John Locke: The Empiricist Educator

Biography

John Locke was an English philosopher and political theorist who was born in 1632 in Wrington,
Somerset, England, and died in 1704 in High Laver, Essex. He is recognized as the founder of
British empiricism and the author of the first systematic exposition and defense of
political liberalism.

John Locke’s most famous works are An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689), in
which he developed his theory of ideas and his account of the origins of human knowledge in
experience, and Two Treatises of Government (first edition published in 1690 but substantially
composed before 1683), in which he defended a theory of political authority based on natural
individual rights and freedoms and the consent of the governed.

The Empiricist Education

- Acquire knowledge about the world through the senses – learning by doing and by interacting
with the environment.
- Simple ideas become more complex through comparison, reflection and generalization – the
inductive method.
- Questioned the long traditional view that knowledge came from literary sources, particularly the
Greek and Latin classics.
- Opposed the “divine right of kings” theory which held that the monarch had the right to be an
unquestioned and absolute ruler over his subjects.
- Political order should be based upon a contract between the people and the government.
- Aristocrats are not destined by birth to be rulers.
- People should be educated to govern themselves intelligibly and responsibly.

Summary

One of Locke's main goals in the text is to determine what can be claimed legitimately and what
cannot. How do we develop our knowledge?
A simple way to express his view is: Knowledge comes from experience. This is the perspective
of empiricism, a major school of thought within epistemology. It may help to remember what the
term empirical means based on how it starts with the same letter as experimental, an approach that
values experiencing and testing.
So in his view, actually experiencing the world through our senses is the only way to arrive at a
conclusion and to know the truth about something.

Herbert Spencer: Utilitarian Education

Biography

Herbert Spencer was an English philosopher, biologist and sociologist.

He highly contributed his expertise knowledge in ethics religion, anthropology , economics, political
theory, philosophy, biology, sociology and psychology.

He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992.

He was the first person to coin the phrase “survival of the fittest”

His works were translated into many other languages of the world including German, Italian,
Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese and Chinese.

Utilitarian Eduation

- Spencer’s conept of “survival of the fittest”

- Social development had taken place according to an evolutionary process
- Industrialized society require vocational and professional education based on scientific and
practical (utilitarian) objectives rather than on the very general educational goals associated
with humanistic and classical eduation.
- Curriculum should emphasize the practical, utilitarian, and scientific subjects that helped
human kind master the environment
- Schooling must be related to life and o activities needed to earn a living.
- Curriculum must be arranged according to their contribution to human survival and progress.
- Science and other subjects that sustained human life and prosperity should have curricular
priority since it aids in the performance of life activities.
- Individual competition leads to social progress. He who is fittest survives.

Opposition to public schools

He did not believe in the public school system. His major criticism of the school system was that it
did not prepare children to live in society.

Instead, Spencer believed in the private school system which competed for the brightest student.
Because of his belief in competition conflict and struggle Spencer felt that the most exemplary
schools would eventually acquire the best teachers and students.

Five types of activities in the curriculum

1. Self-preservation

 (feelings which warn people or animals to protect themselves from difficulties or dangers)  For
picking up the art of self-preservation, Spencer recommends the study of the sciences of physiology,
hygiene, physics and chemistry.  Spencer believes that a knowledge of these subjects will help one
to preserve his health by furthering the various spontaneous activities.

2. Indirect Self-preservation

Activities pertaining to indirect self-preservation are those which help one to make a successful
living.  We require the help of mathematics in various activities pertaining to our daily life. 
Geology mathematics, chemistry, physics and astrology help us in many such vital activities. 
Spencer recommends the teaching of these sciences because they prepare us for life.
3. Rearing of Offspring

(To help someone to grow up.)  Spencer wants to give the knowledge of rearing of offspring to
children in the school because it is difficult for them to rear their children properly.  Therefore,
parents should be prepared for bringing up children.

4. Citizenship

 Spencer desires that the child should be a worthy citizen. He thinks that history cannot be used
properly without the knowledge of science. He has shown how history books should be written and
how the various happenings should be described.

5. Leisure of Life

 Spencer has a very liberal (general) outlook of life.  For this he wants to teach painting, music,
sculpture, literature and poetry to the child.  But for the study of these arts, Spencer thinks that the
child must study the science first, because the various sciences are at the root of all these fine arts.
 He wants to make everything dependent on sciences.