Foundations of Education

PROFESSOR AIEMAN AHMAD AL-OMARI

Meaning of Philosophy
BRANCHES, APPROACHES OF TRADITIONAL AND MODERN SCHOOLS OF
PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy:

 Philosophy provides a way to examine and interpret the world – to ask

basic questions about human nature, beauty, principles of right and wrong,
and how knowledge and reality are defined.
 Because philosophy deals with underlying values and beliefs, it naturally
pervades all aspects of education.
 The perspective of philosophy presents opposing views about human
nature, knowledge, and the world in which we live. By examining these
different, often opposing views, you will be able to identify your own
philosophical position and state it in clear language and concepts.
 Philosophy can be defined as a passion to uncover and reflect on the
underlying meaning of things.
Philosophy:

 Derived from the Greek

 philos, which means “love”,
 and sophos, which means “wisdom”,
 the word philosophy means “love of wisdom”.
Philosophy:

 Philosophy reminds teachers to continue the search for truth and

not be satisfied with pat answers, even answers that are provided
by so-called experts. To philosophers, an expert is not one who
professes truth; an expert is one who searches, questions, and
reflects.
 Hence, the study of philosophy is at the heart of education.
Formal Definition (Dictionary)

 Philosophy: It is the rational investigation of the truths

and principles of being, knowledge, or conduct.
Personal Philosophy of Life

 It enables us to recognize the meaning of our personal existence.

 Our personal philosophy becomes evident in the manner in which we respond to
everyday problems and questions.
 The perspective of philosophy helps us to focus on the underlying issues and assumptions
and beliefs that are not always evident to us in the hectic pace of contemporary life.
 While Philosophy of Education: It enables us to recognize certain educational principles
that define our views about:
The Learner; how??
The Teacher; how??
The Curriculum; how??
The Evaluation and Assessment Tools; how??.
 Methods to study Philosophy:

There are three main approaches? What are they?

 First: Descriptive approach:

 Second: Normative approach
 Third: Analytic approach
 Methods to study Philosophy:

There are three main approaches? What are they?

 First: Descriptive approach:

Descriptive research aims at gathering knowledge about the objects of study but it
tries to avoid bringing about any changes in the objects. This knowledge consists
mainly of describing the objects.
There can also be explanations why the objects are as they are. Moreover, the
researcher may sometimes want to collect opinions of people about the pleasing or
unpleasant aspects of the objects, but a descriptive study never plans or proposes
improvements to the objects.
Second: Normative approach:

 The target of normative research is to improve the object of study or to

create a new, better state of things. The approach will be slightly different
depending on the extent of the study, i.e. how many objects that shall be
improved .
 Normative research differs from descriptive studies because the target is
not only to gather facts but also to point out in which respects the object
of study can be improved.
 Usually the project even includes planning an approach for carrying out
the necessary improvements. Depending on whether the project
continues as practical development or not, there are two styles of
normative research, these being quantitative research and qualitative
research.
Third: Analytic approach:

 An analytic approach to reading begins with

words (preferably nouns that can be easily
illustrated), then breaks the words into parts to
teach these parts.
 “By the use of [meaningful] words the learner
can better see the relationship between
reading and their own language.
Branches of philosophy:

 Metaphysics: What is the nature of REALITY?

 Epistemology: What is the nature of KNOWLEDGE?
 Axiology: What is the nature of VALUES?
What are the components of the philosophy?

Metaphysics Epistemology Axiology

 All those components are answering the following

questions:
• What is the nature of Reality?
• What is the nature of Knowledge?
• What is the nature of Values?
Knowing the answers students need to study the
major schools of philosophy in descriptive approach.

Branches of philosophy

Nature of Reality is Nature of Knowledge Nature of Values is

called is called called

Metaphysics Epistemology Axiology

a. Ontology
b. Cosmology
Metaphysics

 the study of what is really real. Metaphysics deals

with the so-called first principles of the natural order
and "the ultimate generalizations available to the
human intellect." Specifically, it seeks to identify and
establish the relationships between the categories, if
any, of the types of existent things.
Metaphysics is the study of the nature of reality, of what exists in the world,
what it is like, and how it is ordered. In metaphysics philosophers wrestle with
such questions as:
 What is truth?
 What is a person? What makes a person the same through time?
 Is the world strictly composed of matter?
 Do people have minds? If so, how is the mind related to the body?
 Do people have free wills?
 What is it for one event to cause another?
Nature of Reality is called the nature of existence and it is subdivided in
two areas :
1. Ontology: search for the nature of thinks is it matter thing or spiritual or
mixed. Is it mental or physical. All these assumption need to be
approved rationally basically with evidence
2. Cosmology: search about the origin of the cosmos ( how it is
organized, its nature, the nature of time and place, the eternal
existence meaning of death, meaning of human being will and power
Epistemology

the study of knowledge. In particular, epistemology is the

study of the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge.
 Epistemology investigates the origin, structure, methods,
and integrity of knowledge.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge. It is primarily concerned with what
we can know about the world and how we can know it. Typical questions of
concern in epistemology are:
 What is knowledge?
 Do we know anything at all?
 How do we know what we know?
 Can we be justified in claiming to know certain things?
 Epistemology : This is concerned with discovering knowledge, limits of knowledge, validity of knowledge,
cognitive process, and to answer the question about.
 There are Several Ways and methods of reaching knowledge. What are they?
 Scientific inquiry
 experience
 feeling
 Trail and error intuition
 inspiration
 Research method
 insight
 Revelatory knowledge
 senses

 Logically: This lead us to understand types of logic:

Types of logic:

 Deduction Approach
Involving inferences from general principles to specific, Generalization
followed by examples/ Application of the generalization
• The logic is: Because of the principle that ... (we state/explain a premise)
...So therefore in the case of ... we find that ... (a certain outcome is defined).
E. G. 1.(Because) magnets attract objects made of iron and so, because
some nails are made of iron, those nails will be attracted by a magnet.
 E. G.2. (Because) a singular subject requires a singular verb and teacher is
a singular subject, so therefore, when I want to talk about choices of
strategy a teacher makes, I say:
 A teacher (singular noun) chooses (singular verb) a strategy whereas
teachers (plural noun) choose (plural verb) a strategy.
Induction Approach

 The analysis of data and examination of practice problems within their

own context rather than from a predetermined theoretical basis. The
approach moves from the specific to the general.
 Inductive thinking proceeds from a specific case, or from cases, to the
general. This is the opposite of deductive thinking. In inductive thinking the
individual makes a number of observations which are then sorted into a
concept or generalization; the individual does not have prior knowledge
of the abstraction but only arrives at it after observing and analyzing the
observations
 The inductive approach is a teaching strategy which uses data to teach
pupils concepts and generalizations. In this approach, the teacher
presents pupils with data, pupils are asked to make observations of the
data and, on the basis of these observations, to form the abstraction
being taught.
 For example, an inductive lesson seeking to develop the understanding
that earthquakes are often found alone plate boundaries might use the
following sequence:
Axiology

 the study of value; the investigation of its nature, criteria,

and metaphysical status. More often than not, the term
"value theory" is used instead of "axiology" in
contemporary discussions even though the term “theory
of value” is used with respect to the value or price of
goods and services in economics.
Axiology is usually divided into two main parts.
 Ethics:
the study of values in human behavior or the study of
moral problems: e.g., (1) the rightness and wrongness of
actions, (2) the kinds of things which are good or desirable,
and (3) whether actions are blameworthy or praiseworthy.
 Aesthetics: the study of value in the arts or the inquiry into
feelings, judgments, or standards of beauty and related
concepts. Philosophy of art is concerned with judgments of
sense, taste, and emotion.
 Literally all these mean applying a set of norms or standard to the human conduct
and beauty.

 Some issues may be raised here:

Should moral Education, character education, ethics, of values education be
responsibility of the society or the school?