANISTIC REALISM • Reaction against the emphasis on form and
style of the old classical literature. Humanist realist emphasized content and
ideas. • Aim: To acquire meaning & spirit of the classics • Purpose: to
master his own environing life, natural & social thru knowledge of broader
life of ancients • The study of old literature (Literature of the Greeks &
Roman) is a means to understand the practical life. • Humanists believed that
classical literature should be studied for the information and the knowledge
of the facts of the pasts so that such knowledge could be used for the
preparation for practical living (answer to any problem that man might
need). • Basic concerns in education: Physical, moral and social
development.
3. SOCIAL REALISM • Reaction against a type of education that produces
scholars and professional men to the neglect of the man of practice • Aim:
To train a “gentleman” for active participation in social life and social
judgment and to prepare the practical man of the world • Social realists
follow the method of travel of journey method. • Direct contact with things,
people & social conditions thru travel rather than books. • Study of
gymnastics, sports, riding, modern languages, customs of other countries •
Study of one’s self but also others • Social realism explains that education
should equip learners for a happy and successful life as a man of the world.
4 . SENSE-REALISM • Emphasizes the training of the senses: Senses =
gateways of knowledge; Learning takes place = operation of the senses. •
Amalgam of humanistic & social realism • Sense-realism attached more
importance to the study of natural sciences and contemporary social life. •
Aim: To develop a natural society by working in accord with the laws of
nature • Purpose: Happiness with God • Thru education, man can still know
laws of nature and thereby control nature. • 2 characteristics of
representatives: • formulation of basic assumptions • formulation of new
curriculum based on natural sciences & contemporary life
4 . SENSE-REALISM The sense-realists emphasized the 3 things: a.
Application of inductive method (Bacon) in order to organize and simplify
the instructional process b. To replace instruction in Latin by the instruction
in Vernacular c. To substitute new scientific and social studies in place of
the studies in language and literature As Innovators, their goal is discovery
and utilization of the secrets of nature for the real and practical benefits they
could bring to man
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3.What are the implications of realism to education?

Goals of Education for Realists • Notions of the good life, truth,

beauty could be answered through the study of ideas, using the dialectical
method…for contemporary realists, the goal of education is to help
individuals understand and apply the principles of science to help solve the
problems plaguing the modern world • Teachers should be steeped in the
basic academic disciplines
Aims of Education • Provide the students with essential knowledge he will
need to survive in the natural world • To teach truth rather than beauty • To
understand the present practical life
 Nature of curriculum • The realists believe that the most efficient and
effective way to find out about reality is to study it through organized,
separate, and systematically arranged subject matter • Subject-mattered
centered • Emphasizes the subject matter of the physical world, particularly
science and mathematics

4.”Education should address itself immediately to the realities of life”.

For me, it means.. every person must have or at least learn something from
our everyday experience or happenings in your life. Just the same us experience is
the best teacher in life. Because you are not only learning what you were taught, or
what you see but you are also learning from what you feel. Best example, When
you lost something because of carelessness, Immediately from that moment you
learn something, Like not to be careless any more.
There are many realities of life such as the capability of a person and the ability of
this person to choose a profession. We do not evaluate each student as to this area
of life at an early age in the school system and therefore be able to direct them.
This is part of education.We need education to prepare young people for the
realities of daily living.

Chapter 7
Pragmatism and Progressivism in Philosophy of Education
1.What is meant by the philosophy of pragmatism? What is its essence?
Pragmatism Pragmatism adopt a midway between idealism and naturalism.
The word pragmatism derived from Greek word “pragma” means action.
Pragmatism is otherwise known as instrumentalism or functionalism. Since
emphasis was given to learning by doing and learning by experience, it is also
called experimentalism According to Ross, pragmatism is essentially a human
philosophy maintaining that man creates his own values in course of activity, that
reality is still in making and awaits its part of completion from the future. This
definition emphasis on creation through continuous activity and states that certain
values are essential for growth and development of individual.
2.What is meant by the philosophy of progressivism? Give its basic tenet.
Progressivism is a theory of education that is concerned with “learning by
doing “that children learn best when pursuing their own interests and satisfying
their own needs. Progressivists believe that people learn best from what they

13
consider most relevant to their lives. Progressivists center curriculum on their
needs, experience, interest and abilities of student. Provoke curiosity in students.
Progressivism is the educational philosophy which is grounded in the “pure”
philosophy of pragmatism. Pragmatic ontology holds that reality is in the area of
everyday life, personal experience. Its view is that ideas should be tested for their
utility. Progressivism focuses on real-world problem solving and individual
development.

CHARACTERISTICS of progressivism. Emphasis on learning by doing

hands-on projects experiential learning Integrated curriculum focused on thematic
units Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking  Group work and
development of social skills. Understanding and action as the goals of learning as
opposed to rote knowledge.Collaborative and cooperative learning projects
Education for social responsibility and democracy
Concept of progressivism -Contemporary reform movement in educational,
social and political affairs.Dewey viewed the school as a miniature democratic
society in which students could learn and practice the skill and tools necessary for
democratic living Educational progressivism Educational progressivism is the
belief that education must be based on the principle that humans are social animals
who learn best in real-life activities with other people. The skills and tools of
learning include problem solving methods and scientific inquiry. Learning
experience include cooperative behaviors and self-discipline. Schools can transmit
the culture of society while it prepares students in the changing world.
This philosophy places emphasis on how to think and nor what to think.
Progressive education focused on the child as the learner rather than on subject,
emphasized activities and experiences rather than verbal and literary skills and
encouraged cooperative group learning activities rather than competitive
individualized lesson plan.

3.Define the following:

a.Scientism
Scientism is the idea that all forms of intellectual inquiry must conform to the
model(s) of science in order to be rational. However, the name 'scientism' is a
pejorative: no one who holds the view in question will refer to it as scientism. Thus
to claim that some view is scientistic is to both describe it and criticize it.
However, the charge of scientism is often a protest not against that general view of
the conduct of intellectual life but against some particular idea that (1) rests on
nothing more than the belief that it is an established piece of science and (2) does not
consider criticism of the idea.
b. Positivism
Positivism, in Western philosophy, generally, any system that confines
itself to the data of experience and excludes a priori or metaphysical speculations.
More narrowly, the term designates the thought of the French
philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857).
c.Pragmatism
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that
an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a
proposition is to be found in the practical consequences of accepting it, and that
unpractical ideas are to be rejected.

14
4. What are the aims of education according to progressivism?
To promote democratic and social living. To develop the personality of an
individual through providing a democratic environment in the educational
institutions. An all-round development of child. co-operative behavior and social
participation. Education of the whole man, or whole personality, which includes
the physical, emotional, social and intellectual aspects of the individual.
5. Relate:
Science and philosophy
The history of philosophy is intertwined with the history of the natural sciences.
Long before the 19th century, when the term science began to be used with its
modern meaning, those who are now counted among the major figures in the
history of Western philosophy were often equally famous for their contributions to
“natural philosophy,” the bundle of inquiries now designated as
sciences. Aristotle (384–322 BCE) was the first great biologist; René
Descartes (1596–1650) formulated analytic geometry (“Cartesian geometry”) and
discovered the laws of the reflection and refraction of light; Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz (1646–1716) laid claim to priority in the invention of the calculus;
and Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) offered the basis of a still-
current hypothesis regarding the formation of the solar system (the Kant-Laplace
nebular hypothesis).

Chapter 8
Socialism in Philosophy of Education
1.What is meant by the philosophy of socialism? What are its tenet?
Socialism- social and economic doctrine that calls for public rather
than private ownership or control of property and natural resources.
According to the socialist view, individuals do not live or work in isolation
but live in cooperation with one another. Furthermore, everything that
people produce is in some sense a social product, and everyone who
contributes to the production of a good is entitled to a share in it. Society as
a whole, therefore, should own or at least control property for the benefit of
all its members.
Socialists tend to be active social and political theorists, and have developed a bewildering
array of different schools of thought. These various schools disagree on almost everything, but
they all agree that unchecked capitalism is a dangerous and destructive force. Also, these
schools are not mutually exclusive: that is, many people borrow ideas from several different
brands of socialism and form their own unique political perspective within the broad umbrella
of socialism. Here is a small sample of some forms that socialism can take:

a. Communism
This is one of the most extreme forms of socialism, and a highly controversial political
philosophy. We will explore Communism in greater detail in section 3, but for now you can
think of Communism as a highly exaggerated form of socialism (though some socialists argue
that Communism is actually not socialist at all!)

15
b. Market Socialism
The government has an important role to play in protecting the poor, the environment, and
future generations, but should not set prices or interfere too much in the market. Often
combined with democratic socialism, or the view that socialism should be based on elections.
Many countries in Europe pursue this model, which has helped them limit the effects of
extreme poverty, but also imposes high tax burdens and in some cases, when not managed
well, can create budget problems.

c. Christian Socialism
Lots of people today argue that socialism is anti-religion, but this is far from the truth. In fact,
socialism is in many ways based on religion: Christianity heavily emphasizes helping the poor,
an idea that would ultimately evolve into European socialism. Today, many Christians
continue to preach a version of the “social gospel,” a blend of Christian ethics and socialist
economics.

d. Eco-Socialism
No one can deny that our planet is facing serious environmental challenges, from burning
rainforests to bleached corals and melting glaciers. Eco-socialists argue that these problems
can only be solved by government intervention, and that the capitalist profit motive cannot be
reconciled with environmental protection. They advocate strict limits on pollution and
extractive industries such as mining, fishing, and drilling.

e. Socialist Anarchism
Anarchism is an extraordinary family of political philosophies, some of which belong to the
socialist tradition. Socialist anarchists believe that a socialist society can only emerge from the
destruction of all existing governments, and argue that new, more socialistic systems will
emerge after this worldwide collapse.

f. National Socialism (Nazism)

The Nazi Party referred to themselves as “National Socialists,” but they did not draw on the
ideas of traditional socialism. Nazism belongs to the family of fascist ideologies, which are
based on authoritarian capitalism rather than on socialism. Hitler criticized both capitalism and
socialism, seeing his philosophy as a new, third approach.

2.What are the educational implications of the philosophy of socialism? Explain

To state exactly the object of education both the sociological and the
biological side must be taken into consideration. That the social phase of education
has been largely ignored in the past may be seen from the following definitions
taken from the older writers.
Plato says, “The purpose of education is to give to the body and to the soul all the
beauty and all the perfection of which they are capable.”
Kant defines education as “the development in man of all the perfections which his
nature permits.”
With John Stuart Mill “education includes whatever we do for ourselves, and
whatever is done for as by others for the express purpose of bringing us nearer to
the perfection of our nature.”
Herbert Spencer briefly states that “Education is the preparation for complete
living.”

16
Rosseau contents himself with the following indefinite generality: “Education is
the art of bringing up children and of forming men.”

3.How relevant to life is socialism today?

Socialists take into account both individual needs and greater social needs.
They allocate resources using central planning, as in a command economy. 

Examples of greater social needs include transportation, defense, education, health

care, and preservation of natural resources.1  Some also define the common good as
caring for those who can't directly contribute to production. Examples include the
elderly, children, and their caretakers. 

A mantra of socialism is, "From each according to his ability, to each according to
his contribution."

Everyone in society receives a share of the production based on how much each
has contributed. This system motivates them to work long hours if they want to
receive more. Workers receive their share of production after a percentage has
been deducted for the common good.

4.Distinguish socialism from communism.

Socialism emphasises equality of opportunity, using the state to

redistribute income from the highest earners to others. But, it does not insist on
equality, only aiming for equality of opportunity. The main difference is that
socialism is compatible with democracy and liberty, whereas Communism
involves creating an ‘equal society’ through an authoritarian state, which denies
basic liberties.

Communism is a political and economic ideology – closely associated with the

state Communism of the Soviet Union and China. It aimed at state control of the
economy to attain greater equality – often at the expense of individual liberty.

17
Chapter 9
Communism in Philosophy of Education

1.Discuss the roots of communism. What are its basic tenets? Expound.
Since its start a century ago, Communism, a political and economic
ideology that calls for a classless, government-controlled society in which
everything is shared equally, has seen a series of surges—and declines.
What started in 1917 Russia, became a global revolution, taking root in
countries as far flung as China and Korea to Kenya and Sudan to Cuba and
Nicaragua.

Communism launched from Lenin’s October Revolution  and spread to

China with Mao Zedong ’s rise to power and to Cuba , with Fidel Castro ’s
takeover. It was the ideology behind one side of the  Cold War  and saw a
symbolic decline with the fall of the Berlin Wall . Today just a handful of
countries remain under communist rule. 

Soviet Union Emerges From October Revolution

• February 21, 1848: German economist and philosopher Karl Marx  and

Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto , calling for a working-
class revolt against capitalism. Its motto, “Workers of the world, unite!”
quickly became a rallying cry.

• November 7, 1917: With Vladimir Lenin  at the helm, the Bolsheviks,

ascribing to Marxism, seize power during Russia’s October Revolution  and
become the first communist government. Later that month, the leftist
Socialist Revolutionaries defeat the Bolsheviks in an election, but, despite
his promises of “bread, land and peace,” Lenin uses military force to take
power. It’s during this period the Red Terror (executions of the Czar’s
officials), prisoner-of-war labor camps and other police state tactics are
established.

Communism Takes Hold in China and Beyond

• July 1, 1921: Inspired by the Russian Revolution, the Communist Party

of China is formed.

• January 21, 1924: Lenin dies at age 54 of a stroke, and Joseph Stalin ,

who had served as Lenin’s general secretary, eventually takes over official
rule of the Soviet Union until his death in 1953 from a brain hemorrhage.
He industrialized the country through a state-controlled economy, but it led
to famine. Under his regime, detractors were deported or imprisoned in
labor camps, and, as part of the Great Purge , 1 million people were
executed under Stalin’s orders.

18
1940 to 1979: Communism is established by force or otherwise in Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Yugoslavia, Poland, North Korea, Albania, Bulgaria, Romania,
Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, China, Tibet, North Vietnam, Guinea,
Cuba, Yemen, Kenya, Sudan, Congo, Burma, Angola, Benin, Cape Verde, Laos,
Kampuchea, Madagascar, Mozambique, South Vietnam, Somalia, Seychelles,
Afghanistan, Grenada, Nicaragua and others.

Cold War Begins

• May 9, 1945: The U.S.S.R. declares victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

With Japan’s defeat, Korea becomes divided into the communist North (which the
Soviets occupied) and the South (which had been occupied by the United States).

• March 12, 1947: President Harry S. Truman addresses Congress in what would

come to be known as the Truman Doctrine, calling for the containment of
communism, and later, leading to U.S. entry into wars in Vietnam and Korea to
provide defense from communist takeovers. The doctrine becomes the basis for
America’s Cold War policy.

• March 5, 1946: Great Britain Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes his

famous “Iron Curtain” speech in Missouri, alerting Americans to the division
between the Soviet Union and the Western allies.

• October 1, 1949: Following a civil war, China’s Communist Party leader, Mao

Zedong declares his creation of the People’s Republic of China, leading the United
States to end diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades.

• July 5, 1950: Leading United Nations forces, the first U.S. troops engage in
the Korean War, after communist North Korea invaded South Korea with the intent
of creating a unified communist state. The war would last until July 27, 1953, with
North Korea, China and the United Nations signing an armistice agreement.

Communists Win in Cuba, Vietnam 

• January 1, 1959: Fidel Castro overthrows the corrupt Fulgencio Batista regime,

and Cuba becomes a Communist state.

• April 25, 1976: Following the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War,

South Vietnam’s capital is seized by communist forces. A few months later, in
July, the nation is reunified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam under communist
rule.

19
 • October 25, 1983: The United States invades Grenada under orders of President
Ronald Reagan to secure the safety of American nationals under the country’s
communist regime, led by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. The pro-Marxist
government was overthrown in about a week.

• June 4, 1989: After weeks of protests, the Communist Chinese government sends

in its military to fire on demonstrators calling for democracy in
Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. The bloody violence ends in hundreds to thousands
of deaths (no official death toll was ever released).

Berlin Wall Falls, Soviet Union Dissolves

• November 9, 1989: The Berlin Wall—that separated communist East Berlin

from democratic West Berlin for nearly 30 years—falls. The years 1989-90 see the
collapse of communist regimes in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland,
Romania, Benin, Mozambique, Nicaragua and Yemen.

• December 25, 1991: With the resignation of Mikhail Gorbachev, the Soviet

Union is dissolved. New Russian President Boris Yeltsin bans the Communist
Party. Communism soon ends in Afghanistan, Albania, Angola, Congo, Kenya,
Yugoslavia and other nations. China, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam remain under
communist rule. North Korea remains nominally communist, although the North
Korean government doesn't call itself communist. 

2.What are the three fundamental principles of communism? Explain.

Marx described three necessary phases toward achieving his idea of utopia.

 Phase 1: A revolution must take place in order to overthrow the existing

government. Marx emphasized the need for total destruction of the existing system
in order to move on to Phase 2.
 Phase 2: A dictator or elite leader (or leaders) must gain absolute control over the
proletariat. During this phase, the new government exerts absolute control over the
common citizen's personal choices -- including his or her education, religion,
employment and even marriage. Collectivization of property and wealth must also
take place.
 Phase 3: Achievement of utopia. This phase has never been attained because it
requires that all non-communists be destroyed in order for the Communist Party to
achieve supreme equality. In a Marxist utopia, everyone would happily share
property and wealth, free from the restrictions that class-based systems require.
The government would control all means of production so that the one-class
system would remain constant, with no possibility of any middle class citizens
rising back to the top. 

20
3.Explain the principal Marxian doctrine.
Marxism is the system of Marx’s views and teachings. Marx was the genius
who continued and consummated the three main ideological currents of the 19th
century, as represented by the three most advanced countries of mankind: classical
German philosophy, classical English political economy, and French socialism
combined with French revolutionary doctrines in general. Acknowledged even by
his opponents, the remarkable consistency and integrity of Marx’s views, whose
totality constitutes modern materialism and modern scientific socialism, as the
theory and programme of the working-class movement in all the civilized countries
of the world, make it incumbent on us to present a brief outline of his world-
conception in general, prior to giving an exposition of the principal content of
Marxism, namely, Marx’s economic doctrine.
4. Explain the nature of Maoism.
When the Chinese communists took power in 1948, they brought with them
a new kind of Marxism that came to be called Maoism after their leader Mao
Zedong. The thought of Mao must always be seen against the changing
revolutionary reality of China from 1930 onward. His thought was complex, a
Marxist type of analysis combined with the permanent fundamentals of Chinese
thought and culture.
The distinguishing characteristic of Maoism is that it represents a peasant type of
Marxism, with a principally rural and military outlook. While basing himself on
Marxism-Leninism, adapted to Chinese requirements, Mao was rooted in the
peasant life from which he himself came, in the revolts against the warlords and
the bureaucrats that have filled the history of China. By integrating this experience
into a universal vision of history, Mao gave it a significance that flows beyond the
provincial limits of China.
5.Evaluate communism as a philosophy and as a philosophy of education.What are
its implications to education?Expound.
Education under communism• education was recognized as playing a
strategic role in achieving the revolution and development.• specifically, it was
called upon to produce zealous revolutionaries ready to rebel against the old
society and fight to establish a new order. Education is the basic human need, and
essential for a decent living and moral life. Ubuntu is aphilosophy that promotes
the common good ofsociety and includes humanness as an essentialelement of
human growth. Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a
matter of debate. 
Marxist-Leninist philosophy was the basis of the Communist education system.
Philosophy of Education Throughout my educational experiences, I have witnessed
a wide array of teachers and teaching styles. Communism, political and economic
doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with
public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production
(e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society.

21
 Existentialism in education is an approach to teaching and learning that focuses on
the individual’s freedom to choose their own purpose in life. Thus in Marx’s
utopian vision of communism, education would help fully develop socialized
individuals, create a cooperative and harmonious society, and unleash philosophy
of education. Because existentialist educators believe there is no god or higher
power, they encourage all students to create their own meaning of life.
Communism is a political ideology that believes that societies can achieve full
social equality by eliminating private property. 

Chapter 10
Fascism in Philosophy of Education

1.Explain the philosophy of education of fascism.

Fascism is an authoritarian Nationalist political ideology that
exalts nation (and often race) above the individual, and that stands for a centralized
autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and
social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition. It often claims to be
concerned with notions of cultural decline or decadence, and seeks to achieve
a national rebirth by suppressing the interests of the individual, and instead
promoting cults of unity, energy and purity.

2. Give the nature and origin of fascism.

Fascism is the name Benito Mussolini chose for his movement and later it
was applied to similar movements elsewhere. Mussolini came from a socialist
revolutionary family that named him after Benito Jaurez, the Mexican
revolutionary. He grew up as a socialist and maintained his belief in the efficacy of
socialism until the end of his life. He undoubtedly considered Fascism as just a
variant, if not of socialism at least of collectivism, that was nationalistic. The
internationalist socialists expelled him when he advocated for nationalistic reasons
the entry of Italy into World War I.

The application of the term fascist to conservative and libertarian thinkers and

thought is an example of the Big Lie; i.e., repeating a statement that has no basis in
fact over and over until people think there must be some basis for it. Its use
demonstrates that Leftists have no intellectual integrity.

To apply the label fascist to organizations which advocate an economic system

based upon markets represents the most abysmal ignorance. Fascism was a
collectivist political movement of the left. It is to the right of socialism but that
does not make it to the right of the whole politico-economic spectrum.

Chapter 11
Phenomenology and Existentialism in Philosophy of Education

22
1.Show the relevance of Phenomenology and Existentialism in Philosophy of
Education.

Existentialism is a modern philosophy emerging (existence-philosophy)

from the 19th century, inspired by such thinkers as Kierkegaard and Nietzsche.
Unlike traditional philosophy, which focuses on “objective” instances of truth,
existentialism is concerned with the subjective, or personal, aspects of existence.
Existentialism is not a systematic philosophy, with a hard and fast method of
analysis, such as the “scientific method.” Rather, existentialism is a way of existing
wherein we inquire into our existence – our Being is at issue and so we inquire into
the things that have a deep and personal meaning for us! In the pursuit to
understand our lives in connection with others, we begin to recognize common
themes emerging, such as the meaning and import of freedom, responsibility,
death, suffering, guilt, and the place of authentic values in human life
Phenomenology is a philosophical “practice/method” of observing, recording, and
interpreting “lived experience” through vivid and detailed descriptions. The
practice of phenomenology seeks to expose, uncover, or reveal “universal”
elements of human existence that structure our practical, “particular” empirical
situations. While differing on the way it is applied, existentialists all employ the
practice of phenomenology as a way of gathering and interpreting the lived
experiences they seek to understand.
2.What is the basic nature of Phenomenology and Existentialism? Show their
impact in education.
In education, “existentialism” loosely denotes a way of philosophizing
linked with reconceptualist curriculum thought (e.g., Greene, Pinar, Grumet,
Huebner, Jardine, van Manen, Willis, and Troutner). However, in contemporary
educational research it is more common to run across the terms phenomenology
and hermeneutics to describe research as opposed to “existentialism,” so a brief
description of each is in order. There is a mistaken tendency to separate these two
“practices,” or methods, however I avoid this because in educational research, for
the most part, phenomenology is hermeneutics, that is, our descriptions of “lived
experience” must strive to be interpretive (van Manen, 1990).
Existentialism in education offers a corrective and alternative to
behaviorism, social efficiency, ideas of conservative scholar academics, and
vocationalism and the “banking-model of education” (Freire, 1970). The
“existential” aims of education are grounded in the notion that the students and
their unique possibilities are paramount to the task of teaching. We are more than
merely “rational animals with speech,” we are also feeling, emoting, intuiting
beings – who create and re-create our world through free choices. Importantly, for
education and its various institutional manifestations (most particularly for
“reform”), our world and ideas are not given, they are not indelibly etched-instone,
and change to both the world and our ideas is possible through united, ecumenical
activity.

Chapter 12

23
The Philippine Philosophy of Education and Values Education
1.According to the EDCOM Report of 1991, “the quality of Philippine Education is
declining continuously,”What could be the possible cause or causes? What
remedies can be presented?
It showed that the quality of Philippine education was continuously
declining. This was attributed to two principal reasons: 1. Government was not
investing enough in our education system, and 2. Our education establishment was
poorly managed.
Findings- A more detailed findings was observed by the Phil. Congress regarding
the weaknesses of the educational system: •Limited access to education by a large
part of the population •Inadequate investments to teaching materials & learning
resources in primary education institutions
Findings •Lack of curriculum upgrading •Industry coordination & market focus in
the case of both tertiary & tech- voc. Institutions, which have resulted to job
mismatch and poor job placement of graduates. 
Recommendations- The EDCOM recommended more efficiency and more
productivity from both our education budget and our education establishment. The
Upshot Congress came up with a law creating the CHED , whose primary purpose
is to regulate colleges & universities. Through its program promoting ‘national
centers of excellence’, CHED is trying to encourage colleges & universities to
develop special niches in certain areas of human knowledge which have a direct
relevance to society & industry.
2. Evaluate Dewey’s educational philosophy.Show its strength and weaknesses.
Dewey (1938) described progressive education as “a product of discontent
with traditional education” which imposes adult standards, subject matter, and
methodologies (no page number). He believed that traditional education as just
described, was beyond the scope of young learners. Progressive education as
described by Dewey should include socially engaging learning experiences that are
developmentally appropriate for young children (Dewey, 1938). Dewey thought
that effective education came primarily through social interactions and that the
school setting should be considered a social institution (Flinders & Thornton,
2013). He considered education to be a “process of living and not a preparation for
future living” (Flinders & Thornton, 2013, p.35; Gutek, 2014). This set of beliefs
set Dewey apart from philosophers that supported traditional classroom settings.
3. Give some significance of Dewey’s thought to Philippine education.
The Philippine Education System has undergone various modifications
brought by settlers who colonized our country. Its long years of exposure and
contact with the Spaniards, Americans, and the Japanese have created a spectrum
of educational variations and lines of emphasis (de Guzman, 2003). Remarkably,
the Philippines’ education system, both former and current, is significantly
influenced by Dr. John Dewey’s philosophical perspective.

Dewey’s influence on Philippine education started to get sharply visible when it

became independent (Papong, 2014). Student body organizations or councils were
established not only at an institutional level but as a national union. Dewey

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emphasized the importance of students’ voices in the educative process. The
presence and engagement of students in learning are deemed essential.

Presently, the K-12 Basic Education Program substantiates a reform in the

country’s educational system. This program reflects Dewey’s pragmatist and
cognitive constructivist ideas. Inquiry-based learning and spiral approach are
incorporated into the present curriculum.

4.Discuss the 1987 DECS values education program. Give its philosophy,values,
and implementation strategies.
Values are the bases of judging what attitudes and behavior are correct and
desirable and what are not. It is, therefore, of crucial importance that there be an
appropriate framework as well as strategy for providing the context and operational
guidelines for implementing a values education program. The values education
framework hereby suggested is designed to translate values from the abstract into
the practical. Values such as discipline and concern for the poor are ineffective
unless they are internalized and translated into action. Therefore, there is a need for
values education that is meaningful and effective.
VALUES EDUCATION Values Education as a part of the school
curriculum is the process by which values are formed in the learner under the
guidance of the teacher and as he interacts with his environment. But it involves
not just any kind of teaching- learning process. The following have to be
considered by anyone who is involved in values education. 1. The subject matter
itself – VALUES – has direct and immediate relevance to the personal life of the
learner. 2. The process in not just cognitive but involves all the faculties of the
learner. 3. One learns values the way children learn many things from their parents.
Hence, the teacher’s personal values play an important role in values learning.
Values Education Program Values have a social function: commonly held
values unite the families, tribes, societies, and nations. They are essential to the
democratic way of life, which puts a high premium of freedom and the rule of law.
After the Revolution in EDSA in February 1986, the DECS made values education
a primary thrust. Finally, the DECS thrust found strong support in the Philippine
Constitution of 1987 in its vision of “a just and humane society,” which calls for a
shared culture and commonly held values such as “truth, justice, freedom, love,
equality, and peace.” GOAL “To provide and promote values education at all
levels of the educational system for the development of the human person
committed to the building of a just and humane society and an independent and
democratic nation.”

5. Compare Aristotle’s theory of education and the DECS order on values

education.
His view about the aim of education was different from that of his
predecessors Socrates and Plato. He believed in the purposefulness of education.
According to Socrates and Plato, ‘the aim of education is to attain knowledge‘.
To them the attainment of knowledge was necessary both for the interest of the
individual and the society, hence it was virtue by itself. Aristotle has a different
view. To him the aim of education was not only the attainment of knowledge but
also the attainment of happiness or goodness in life. He believed that virtue lies in
the attainment of happiness or goodness. He has divided ‘goodness’ into two
categories ‘goodness’ of intellect and goodness of character. The former can be
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produced and increased by teaching and is the product of training and experience.
The latter is the result of habit, and it can be attained by the formation of good
habits.

The values education framework hereby suggested is designed to translate values

from the abstract into the practical. Values such as discipline and concern for the
poor are ineffective unless they are internalized and translated into action.
Therefore, there is a need for values education that is meaningful and effective.

Chapter 13

Filipino Thinkers,Educators and Philosophical Associations

1.Cite the influence of the early Filipino thinkers on Philippine education.

“Rizal’s concept of the importance ofeducation is enunciated in his work

entitledInstruction wherein he sought improvements in theschools and in the
methods of teaching.” For Rizal, the mission of education is to elevate thecountry
to the highest seat of glory and to develop thepeople’s mentality.Since Education
is the foundation of society and aprerequisite for social progress, Rizal claimed
thatonly through education could the country be savedfrom domination. 
Rizal’s philosophy of education, therefore, centers onthe provision of proper
motivation in order to bolsterthe great social forces that make education a success,
tocreate in the youth an innate desire to cultivate hisintelligence and give him life
eternal. He believed in the importance of the school as asocial
organization.According to him, the school must train the citizens inthe three
phases of life: 1. Moral 2. Intellectual 3. Physical  The school should prepare the
individual to live efficiently both as individual and as a member of the community
to which he belongs.
Dr. Camilo Osias“School has an important role in the development of
dynamicnationalism and internationalism in relation to democracy in theeducation
of the youth.”“High educational institutions should do more to turn outgraduates
who can think logically, scientifically and creatively.” “Our education should
instill love for work, spirit of tolerance, respect for law, love for peace and practice
of thrift.”

Palma advocated “academic freedom”. “The teacher is not supposed to

dramatize. He has no rightto impose on his students his theories or personal belief.
He isexpected to stimulate free discussion, leaving to his students thechoice of the
system of thought which best satisfies their reason.”

2. Enumerate the Philippine philosophical associations and societies and show their
impact on Philippine education.

The educational philosophy was in accordance with the provisions of Article

XIV Section 5 of the 1935 Constitution which provides that:
</li></ul><ul><li>All educational institutions shall be under the supervision and
subject to the regulation by the State. The government shall establish and maintain
a complete and adequate system of public education, and shall provide at least free

26
primary instruction and citizenship training to adult citizens. All schools shall aim
moral character, and vocational efficiency and to reach the duties of citizenship.
Optional religious instruction shall be maintained by law. Universities established
by the State shall enjoy academic freedom. The state shall create scholarship in
arts, sciences, and letters for especially gifted citizens. PHILIPPINE
INDEPENDENCE

PROCLAMATION OF MARTIAL LAW As far as education concerned, the

Marcos Constitution of 1973, Article XV Sec. 8 states that: All educational
institutions shall be under the supervision and subject to the regulation by the
State. The State shall establish and maintain a complete, adequate and integrated
system of education relevant to the goals of national development, All institutions
shall aim to inculcate love for country, teach the duties of citizenship, and develop
moral character, personal discipline and scientific and technological and vocational
efficiency. The State shall maintain a system of free public elementary education
and in areas where finances permit, establish and maintain at least up to the
secondary level. The state shall provide citizenship and vocational training to adult
citizens and out-of-school youth, and create and maintain scholarships for poor and
deserving students.

Chapter 14

The Nature of Academic Freedom

1.Define academic freedom.

Academic freedom, the freedom of teachers and students to teach, study,

and pursue knowledge and research without unreasonable interference or
restriction from law, institutional regulations, or public pressure. Its basic elements
include the freedom of teachers to inquire into any subject that evokes
their intellectual concern; to present their findings to their students, colleagues, and
others; to publish their data and conclusions without control or censorship; and to
teach in the manner they consider professionally appropriate. For students, the
basic elements include the freedom to study subjects that concern them and to form
conclusions for themselves and express their opinions.
2. Give the nature of academic freedom, what are its limitations?
The nature and purposes of academic freedom have assumed different forms
at different points in history and in the contexts of secular and Catholic education,
and when applied to professors or to students. 
3. Can a teacher or professor who teaches communism to his college students
invoke academic freedom? If yes,why? If no, why not?
 Academic freedom does not mean a faculty member can harass, threaten,
intimidate, ridicule, or impose his or her views on students.
Student academic freedom does not deny faculty members the right to require
students to master course material and the fundamentals of the disciplines that
faculty teach.

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Chapter 15
Paulo Freire Method of Combating Illiteracy

1.Discuss the importance of citizenship training to democracy.

Schools play a critical role in educating students, not only about the formal
curriculum but about life.  One of the most fundamental roles of school in our
society is to teach and socialize young people on how to be active members of our
democratic society. We must not lose the role of education to prepare students to
be informed and engaged citizens alongside the focus on traditional academics and
workforce development. 

This is the goal of citizenship education. Citizenship education brings

education’s institutional function of creating an informed electorate to the forefront
in an interdisciplinary and holistic way. It seeks to cut across all subject areas,
integrating many skills and competencies that will benefit students throughout their
lives as individuals, community members, citizens, and professionals. Citizenship
education can transform society; more thoughtful and engaged citizens lead to a
stronger and more just society.  

2. Explain the Paulo Freire method. What are the sources of the method?

Paulo Reglus Neves Freire was a Brazilian educator whose revolutionary

pedagogical theory influenced educational and social movements throughout the
world and whose philosophical writings influenced academic disciplines that
include theology, sociology, anthropology, applied linguistics, pedagogy, and
cultural studies. He was born to a middle-class family in Recife, in the state of
Pernambuco in the northeast of Brazil. His early work in adult literacy–the most
famous being his literacy experiments in the town of Angicos in Rio Grande do
Norte–was terminated after the military coup in 1964. That year he went into exile,
during which time he lived in Bolivia; then Chile where he worked for the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the
Chilean Institute for Agrarian Reform, and where he wrote his most important
work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970); Mexico; the United States where he held
a brief appointment at Harvard University's Center for Studies in Development and
Social Change; and Switzerland where he worked for the World Council of
Churches as the director of their education program.

He also served as an adviser for various governments, most notably the

government of Guinea-Bissau. In 1980 he returned to Brazil to teach and later to
serve as secretary of education for Sāo Paulo. He worked as a consultant for
revolutionary governments such as the New Jewel Movement in Grenada, the
Sandinista government in Nicaragua, and the government of Julius K. Nyerere in
Tanzania. From 1985 until his death in 1997, Freire served as the honorary
president of the International Council for Adult Education.

28
Freire's conception of education as a deeply political project oriented toward the
transformation of society has been crucial to the education of revolutionary
societies and societies undergoing civil war, as well as established Western
democracies. Freire's work has exercised considerable influence among
progressive educators in the West, especially in the context of emerging traditions
of critical pedagogy, bilingual education, and multicultural education.

3.What are the value assumptions of the Paulo Freire method?

Education should raise the awareness of the students so that they become
subjects, rather than objects, of the world. This is done by teaching students to
think democratically and to continually question and make meaning from
(critically view) everything they learn.
...our relationship with the learners demands that we respect them and demands
equally that we be aware of the concrete conditions of their world, the conditions
that shape them. To try to know the reality that our students live is a task that the
educational practice imposes on us: Without this, we have no access ' to the way
they think, so only with great difficulty can we perceive what and how they know.

... there are no themes or values of which one cannot speak, no areas in which one
must be silent. We can talk about everything, and we can give testimony about
everything.

4.Do you think the Paulo Freire method will work in the Philippines?
Poverty is defined as “the state of one who lacks usual or socially acceptable
amount of money or material possessions” (Kanbur & Squire, 2002, p.3). The
literature on poverty suggests that it has an effect on education. For example, it has
been reported that poverty has a negative association with academic achievement
due to the limited resources available to low income students (Lacour &
Tissington, 2011). Likewise, it has been reported that children from poorer
households are more likely to delay the start of their education and are also most
likely to drop out before completing their education (United Nations, 2013). In
view of the Philippine government’s goal of alleviating poverty through education,
this study aimed to develop a model of innovative pedagogical strategies in
addressing the needs of learners living in poverty. The pedagogical model was
grounded on the experiences and encounters of economically disadvantaged
students as they pursue their education. When a pedagogical approach or strategy
is grounded from the actual experiences of the students, it will address their actual
needs.

Chapter 16

The Trials of Present-Day Education: Prospects and Possibilities

1.Discuss the new humanism needed in the current search for educational uplift.

29
 Being a humanist today means adapting the strength of an age-old message
to the contours of the modern world. This new context demands that the conditions
necessary for mutual understanding and peace-building be rethought.  Changes in
the world call for the development of a new humanism that is not only theoretical
but practical, that is not only focused on the search for values – which it must also
be – but oriented towards the implementation of concrete programmes that have
tangible results.

2.How can moral teaching be improved? Explain.

Like so many best practices that have been ingrained into educators,
morality does not have to be taught in isolation but can be partnered with content
to make learning experiences impactful in more ways than one.

Teachers are role models every day when they show compassion, sharing,
choosing kind words when it would be easier to shout, and advocating for the
marginalized populations. Never underestimate the difference you can make when
you leave your signature upon a student’s mindset.

Providing reinforcement of positive behaviors, opposed to positively reinforcing

negative behaviors, keeps your classroom in a state of growth. Pouring all of your
energy into the negative leaves educators drained with no real results. Rather than
focusing on what is not going well, praise the positive. When students make a
mistake, do not ignore it; instead, allow them to grow through it. This makes your
classroom a safe place, and students will have the innate desire to please.

3.Aristotle said “To know does little,or even nothing, for virtue”.Comment.

What Aristotle calls "the correct definition of the good" is that argument's
assumed premiss (1 above); cf. Plato, Republic 505d-e. But then who does know
what the good is (and therefore that your opinion is correct)? The one who has
knowledge of the good. But if someone knows what the good is (or in other words,
has knowledge of what the good is), then he can explain to you what he
knows (Memorabilia iv, 6, 1; Plato, Laches 190c; cf. Meno 98a), in which case
you will know it as well.
 

4. Describe the contemporary education illness. What could possibly be done to

cure the education?

Contemporary Issues in Education is a college preparatory eleventh grade

English course integrated with the Education pathway standards of the Education, Child
Development, and Family Services sector, which allows students to see where the skills
of English intersect with the elements of education. Students conduct research, closely
read and analyze complex texts, evaluate instructional methodology and philosophy,
and create a portfolio of reflections, activities, and compositions that, when synthesized,
serve as the foundation for three capstone projects.

Students will present a standards-based lesson plan, research a contemporary

issue in education, and participate in a mock job interview, all of which prepare them for

30
further education and career opportunities in the field of Education, Child Development,
and Family Services.  illness?

ASIAN DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION COLLEGE

TACLOBAN CITY
GRADUATE SCHOOL

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
(BOOK REVIEW)

Submitted by:
MARVY D. ABAD
MAED-Educ. Management

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 Submitted to:
ROGELIA K. FIRMO, Ph.D
Professor

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