PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Course Description:

This course is to revitalize awareness and background knowledge on the

different philosophical thoughts and ethical practices among administrators and

teachers. This will also critically examine the contributions of such philosophies in the

present educational system towards quality education relevant to social, moral and

economic recovery.

1. The Philosophy of Education

A. What Is Philosophy of Education?

Philosophy of education is that branch of philosophy that addresses

philosophical questions concerning the nature, aims, and problems of education. As a

branch of practical philosophy, its practitioners look both inward to the parent discipline

of philosophy and outward to educational practice, as well as to developmental

psychology, cognitive science more generally, sociology, and other relevant disciplines.

The most basic problem of philosophy of education is that concerning aims: what

are the proper aims and guiding ideals of education? A related question concerns

evaluation: what are the appropriate criteria for evaluating educational efforts,

institutions, practices, and products? Other important problems involve the authority of

the state and of teachers, and the rights of students and parents; the character of

purported educational ideals such as critical thinking, and of purportedly undesirable

phenomena such as indoctrination; the best way to understand and conduct moral

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education; a ange of questions concerning teaching, learning, and curriculum; and many

others. All these and more are addressed in the essays that follow.

a. The Relation of Philosophy of Education to Philosophy

For much of the history of Western philosophy, philosophical questions

concerning education were high on the philosophical agenda. From Socrates, Plato,

and Aristotle to twentieth‐century figures such as Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, R. S.

Peters, and Israel Scheffler, general philosophers (i.e., contemporary philosophers

working in departments of philosophy and publishing in mainstream philosophy

journals, and their historical predecessors) addresed questions in philosophy of

education along with their treatments of issues in epistemology, metaphysics,

philosophy of mind and language, and moral and social/political philosophy. The same is

true of most of the major figures of the Western philosophical tradition, including

Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, Hegel, Mill, and many

others.

Another, related reason that the philosophical tradition has taken educational

matters as a locus of inquiry is that many fundamental questions concerning education

—for example, those concerning the aims of education, the character and desirability of

liberal education, indoctrination, moral and intellectual virtues, the imagination,

authenticity, and other educational matters—are of independent philosophical interest

but are intertwined with more standard core areas and issues (e.g., Is the fundamental

epistemic aim of education the development of true belief, justified belief,

understanding, some combination of these, or something else? In what sense if any can

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curriculum content be rightly regarded as “objective”? Given the cognitive state of the

very young child, is it possible to avoid indoctrination entirely—and if not, how bad a

thing is that? Should education aim at the transmission of existing knowledge or, rather,

at fostering the abilities and dispositions conducive to inquiry and the achievement of

autonomy?).

In addition, the pursuit of fundamental questions in more or less all the core

areas of philosophy often leads naturally to and is sometimes enhanced by sustained

attention to questions about education (e.g., epistemologists disagree about the identity

of the highest or most fundamental epistemic value, with some plumping for truth/true

belief and others for justified or rational belief; this dispute is clarified by its

consideration in the context of education)

The reasons for this loss are complex and are mainly contingent historical ones

that I will not explore here. It remains, nevertheless, that this state of affairs is

unfortunate for the health of philosophy of education as an area of philosophical

endeavor, and for general philosophy as well. The “benign neglect” of philosophy of

education by the general philosophical community—an area central to philosophy since

Socrates and Plato—not only deprives the field of a huge swath of talented potential

contributors; it also leaves working general philosophers and their students without an

appreciation of an important branch of their discipline. One purpose of this volume is to

rectify this situation

B. Philosophical Inquiry in Teacher Education

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 No sharp boundary separates philosophical inquiry in teacher education from

other forms of inquiry. Studies that make prominent use of philosophical methods also

often draw on other branches of inquiry and knowledge, such as the social sciences and

common sense. Because writers seldom alert readers to all the types of inquiry or

knowledge they draw on, and because much of philosophical method is a refined

version of reasoning that all people do, the philosophical component of a study often

goes unnoticed. If philosophical dimensions of inquiry remain unnoticed, they are less

likely to be critically examined by readers, or improved by writers. In this paper,

attention is called to philosophical inquiry, in writings by both philosophers and non-

philosophers. Examples illustrate philosophical activities (such as conceptual and logical

analysis, positing and explaining distinctions, evoking shared ideas and values), as well

as showing that philosophy plays an important part in arguments not obviously

philosophical. Commentary included here on these examples clarifies ways in which

people can be moved to do philosophical inquiry, how such inquiry can be carried out,

and how its quality may be judged.

C. The Main Branches of Philosophy 

are divided as to the nature of the questions asked in each area. The integrity of

these divisions cannot be rigidly maintained, for one area overlaps into the others.

a. 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.

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1. Some significant questions in axiology include the following:

a. Nature of value: is value a fulfillment of desire, a pleasure, a preference, a behavioral

disposition, or simply a human interest of some kind?

b. Criteria of value: de gustibus non (est) disputandum (i.e., (“there's no accounting for

tastes”) or do objective standards apply?

c. Status of value: how are values related to (scientific) facts? What ultimate worth, if

any, do human values have?

b. 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.

"We may imagine a squad of soldiers to be practicing the throwing of live hand

grenades; a grenade slips from the hand of one of them and rolls on the ground near

the squad; one of them sacrifices his life by throwing himself on the grenade and

protecting his comrades with his own body. It is quite unreasonable to suppose that

such a man must be impelled by the sort of emotion that he might be impelled by if his

best friend were in the squad."

Did the soldier who threw himself on the grenade do the right thing? If he did

not cover the grenade, several soldiers might be injured or be killed. His action probably

saved lives; certainly an action which saves lives is a morally correct action. One might

even be inclined to conclude that saving lives is a duty. But if this were so, wouldn't each

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of the soldiers have the moral obligation or duty to save his comrades? Would we

thereby expect each of the soldiers to vie for the opportunity to cover the grenade?

c. Aesthetic: 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.

a.E.g., Is art an intellectual or representational activity? What would the realistic

representations in pop art represent? Does art represent sensible objects or ideal

objects?

b. Is artistic value objective? Is it merely coincidental that many forms in architecture

and painting seem to illustrate mathematical principles? Are there standards of taste?

c. Is there a clear distinction between art and reality?

d. Epistemology: the study of knowledge. In particular, epistemology is the study of the

nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge.

a. Epistemology investigates the origin, structure, methods, and integrity of knowledge.

b. Consider the degree of truth of the statement, "The earth is round." Does its truth

depend upon the context in which the statement is uttered? For example, this

statement can be successively more accurately translated as … "The earth is spherical"

"The earth is an oblate spheroid" (i.e., flattened at the poles).

But what about the Himalayas and the Marianas Trench? Even if we surveyed

exactly the shape of the earth, our process of surveying would alter the surface by the

footprints left and the impressions of the survey stakes and instruments. Hence, the

exact shape of the earth cannot be known. Every rain shower changes the shape.(Note

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here as well the implications for skepticism and relativism: simply because we cannot

exactly describe the exact shape of the earth, the conclusion does not logically follow

that the earth does not have a shape.)

1. Furthermore, consider two well-known problems in epistemology:

Russell's Five-Minute-World Hypothesis: Suppose the earth were created five

minutes ago, complete with memory images, history books, records, etc., how could we

ever know of it? As Russell wrote in The Analysis of Mind, "There is no logical

impossibility in the hypothesis that the world sprang into being five minutes ago, exactly

as it then was, with a population that "remembered" a wholly unreal past. There is no

logically necessary connection between events at different times; therefore nothing that

is happening now or will happen in the future can disprove the hypothesis that the

world began five minutes ago." For example, an omnipotent God could create the world

with all the memories, historical records, and so forth five minutes ago. Any evidence to

the contrary would be evidence created by God five minutes ago. (Q.v., the Omphalos

hypothesis.)

a. Suppose everything in the universe (including all spatial relations) were

to expand uniformly a thousand times larger. How could we ever know it? A

moment's thought reveals that the mass of objects increases by the cube

whereas the distance among them increases linearly. Hence, if such an

expansion were possible, changes in the measurement of gravity and the speed

of light would be evident, if, indeed, life would be possible.

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 b. Russell's Five-Minute-World Hypothesis is a philosophical problem; the

impossibility of the objects in the universe expanding is a scientific problem since

the latter problem can, in fact, be answered by principles of elementary physics.

E. Ontology or 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, ontology seeks to indentify and establish the

relationships between the categories, if any, of the types of existent things.

a. What kinds of things exist? Do only particular things exist or do

general things also exist? How is existence possible? Questions as

to identity and change of objects—are you the same person you

were as a baby? as of yesterday? as of a moment ago?

b. How do ideas exist if they have no size, shape, or color? (My idea

of the Empire State Building is quite as "small" or as "large" as my

idea of a book. I.e., an idea is not extended in space.) What is

space? What is time?

c. E.g., Consider the truths of mathematics: in what manner do

geometric figures exist? Are points, lines, or planes real or not? Of

what are they made?

d. What is spirit? or soul? or matter? space? Are they made up of the

same sort of "stuff"?

e. When, if ever, are events necessary? Under what conditions are

they possible?

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2. Philosophy as a Field of Study

A. Definition of Philosophy

Philosophy in a general sense is conceived a person’s “sum of his fundamental

beliefs and convictions”. We have some ideas concerning physical objects, our fellow

persons, the meaning of life, death, God, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, and the

like. Of course, these ideas are acquired in a variety of ways, and they may be vague and

confused. Philosophy is a guide for living; because the issues it addresses are basic and

pervasive, determining the course we take in life. Hence we can say that all the aspects

of human life are influenced and governed by the philosophical consideration.

Philosophers always ask these questions: Who we are? Is there a higher

existence that determines our existence? What is the relationship between nature and

human beings? What is the meaning of life? Are our senses reliable in telling us about

the truth of the universe? How do we get to know about the world? What is the

relationship between the mind and the body? They further ask these questions: What is

happiness? What is virtue? What is the relationship between individuals and the

collective? How can we organize a society and an economy that promote the common

good? What methods should we employ to find out truth from false statements? Can

we ever hope to find out the truth of our existence?

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 Philosophy is reflection of the above questions. Hence, philosophy is the study of

general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge,

truth, beauty, law, justice, validity, mind, and language. Moreover, philosophy is

rationally thinking, of a more or less systematic kind about the general nature of the

world – metaphysics or theory of existence, the justification of belief - epistemology or

theory of knowledge, and the conduct of life – ethics or theory of value.

B. Various perceptions about Philosophy

          Different individuals have different perspectives.  Existing within a definite

time-space location, they share in the basic wealth of a given culture.  They participate

in the process of civilization.  They have been in part determined in what they will think

and do by what is at their disposal to work with and what has gone before to make

them what they are.  Individuals add to their inheritance their own uniqueness which is

cantered in their valuation acts. 

          Philosophers are no different from others in regard to their cultural

perspectives.  Philosophers differ in their conclusions.  They build upon what has come

before.  They react to it and criticize it.  They draw from the total wealth of their given

civilization and all others they have knowledge of. Philosophers differ in what they end

up with, however, they share in a common pursuit and they do so by their attempt to

pursue inquiry in a definite manner, i.e. a critical and comprehensive approach.

B.1 Philosophy and other forms of Thought  

          While the Philosophical mode of thought exists alongside of those of

Religion, Science and Art it is distinct from them and influences each of them and in part

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responds to developments within each of these fields or dimensions of human

experience.  While Religion offers a comprehensive view of all aspects of human life, it is

a view which is uncritically formulated and does not itself encourage or tolerate

criticism of the fundamental tenets of faith or the principle applications of those basic

beliefs to the affairs of everyday life.  Science, on the other hand, is quite critical in the

evaluation of hypotheses and theories but it lacks the comprehensive nature of

philosophic thought.  The various branches of scientific inquiry have not as yet

demonstrated that they are capable of being welded into a single comprehensive view

of all reality built upon a single coherent set of basic principles or laws.  Art remains as a

discipline capable of demonstrating, representing and encouraging values but it is not a

discipline of thought at all least of all one that is characterized by the critical and

comprehensive features of philosophical thought.

          I hope that you have been able to detect these features of philosophic

thought although there are obstacles that most of you have encountered such as (1) the

brevity of the treatment given each philosopher examined during this semester, (2) the

rather small number of passages and works read and (3) the inexperience of class

members with reading and analyzing philosophical treatises.   Even so each student

should have come to appreciate that Philosophy as an activity and a tradition of thought

involves a good deal more than the common usage of the term in popular discourse

would intimate.

          Today the term "Philosophy" is often misused.  So often in fact that the

term itself has been corrupted.  Most think of Philosophy as a "way of life", "view of the

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world", "theory about life", etc...   The public has little conscious appreciation for the

philosophic tradition. 

          The future for Philosophy as an intellectual activity has come to be in doubt

due to present social conditions: the anti-intellectual and anti-rational tendencies that

characterize the current cultural scene and most of the influential and determining

social and political movements within it..

                   Part of our contemporary dilemma is the inappropriateness of such

traditional, even classical, world-views in the light of recent scientific advances in

knowledge.  In our present state not only the moral ends and hierarchy of values that

accompanied such world-views have become dislodged but also the very notion of what

thought can do for a society or a civilization.  Philosophers have surely contributed to

the current situation being what it is and they shall contribute to whatever direction

thought is to take in the immediate future as humans continue to grapple with the

perennial issues and the most basic questions humans must answer.  These issues and

questions have been, are now, and, for some time to come, will continue to be

associated with Philosophy.  

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3. Major philosophers

Philosophers spend a good deal of time in reflection upon these basic issues. 

They produce ideas, at times strange ideas.  Over time however, the ideas of

Philosophers have changed the course of human events all over the planet.  Sometimes

their ideas move quickly into the mainstream of human culture and produce

consequences in art, politics, religion and the political, social and private lives of human

beings.  Sometimes their ideas move more slowly and only after centuries do they

emerge through the thought and work of others to produce profound consequences. 

Whether it is Plato and his distrust of the senses and the importance of quantitative

measurement or Peirce and his pragmatic approach to meaning and truth their ideas

emerge in the foundations of Mathematics and Science and in the post-modern

movements, respectively.  Their ideas have changed the world.  Whether it is Socrates

refusal to leave prison and to stay and die for principles or Karl Marx and his notions of

the classless society, Philosophers have altered the course of human history.

          Some say" Philosophy bakes no bread." meaning that Philosophy has no

practical relevance or value to the actual affairs of this world.  It could be said in

response to this critique that were it not for Philosophy little bread would be baked, for

bakers need reasons, motives, purposes in their lives.  If survival is the only end or

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purpose then little is accounted for in the history of the human species.  We as human

beings seem compelled to ask the question "survival for what?"  If there are other ends

it is in philosophic inquiry that they are distinctly discerned criticized and related to

human affairs. Purposes, values may be presented in numerous ways (religion, and art

are the best known) but they are understood philosophically. Philosophy seeks after

clear enunciation of purpose and values and precise formulation without which human

beings encounter a void, feel lost-without purpose or meaning, without a sense of place,

without a relation to the rest of the universe.

So, Philosophy is an activity of thought, which may become a way of life.  It is

primarily a pursuit after wisdom.  It is a critical and comprehensive inquiry into the ways

in which what we know can be used to obtain what we value.  Philosophy is one of the

most, if not THE most, distinctive of all human activities, as such Philosophy has been

and may continue to be of importance in the live of humans, around the world

A philosopher is someone who practices philosophy. The

term philosopher comes from the Ancient Greek: φιλόσοφος, romanized: philosophos,

meaning 'lover of wisdom'. The coining of the term has been attributed to the Greek

thinker Pythagoras (6th century BCE).

In the classical sense, a philosopher was someone who lived according to a

certain way of life, focusing upon resolving existential questions about the human

condition; it was not necessary that they discoursed upon theories or commented upon

authors.[2] Those who most arduously committed themselves to this lifestyle would have

been considered philosophers, and they typically followed a Hellenistic philosophy.

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 In a modern sense, a philosopher is an intellectual who contributes to one or

more branches of philosophy, such as aesthetics, ethics, epistemology, philosophy of

science, logic, metaphysics, social theory, philosophy of religion, and political

philosophy. A philosopher may also be someone who has worked in the humanities or

other sciences which over the centuries have split from philosophy, such as the

arts, history, economics, sociology, psychology, linguistics, anthropology, theology,

and politics.

Ancient India and the Vedas

The first account of philosophy composed can be found in the ancient

Hindu vedas, written between 1500-1200 BCE (Rigveda) and circa 1200-900 BCE (Yajur

Veda, Sama Veda, Atharva Veda). Before the Vedas were composed, they were orally

passed down from generation to generation.

The word veda means "knowledge." In the modern world, we use the term

"science" to identify the kind of authoritative knowledge upon which human progress is

based. In Vedic times, the primary focus of science was the eternal; human progress

meant the advancement of spiritual awareness yielding the soul's release from the

entrapment of material nature etc.

Vedic Philosophy provides answers to all unanswered questions i.e why there is

pain and pleasure, rich and poor, healthy and sick; God - His qualities, nature and works.

Soul – Its nature and qualities, souls of humans and animals; reincarnation – how does it

happens, why one is born as he or she is. What is the purpose of life? What we ought to

do?

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 Ancient Greece and Rome

The separation of philosophy and science from theology began in Greece during

the 6th century BC.[4] Thales, an astronomer and mathematician, was considered by

Aristotle to be the first philosopher of the Greek tradition.

While Pythagoras coined the word, the first known elaboration on the topic was

conducted by Plato. In his Symposium, he concludes that love is that which lacks the

object it seeks. Therefore, the philosopher is one who seeks wisdom; if he attains

wisdom, he would be a sage. Therefore, the philosopher in antiquity was one who lives

in the constant pursuit of wisdom, and living in accordance to that

wisdom. Disagreements arose as to what living philosophically entailed. These

disagreements gave rise to different Hellenistic schools of philosophy. In consequence,

the ancient philosopher thought in a tradition. [7] As the ancient world became schism by

philosophical debate, the competition lay in living in a manner that would transform his

whole way of living in the world.

Among the last of these philosophers was Marcus Aurelius, who is widely

regarded as a philosopher in the modern sense, but personally refused to call himself by

such a title, since he had a duty to live as an emperor.

Transition

According to the Classicist Pierre Hadot, the modern conception of a philosopher

and philosophy developed predominately through three changes:

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 The first is the natural inclination of the philosophical mind. Philosophy is a

tempting discipline which can easily carry away the individual in analyzing the universe

and abstract theory.

The second is the historical change throughout the Medieval era. With the rise of

Christianity, the philosophical way of life was adopted by its theology. Thus, philosophy

was divided between a way of life and the conceptual, logical, physical, and

metaphysical materials to justify that way of life. Philosophy was then the servant to

theology.

The third is the sociological need with the development of the university. The

modern university requires professionals to teach. Maintaining itself requires teaching

future professionals to replace the current faculty. Therefore, the discipline degrades

into a technical language reserved for specialists, completely eschewing its original

conception as a way of life.

Medieval Era

In the fourth century, the word philosopher began to designate a man or woman

who led a monastic life. Gregory of Nyssa, for example, describes how his

sister Macrina persuaded their mother to forsake "the distractions of material life" for a

life of philosophy.

Later during the Middle Ages, persons who engaged with alchemy were called

philosophers – thus, the Philosopher's Stone.

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 Early Modern Era

Generally speaking, university philosophy is mere fencing in front of a mirror. In

the last analysis, its goal is to give students opinions which are to the liking of the

minister who hands out the Chairs... As a result, this state-financed philosophy makes a

joke of philosophy. And yet, if there is one thing desirable in this world, it is to see a ray

of light fall onto the darkness of our lives, shedding some kind of light on the mysterious

enigma of our existence.

— Arthur Schopenhauer

Many philosophers still emerged from the Classical tradition, as saw their

philosophy as a way of life. Among the most notable are René Descartes, Baruch

Spinoza, Nicolas Malebranche, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. With the rise of the

university, the modern conception of philosophy became more prominent. Many of the

esteemed philosophers of the eighteenth century and onward have attended, taught,

and developed their works in university. Early examples include: Immanuel Kant, Johann

Gottlieb Fichte, Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.

After these individuals, the Classical conception had all but died with the

exceptions of Arthur Schopenhauer, Søren Kierkegaard, and Friedrich Nietzsche. The last

considerable figure in philosophy to not have followed a strict and orthodox academic

regime was Ludwig Wittgenstein.

Modern Academia

In the modern era, those attaining advanced degrees in philosophy often choose

to stay in careers within the educational system as part of the wider professionalisation

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process of the discipline in the 20th century. [16] According to a 1993 study by

the National Research Council (as reported by the American Philosophical Association),

77.1% of the 7,900 holders of a PhD in philosophy who responded were employed in

educational institutions (academia). Outside academia, philosophers may employ their

writing and reasoning skills in other careers, such as medicine [vague], bioethics, business,

publishing, free-lance writing, media, and law.[

Key thinkers

Some known French social thinkers are Claude Henri Saint-Simon, Auguste

Comte, and Émile Durkheim. British social thought, with thinkers such as Herbert

Spencer, addressed questions and ideas relating to political economy and social

evolution. The political ideals of John Ruskin were a precursor of social economy (Unto

This Last had a very important impact on Mahatma Gandhi's philosophy). Important

German philosophers and social thinkers included Immanuel Kant, Georg Wilhelm

Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, and Martin Heidegger. Important

Italian social scientists include Antonio Gramsci, Gaetano Mosca, Vilfredo Pareto, Franco

Ferrarotti, and Elena Cornaro Piscopia.

Important Chinese philosophers and social thinkers included Shang Yang, Lao

Zi, Confucius, Mencius, Wang Chong, Wang Yangming, Li Zhi, Zhu Xi, Gu Yanwu, Gong

Zizhen, Wei Yuan, Kang Youwei, Lu Xun, and Mao

Zedong.IndianphilosophersincludeAdiShankaracharya, Ramanuja, Chanakya, Buddha, M

ahavira, Śāntarakṣita, Dharmakirti, and Nagarjuna.

12 Famous Philosophers and Their Guiding Principle

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1. Confucius (551–479 B.C.)

Confucius, also referred to as Kong Qui or K’ung Fu-tzu, was a Chinese

philosopher, teacher, and political figure largely considered the father of the Eastern

style of thought. His teachings focused on creating ethical social relationships, setting

educational standards, and promoting justice and honesty.

Guiding Principle

His social philosophy was based on the principle of ren—loving others—and he

believed this could be achieved using the Golden Rule: “What you do not wish for

yourself, do not do to others.”

2. Socrates (c. 469–399 B.C.)

Socrates was a Greek philosopher and is considered the primary source of

Western thought. Because he could neither read nor write, much of what we know of

his life was recorded by his students Plato and Xenophon. His “Socratic method” laid the

groundwork for Western systems of logic and philosophy, delivering a belief that

through the act of questioning, the mind can manage to find truth.

Guiding Principle

Socrates believed that philosophy should achieve practical results for the greater

well-being of society. He emphasized the idea that the more a person knows, the

greater his or her ability to reason and make choices that will bring true happiness.

3. Plato (c. 428–348 B.C.)

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 The Republic of Plato. Sold for $4,500 via Sotheby’s (June 2005).

Greek philosopher Plato was a student of Socrates and later became a teacher of

Aristotle. He was a priori, a rational philosopher who sought knowledge logically rather

than from the senses. He went on to establish the Academy in Athens, one of the first

institutions of higher learning in the Western world.

Guiding Principle

Plato’s logic explored justice, beauty, and equality, and contained discussions in

aesthetics, politics, language, and cosmology—the science of the origin and

development of the universe.

4. Aristotle (384–322 B.C.)

Considered

one of the greatest thinkers in politics, psychology, and ethics, Aristotle learned from

Plato after enrolling in his Academy at age seventeen. Later, he went on to tutor

Alexander the Great. Aristotle focused on a posteriori routes of knowledge, a term

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popularized by Immanuel Kant where conclusions are formed based on actual

observation and data.

Guiding Principle

Aristotle’s intellectual knowledge spanned every known field of science and arts,

prompting him to idealize the Aristotelian syllogistic, a belief that logical argument

applies deductive reasoning to arrive at a conclusion based on two or more propositions

assumed to be true.

5. Dante (1265–1321)

Dante was a Medieval Italian poet and moral philosopher regarded as the father of

the modern Italian language. He is best remembered for his poetic trilogy, The Divine

Comedy, which comprised of sections that represented three tiers of the Christian

afterlife: purgatory, heaven, and hell. The poem features an array of learning, an analysis

of contemporary problems, and creativity in language and imagery.

Guiding Principle

Dante’s important theoretical works included discussions of rhetoric surrounding

moral philosophy and political thought.

6. Pascal (1623–1662)

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 Blaise Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, and religious philosopher

who laid the fountain for the modern theory of probabilities, a branch of mathematics

concerned with the analysis of random phenomena.

Guiding Principle

In 1657, Pascal published Les Provinciales under the pseudonym Louis de

Montalte, a series of eighteen letters that defended Jansenist over Jesuit theologies. He

also propagated a religious doctrine that taught the experience of God through the heart

rather than through reason, contrary to the beliefs of French philosopher René Descartes.

7. John Locke (1632–1704)

John Locke was an English philosopher and Enlightenment thinker who came to

be known as the Father of Classical Liberalism. Throughout his studies, he made valuable

contributions to modern theories of a limited, liberal government. His most notable

work, Essay Concerning a Human Understanding, offers an analysis of the human mind

and its acquisition of knowledge.

Guiding Principle

Locke’s thinking emphasized the notion that we should acquire ideas through our

experience of the world. His logic later influenced philosophers like Voltaire and

Rousseau.

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8. Voltaire (1694–1778)

Francois Arouet, better known for his pen name “Voltaire,” is largely considered

one of the greatest French Enlightenment writers. He produced thousands of letters,

books, pamphlets, essays, plays, among other forms of writing, most of which were

centered on religion and politics. One of his most famous works was Candide, a satirical

novella that pokes fun at the philosophical optimism proclaiming that all disaster and

human suffering is part of a benevolent cosmic plan.

Guiding Principle

Though Voltaire’s outright skepticism of the government and church caused great

controversy during his time, he remained a progressive thinker regarding issues of civil

rights and advocated for the importance of freedom of religion, speech, and the right to a

fair trial.

9. Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Immanuel Kant was a German philosopher whose thinking revolved

around metaphysics, a philosophical study that examines the fundamental nature of

reality. His best-known work, Critique of Pure Reason, determines the limits and scope

of metaphysics, combining reason with experience that moves beyond that of traditional

philosophy.

Guiding Principle

Kant was one of the foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment, and a large part of

his work addresses the question, “What can we know?” Kant argued that we can only

have knowledge of things that are possible to experience. Further, he believes that we can

24
know the natural, observable world, but we cannot have answers to many of the deepest

questions of metaphysics.

10. Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)

Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer and intellect who advocated for

women’s equality within society. As an ardent feminist, she believed both men and

women should be treated as equal beings with a social mandate. Her best-known

publication, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, is considered the first great feminist

treatise. In it, she argued that women deserve the same fundamental rights as men and

should have an education commensurate with their position in society.

Guiding Principle

Wollstonecraft was a fierce advocate for women’s rights, arguing that women

deserve the same fundamental rights as men and should have an education commensurate

with their position in society.

11. Ayn Rand (1905–1982)

Russian-American author and philosopher Ayn Rand rejected collectivist values

in favor of individual self-interest, an ideal evident in her first novel We the Living. She

promoted the philosophy of Objectivism, which she describes as “the concept of man as a

heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive

achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.” This belief was

realized in her successful novel Atlas Shrugged, as well as in courses, lectures, and other

literary works.

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Guiding principle

While Rand was a passionate advocate of the philosophy of objectivism, her

political philosophy placed emphasis on individualism, the constitutional protection of

individual rights to life, liberty, and property, and limited government.

12. Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)

Simone de Beauvoir is a French writer, existentialist philosopher, and social

theorist who paved the way for the modern feminist movement. She published countless

works, both fiction and nonfiction, often having existentialist themes. Her most notable

book, The Second Sex, discusses the treatment of women throughout history and the

oppression they endured.

Guiding principle

While her novels focused on existential themes, de Beauvoir’s philosophies were

heavily influenced by the historical materialism of Karl Marx and the idealism of

Immanuel Kant.

3. Values and Human Nature

Philosophy is the critical, analytical, and purely theoretical study of man, his

environment, cosmos, religion. It is also the love of wisdom. It is different from the

studies of other subjects because:

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1) It studies every other subject. Philosophy, does not have a specialised or cut out

subject matter like other subjects. there is philosophy of law, philosophy of biological

science, philosophy of cosmos, philosophy of religion, philosophy of morals, philosophy

of science and many others.

2) Philosophy has many schools of thought compared to other subjects. Ranging from

empiricism,rationalism, relativism, objectivism, functionalism, pragmatism and even

behaviourism,just to name a few.

3) Philosophy makes you question all your basic assumption. it invites you to think

rationally and critically on any and all subject matter, be it material or immaterial. Hence

why it is sometimes called an abstract science. It raises the bar of the kinds of question

society demands to be asked.

4) Philosophy also studies the basic and underlining principles guiding the other subjects

and it does not just accept anything for the sake of accepting.

Science is using experimental or mathematical proofs to try and determine the

nature of the universe, It uses facts and data to prove something.

In Philosophy, we use rational thinking, logic and thought experiments to try

and argue for a specific case, as there really is no right and wrong answer, since it is

impossible to find one in the first place. For example, using mathematical reasoning to

find the meaning of life. It’s impossible.

This is why age old philosophical questions such as “Do we have freewill” or

“Does God Exist” have been debated for hundreds if not thousands of years, there is no

way to prove something in Philosophy, only argue for it.

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 Naturalism is a philosophy with the belief that nature alone represents the entire

reality. There is nothing beyond behind, or other than nature. According to this

philosophy, human life is the part of the scheme of nature. This philosophy gives

emphasis to matter, the physical world. It does not believe in spirituality and

supernaturalism.

There are three different types of naturalism: 

Physical naturalism: It is believed that reality exists in the natural universe not within the

individual. Tagore has called nature as a 'manuscript of God'.

 Mechanical naturalism:It regards man as a mere machine. There is no spirit or

soul. Only matter is everything. Mind is also a matter made up atoms, empty

space, and motion.

 Biological naturalism: It tries to explain man in terms of lower form of life from

which he has evolved.

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A. Naturalism and Education

Naturalism is a revolt against traditional system of education, which gives very

little freedom to the child. In naturalism, maximum freedom and central position is given

to the child. This philosophy believes that education should be according to the nature of

child. It advocates creation of natural conditions in which natural development of child

can take place.

Whenever a system of education becomes stereotype, there is reaction against it in

the form of revival of naturalism. According to Rousseau, there are three sources of

education namely, nature, men, and things. Education from nature is to prepare a natural

man.

Curriculum

There is no fixed curriculum. Every child is given the right to determine his own

curriculum. He is expected to learn directly from nature through personal experiences.

Subjects like agriculture, nature study, gardening, art, craft, geology, and astronomy are

taught. The subjects are correlated with the physical activities of the child and with the

life around him.

Methods of Teaching

Learning by doing, playway method, observation and experimentation are used,

so as to govern self. According to Rousseau, 'Students should not be given any verbal

lessons rather they should be taught experience alone. Teacher tries to give lots of hand-

on training and practical experiences'. 

Discipline

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 Naturalist gives utmost freedom to the child to do and learn the behavior. There is

no punishment of any kind. External discipline is not desirable, as it stands in the ways of

child development. Naturalism also believes that formal education is the invention of

society, which is created and can be called artificial. Therefore, rigid man-made

discipline must be avoided in the teaching-learning process.

Role of Teacher

Teacher is always behind the screen. He is a spectator or an observer. Teacher

plays his role behind the scene. He does not interfere in students' activities. Teacher acts

as a facilitator, a setter of the stage, and as a supplier of materials and opportunities.

According to naturalism, the material world is the only real world. It is the only

reality. This material world is being governed by a system of natural laws and the man,

who is the creation of the material world, must submit to them. The naturalists have

regard for actual facts, actual situations and realities. For them nature is everything. It is

the whole reality.

Behind everything there is Nature. It denies the existence of anything beyond nature.

Naturalism believes that everything comes from nature and returns to nature. Nature,

according to naturalism, is a self-sufficient entity. It is self-determined and governed by

its own laws.

The naturalists see things as they are. They apprehend reality as it is in its own

nature. They do not believe that there are any spiritual values or absolute truths.

Naturalism takes recourse to such concepts as appetites, emotions, instincts and

evolution. According to naturalists, instincts are responsible for all our activities —

biological, psychological or social. To them there is no absolute good or evil in the world.

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Values of life, according to naturalism, are created by the human needs. Man creates

them when he reacts to — or interacts with — his environment. He must adapt himself

to the environment.

According to the naturalists there is inherent goodness in man. In man there is

an innate capacity for morality. Man is born rational. The naturalists, thus, have idolized

man. Nature, according to the naturalists, is complete in itself, having its own laws. It

does not, therefore, require us to have insight or intuition to understand Nature.

Naturalism believes that mind is an accident in the process of evolution and it can be

explained in terms of nature. Mind is a function of the brain which is material in nature.

Mind is not the source of knowledge; all knowledge is acquired from without, and

senses are the gateways of all knowledge.

B. Naturalism in Education

Naturalism as a philosophy of education has exercised a great influence on the

theory and practice of education. “It decries all external restraint in education and it

condemns all unnecessary formalities in education.

In the naturalistic system of education there is no place for class-room, textbooks,

time-table, formal lessons, curricula or examination. The ‘chalk and talk’ method has no

scope. The teacher has no significant role to play. External discipline has no place in

naturalistic system of education.

The only discipline applied in this system is the discipline of natural

consequences. Naturalism has no faith in formal education. To the naturalists, formal

education is artificial and vicious. Good education can be had only by a direct contact

with nature.

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 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.

Much of the Naturalistic movement finds its root in the pages of Rousseau. He brought

the child into the foreground of the educational arena and pleaded that educational

material should be the facts and phenomena of nature.

B.1 Naturalism and Aims of Education

1. Naturalists differ with regard to the aim of education. Under the naturalistic school of

philosophy the aim of education is self-expression. Some naturalists consider man as a

machine and they opine that the aim of education is to make the human machine as

perfect and efficient as possible.

2. According to Spencer, self-preservation and self-satisfaction constitute the highest

good in life and, hence, the primitive instincts and natural impulses should be used in

such a way that this highest good can be achieved.

3. McDougall (1871-1938), the famous exponent of the Naturalistic school of

psychology, does not accept the theory of pleasure. He holds that our instincts are to be

32
directed towards certain natural goals. Hence the aim to education, according to him, is

the sublimation of the native instincts and energies of the individual — the redirection,

coordination and harmonious working of the native impulses.

4. According to the Darwinian school of naturalists, the aim of education should be to

“equip the individual for struggle for existence and thus to ensure his survival.”

According to the Lamarckians, education should enable the individual to adjust himself

to the environment. The individual must be “in harmony with and well-adapted to his

surroundings.”

5. T. P. Nunu considers “harmonious, natural and autonomous development of the

individual in natural setting” as the central aim of education. Thus he regards the

development of individuality as the supreme aim of education.

In support of this he says “the proper goal of human life is perfection of the individual.”

But, at the same time, he considers that this development of individuality should not be

at the cost of social interests. Every individual has a social self. Individuality develops in

and through society. Hence individual and social interests can be compromised by the

recognition of universal values in man.

B.2 Naturalism and Curriculum

The naturalistic aims of education are reflected in its curriculum. The naturalists

strongly advocate inclusion of natural sciences — such as physics, chemistry, zoology,

botany — in the curriculum. As regards language and mathematics they opine that only

33
such knowledge of these subjects should be acquired as is essential for scientific studies.

They also want that the pupil should not be plunged into poetry and literature.

The naturalists not only emphasise the present but also the past and the future. They

are in favour of inclusion of history in the curriculum as it deals with the cultural

heritage of the race. History helps to understand the present in the light of the past and

leads to the future.

Naturalism does not attach much importance to spiritualism or religion in the

curriculum. At the same time it does not include music and painting in the curriculum.

The naturalists differ in their opinion in respect of curriculum. Comenius wanted that all

subjects should be taught to all men. But Locke did not agree with this view, and said it

is not possible to teach all subjects to all. Hence only those subjects should be taught

which are necessary. Spencer advocates that only those subjects should be included in

the curriculum which minister to self-preservation as it is the first law of life.

He gives a very high place to science. He attaches no importance to cultural

subjects. T. H. Huxley does not agree with Spencer, for giving undue importance to

science. He wants that literary and cultural subjects be imparted to children. Rousseau

pleaded negative education for children and was not in favour of formal text-books. The

naturalists, in general, contend that the child’s present experiences, interests and

activities should determine the choice of studies.

B.3 Naturalism and Methods of Teaching

In methods of teaching, naturalism is a revolt against the old, traditional and

bookish system of education. It, therefore, attaches no importance to formal schools

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and textbooks as these hinder the natural development of children. It condemns note-

learning and encourages learning by doing. They emphasise auto-education and self-

development, and learning through personal experience of the child.

The creed of the naturalists is “follow nature” as it supplies all laws of learning. The

naturalist method is to gather direct experience from nature, men and things.

Rousseau’s advice was: “Give your scholar no verbal lessons, he should be taught by

experience alone.” All knowledge must emerge out of actual life situation and

experience.

According to the naturalists the proper method of imparting scientific knowledge

is through observation and experimentation. They decry “chalk and talk method”. Let

the child discover the truth. This was the advice of the naturalists. They advocated a

heuristic method. Pedocentricism was the key-note of the naturalistic method.

The naturalists say that there are two methods of teaching — the positive and

the negative. When systematic and sustained efforts are made to impose knowledge on

the child without considering his interests and aptitudes, it is called positive method of

teaching.

In the words of Rousseau positive education is “one that tends to form the mind

prematurely and instructs the child in the duties that belong to man. It is negative

education when the child is left free to develop his body and senses.

Rousseau defines negative education as “one that tends to perfect the organs

that are the instruments of knowledge. A negative education does not mean a time of

idleness; far from it. It does not give virtue, it protects from vice; it does not inculcate

35
truth; it protects from error. It disposes the child to take the path that will lead him to

truth.”

The naturalists do not want to superimpose anything on the children. They want

the children to acquire everything with their own efforts. “The naturalistic educator

allows the child to follow the lines of his natural interests and to have free choice of

activity, with no interference or thwarting.”

The naturalists want an “ideal environment of freedom for the development of

the growing child.” Coercive methods are not permitted for imparting knowledge. The

way of the naturalist is “auto-education or self-education.” They do not advocate much

teaching but emphasise much learning experience of the pupils. They attach great

importance to creative activities and self-expression.

The greatest attraction of the child is play. The naturalists, therefore, have given

a prominent place to the play-way method. It is play which helps the child to express

himself fully. It is in his free play that the child most clearly reveals his nature and the

lines of his natural development.

Play is nature’s mode of education. The principal aim of education should be an

integrated growth of the child. This is possible if each child is permitted freedom to grow

at his own pace and according to his own nature.

Naturalism and the Teacher:

The educator should not interfere in the natural development of the child. He

should not impose ideals or ideas on him. He is only to help the child in the discovery of

truth. He should a have critical and scientific bent of mind and supreme reverence for

36
truth. The educator must see that the child develops freely. He should not make an

artificial effort to educate the child.

He has to provide suitable opportunities and create conditions which are

conducive to the natural development of the child. The place of the educator is not

primary but secondary. He is an observer of the child’s development rather than a giver

of information. The child’s education is the free development of his interests and

motives.

The role of the educator is that of a friend, philosopher and guide. Such a role of

the teacher is advocated by all the modern educators and in all the modern methods of

teaching. Rousseau, Fichte, Montessori and Ross are in favour of non-intervention of the

teacher in the education of the child.

They contend that the child’s nature is essentially good, and any intervention is,

therefore, harmful. Ross is of the opinion that the teacher has only “to set the stage,

supply the materials and opportunities provide an ideal environment and create

conditions conducive to natural development”, and then he is to “recede in the

background.”

B.4 Naturalism and Discipline

For harmonious development of the child, he should be given freedom to plan

his own activities. But this freedom means individual freedom and not social freedom.

To regulate the school society, government is required, but it must be self-government.

Naturalists have no faith in discipline based on external force. They condemn corporal

punishment as it represses the impulses and instincts of the children.

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Naturalism stands for a “hands-off’ policy in education. The only discipline to be applied

is the discipline of natural consequences. The child should be left perfectly free to act in

any way he likes and then face the consequences of his actions.

If the consequences of his action turn out to be pleasant and favourable, it

would be repeated and, therefore, learnt. On the contrary, if the consequences of an

action are found to be unpleasant, it shall be given up. Thus, the forces of pleasure and

pain will effectively teach discipline to the child.

Rousseau is of the opinion that children should never be punished for their

wrong deeds. Nature spares none. Every action is inevitably followed by its natural

consequences. All immoral or undesirable actions will result in unpleasant

consequences and these unfavorable results will make the individual avoid the

repetition of such actions in future. Herbert Spencer also supports the doctrine of

natural discipline.

He wishes that children should be left to suffer the natural unpleasant

consequences of their wrong actions and learn from them. But Spencer does not wish to

apply this principle during infancy. He says, “A three-year-old urchin, playing with an

open razor, cannot be allowed to learn by this discipline of natural consequences, for

the consequences may be too serious.”

C. Limitations of Naturalism

1. Naturalism has its own limitations and disadvantages. It altogether ignores the

spiritual and moral aspects of human nature. It totally neglects the moral development

of the child.

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2. Naturalism takes into account only the present needs of the child and ignores his

future needs and the ultimate goals and purposes of man’s life.

3. Naturalism leaves the child purely to the discipline of natural consequences which,

often, involves grave risks.

4. Naturalism throws the teacher with superior knowledge and experience into the

background. He takes secondary position in the educative process.

5. Naturalism allows complete freedom to the child from the very start of his life, even

when he has no yet learnt the right use of freedom. This is no doubt a very risky

experiment inasmuch as sometimes absolute freedom degenerates into licence. In the

early state of life some guidance is necessary.

6. Naturalism attaches too much importance to the animal nature of man — his

instincts, impulses and emotions, and completely ignores the spiritual and cultural

values of life.

7. Naturalism gives too much emphasis on the heredity of the child and neglects the

influence of environment on “raw” nature.

D. Contribution of Naturalism

Naturalism has tremendously influenced the modern educational theories and practices.

Its permanent contributions in the field of education may be summed up:

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1. “Follow nature” is the watch-word of naturalism. The innate nature of the child

should be developed in natural environment and not in the artificial atmosphere of the

school.

2. Instincts, impulses and emotions should form the basis of all education of the child.

According to the naturalists, instincts should be the main instrument of education.

3. Pedocentricism is another important contribution of the naturalists in the field of

education. In the educative process the child takes the pivotal position. “It is the child

himself rather than the educator, the school, the book or the subjects of study that

should be in the foreground of the educational picture.” Children should be treated as

children and not as adults in miniature.

4. The freedom of the child is another important feature of naturalistic education. The

child should grow freely according to his own nature and pace without interference

from the educator or the parents. True education takes place when the nature, powers

and inclinations of the child are allowed to develop freely with a minimum of guidance.

The naturalists strongly advocate freedom for the child.

5. Senses are the gateways of knowledge. Education is very much effective when it

comes through sensory channels. As such, naturalists consider the training of senses

very important.

In conclusion we can say that naturalism has secured freedom for the child and has

further succeeded in freeing the child from many a tyranny of rigidity, interference and

strict discipline. Naturalism has given an impetus to new psychological methods in

education.

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Self- expression, follow nature, auto-education, play-way, Pedocentricism, sense-

training, self- discipline and learning by doing are some of the main characteristics of

modern education.

4. Philosophy of Idealism

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 This is the view that the only reality is the ideal world. This would be the world of

ideas.  It is the view that there is no external reality composed of matter and energy. 

There are only ideas existing within minds.

Idealism is the metaphysical view that associates reality to ideas in the mind

rather than to material objects.  It lays emphasis on the mental or spiritual components

of experience, and renounces the notion of material existence.  Idealists regard the

mind and spirit as the most essential, permanent aspects of one’s being.  The

philosophical views of Berkeley, Christian Science, and Hinduism embrace idealist

thought as they relate it to the existence of a supreme, divine reality that transcends

basic human understanding and inherent sensory awareness.

A. IDEALISM of Plato

A well-known exponent of this view was Plato, a philosopher in ancient Greece

(428-347 B.C.). Plato believed that the physical world around us is not real; it is

constantly changing and thus you can never say what it really is. There is a world of

ideas which is a world of unchanging and absolute truth. This is reality for Plato. Does

such a world exist independent of human minds? Plato thought it did, and whenever we

grasp an idea, or see something with our mind's eye, we are using our mind to conceive

of something in the ideal world. There are a number of proofs of this ideal world. The

concepts of geometry, such as the concept of a circle, which is a line equidistant from a

point, is something which does not exist in the physical world. All physical circles, such

as wheels, drawings, etc. are not perfectly round. Yet our mind has the concept of a

perfect circle. Since this concept could not come from the physical world, it must come

42
from an ideal world. Another proof is that from moral perfection. We can conceive of a

morally perfect person, even though the people we know around us are not morally

perfect. So where does someone get this idea of moral perfection? Since it could not

have been obtained from the world around us, it must have come from an ideal world.

Platonism has been an extremely influential philosophy down through the centuries.

B. Implication to Education

Idealism is a philosophy of education that supports truth, beauty, and

goodness in a human being. The very first philosopher of idealism is Plato, who

says to have principles and goals in life which leads to self-realization. Sometimes

it apparently may seems closer to spiritualism which talks about awareness of

self-existence. It focuses on consciousness rather materialistic approach of world,

Education is truly based on idealism indeed both are interwoven as, educators

apply core principles of idealism on students. Almost in all cultures of world educators

tell students to have high ideals in life, teach them to be honest and truthful with

ownership of their actions. Truly, there is no second short cut of being honest and

achieving your goals in life. Educators inspires students to realize their strengths which

leads acceleration in personal and academic life.

It is worldwide acknowledged phenomenon that good will cultivate goodness and

bad will attract tribulations in life. Core aim of education seems to bring out best in

students therefore idealism is used as an essential tool for igniting lifelong good

characteristics and utilization of them.

5. Realism

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 If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make a sound? You've

probably heard that question asked before and may have thought about it for a few

minutes before coming to an answer. Or you may have taken it as a silly question and

laughed at it.

But the fundamental question behind that question is simple: is there a true

reality, which exists outside of human perception or is reality only what we

perceive? Realism is a philosophy started by the ancient Greek writer, Aristotle. It states

that there is a true reality, and things exist whether humans perceive them or not.

Let's look closer at realism and how it influences teaching and curriculum planning.

A. Educational Realism

Okay, so Aristotle believed that there was an absolute reality out there,

regardless of whether we perceive it or not. But what does that have to do with

teaching?

Educational realism is the belief that we should study logic, critical thinking, and

the scientific method to teach students to perceive and understand reality. As you might

imagine, there is a heavy emphasis on math and science, though the humanities can

also be influenced by educational realism.

What does educational realism look like in a classroom? To figure that out, let's

imagine a teacher, Henry, who is trying to plan his curriculum for the upcoming school

year. Henry is a realist and believes that Aristotle was on the right path all those years

ago. So how can Henry plan a year of learning to help students perceive and understand

reality?

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 The first thing that Henry, as a realist, is likely to do is to include lots of

opportunities to study the natural world. Realists believe that the job of schools is to

teach students about the world around them. This means that Henry wants to teach his

students how to use logical processes to find truth in the natural world.

For example, instead of teaching his students about gravity from a textbook,

Henry might take them outside and recreate Sir Isaac Newton's moment of clarity when

he saw the apple fall. Henry can climb a tree and drop objects of different masses to

allow students to figure out how gravity and mass work together.

Henry could also use nature to help students learn math, like giving students a

photo of a hill and having them figure out the slope of the hill. No matter what Henry is

teaching, educational realism emphasizes using logical processes in the natural world to

find truth.

B. Inquiry

Nature isn't the only thing that's important in realism, though. Remember that

educational realism is about finding true reality through logical processes. The scientific

method, or process of setting and testing hypotheses, is one of those processes.

For the realist, the world is as it is, and the job of schools would Thus, the realism

has brought great effect in various fields of education. The aims, the curriculum, the

methods of teaching the outlook towards the child, the teachers, the discipline and the

system of education all were given new blood. Realism in education dragged the

45
education from the old traditions, idealism and the high and low tides to the real

surface.

REALISM IS THE REFINEMENT OF OUR COMMON ACCEPTANCE OF THE WORLD

AS BEING JUST WHAT IT APPEARS TO BE. According to it, things are essentially what they

seem to be and, furthermore, in our knowledge they are just the same as they were

before entering our consciousness, remaining unchanged by our experiencing them.

C. Historical Retrospect

Although some of the early pre-Christian thinkers dealt with the problems of the

physical world (most notably the early Greek physicist- philosophers, Democritus and

Leucippus) the first detailed realistic position is generally attributed to Aristotle. Reality,

according to Aristotle was distinguishable into form and matter. Matter is the substance

that all things have in common. For Aristotle these to substance were logically separable

although always found together in the empirical world.

C.1 Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century:

John Amos Comenius emphasizes the primary importance of the gathering of

knowledge or sense data.. Comenius felt that the human mind, like a mirror, reflected

everything around it.

John Locke was a philosopher as Comenius was an educator. Locke’s greatest

contribution both to philosophy and to philosophy of education was his doctrine that

ideas are not innate but that all experience is the result of impressions made on the

46
mind by external objects. The implication of this are spelled out in his concept of the

tabula rasa or the mind as a blank sheet on which the outside world must leave its

impressions. All ideas, according to Locke, must come from either sensation or

reflection.

American Realism: The New Realists and the Critical Realists

New Realists, particularly the American school, rejected this notion, giving mind

no special status and viewing it as part of nature. For them things could pass in and out

of knowledge and would in no way be altered by the process. Existence, they argued, is

not dependent upon experience or perception, thus mind ceases to be the central pivot

of the universe.

Herbart the new rationalist, argued that all subjects are related and that

Knowledge of one helps strengthen knowledge of the others. The relationships between

new ideas and old ideas occurred in what Herbart called the unperceptive mass. Within

the mind, new apperceptions or presentations united with older apperceptions and

struggled to rise from the unconscious level of mind to the conscious.

Philosophical Rationale of Realism

Realism is interested in objects and facts. In general, realists believe in the

independent existence of the experiential universe. They have a healthy respect for the

“facts” of both the sciences and the social sciences.

Let us look at the old question about the falling tree on the desert island for a

moment. The question is usually as follows: “If a tree falls on a desert island and there is

no one there to hear it, is there any sound?” How would the idealist and the realist

47
differ in looking at and answering this particular question? If objects exist independent

of any knowledge about them, it is obvious that we have an irreconcilable dispute

between the realists and the idealists. Where an idealist would say that a tree in the

middle of the desert exists only if it is in some mind, or if there is knowledge of it; the

realist would hold that whether or not anyone or anything is thinking about the tree, it

nonetheless exists. The realist has revolted against the doctrine that things that are in

the experiential universe are dependent upon a knower for their existence.

The Universe (Ontology or Metaphysics)

There is great variety in the metaphysical beliefs of realists. There is so much

variety, in fact, that realists could never be grouped together if they did not have certain

common ground. They believe that the universe is composed of matter in motion. It

is the physical world in which we live that makes up reality. We can, on the basis of our

experiences, recognize certain regularities in it about which we generalize and to which

we grant the status of laws. The vast cosmos rolls on despite man. It is ordered by

natural laws which control the relationships himself with it or not. It is not unlike a giant

machine in which man is both participant and spectator. This machine not only involves

the physical universe, it operates in the moral, social and economic sphere as well. The

realist sees the immutable laws governing man’s behaviour as part of the machine; they

are natural law.

The realist may be a monist, believing in one substance; a dualist, believing in

two; or a pluralist, believing in many. Whichever he is, he believes that all substances

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have a real existential status independent of the observer. He sees the world as having

an orderly nature and composition which exists independent of consciousness but

which man may know.

Of the several, different answers to the problem of GOD, it is likely that everyone

is upheld by some member of the family of realists. Of course, there are realists who are

atheistic. Those who define mind in terms of matter or physical process, and who think

of the cosmos in the thoroughly naturalistic sense,ofcourse have no place for God in

there metaphysics.

Knowledge and Truth (Epistemology)

Basically, there are two different schools of epistemological thought in the realist

camp. While both schools admit the existence and externality of the “real” world, each

views the problem of how we can know it in a different way. The realists have been

deeply concerned with the problems of epistemology. Realists pride themselves on

being “hard-nosed” and not being guilty of dealing with intellectual abstractions

The first position or presentational view of knowledge holds that we know the

real object as it exists. This is the positions of the New Realists. When one perceives

something, it is the same thing that exists in the “real” world. Thus, mind becomes the

relationship between the subject and the object. In this school of thought there can be

no major problems of truth since the correspondence theory is ideally applicable. This

theory states that a thing is true is as it corresponds to the real world. Since knowledge

is by definition correspondence, it must be true.

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 These real entities and relations can be known in part by the human mind as

they are in themselves. Experience shows us that all cognition is intentional or relational

in character. Every concept is of something; every judgment about something.

Concept of Good  (Axiology)

The realist believes in natural laws. Man can know natural law and live the good

life by obeying it. All man’s experience is rooted in the regularities of the universe or this

natural law. In the realm of ethics this natural law is usually referred to as the moral law.

These moral laws have the same existential status as the law of gravity in the physical

sciences or the economic laws which are supposed to operate in the free market. Every

individual has some knowledge of the moral and natural law.

Realist believes that those qualities of our experience, which we prefer or desire,

and to which we attach worth, have something about them which makes them

preferable or desirable. But according to the second theory, the key to the evaluation is

to be found in the interest.

Social Value- The moral good can be defined from the vantage point of society as

“the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”

Religious Value

One aspect of the relation of axiology and metaphysics can be seen by looking

again at what has been said about realism and belief in God,. For those who do not

believe in God, experience will not be rooted in a Divine Being whom we can worship,

reverence, and in whom we can place our trust. Faith and hope will not have validity as

religious attitudes because they will have no real object.. But there are also realists who

50
believe in God: and for them many traditional religious values are rooted in realty and

therefore are valid.

Concept of Beauty (Aesthetics)

There is a close relation between the refinement of perception and the ability to

enjoy aesthetic values. It holds that ultimate values are essentially subjective. In other

words, he believes that no goal or object is bad or good in itself. Only the means for

acquiring such goals or objects can be judged good or bad insofar as they enable the

individual or the group to attain them.

Since the realist place so much value on the natural law and the moral law as

found in the behavior or phenomena in nature, it is readily apparent that the realist will

find beauty in the orderly behavior of nature. A beautiful art form reflects the logic and

order of the universe. Art should attempt to reflect or comment on the order of nature.

The more faithfully and art form does this, the more aesthetically pleasing it is.

Logic of Realism

It can be seen that for realism there is logic of investigation as well as a logic of

reasoning. The one functions largely at the level of sense perception, the other more

especially at the conceptual level. Both are important in any effective adjustment to the

real world and in any adequate control of our experience.

Montague suggests still other ‘ways of knowing’ which have their contribution to make

to the material of logic

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(1)The accepting of authoritative statements of other people, he says ‘must always

remain the great and primary source of our information about other man’s thoughts

and about the past

’(2)Intuition, of the mystical sort, may also be a source of truth for us, but we should

always be careful to put such knowledge to the test of non-intuitive methods before

accepting it

.(3) Particularly in the realm of practical or ethical matters, the pragmatic test, ‘how

effective it is in practice’ may be a valid source of truth

(4) And even scepticism also has its value in truth-seeking; it may not yield any positive

truth for us but it can save us from cockiness and smugness, and help us to be tolerant

and open minded.

Bertrand Russell, who came to philosophy by way of mathematics, has always

held that particular science in high repute as an instrument of truth. As is the case with

many realists. He feels that traditional logic needs to be supplemented by the science of

mathematics because of the inaccuracy and vagueness both of words and grammar. He

thinks that if logical relations are to be stated accurately .they must be represented by

mathematical symbols and equations, words are too bungle some.

Concept of Society

From the foregoing, it should now be apparent that the social position of this

philosophy would closely approximate that of idealism. Since the concern of this

position is with the known, and with the transmission of the known, it tends to focus on

the conservation of the cultural heritage. This heritage is viewed as all those things that

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man has learned about natural laws and the order of the universe over untold centuries.

The realist position sees society as operating in the framework of natural law. As man

understands the natural law, he will understand society.

Realism: in Education

From this very general philosophical position, the Realist would tend to view the

Learner as a sense mechanism, the Teacher as a demonstrator, the Curriculum as the

subject matter of the physical world (emphasizing mathematics, science, etc.), the

Teaching Method as mastering facts and information, and the Social Policy of the school

as transmitting the settled knowledge of Western civilization. The realist would favor a

school dominated by subjects of the here-and-now world, such as math and science.

Students would be taught factual information for mastery. The teacher would impart

knowledge of this reality to students or display such reality for observation and study.

Classrooms would be highly ordered and disciplined, like nature, and the students would

be passive participants in the study of things. Changes in school would be perceived as a

natural evolution toward a perfection of order.

For the realist, the world is as it is, and the job of schools would be to teach

students about the world. Goodness, for the realist, would be found in the laws of

nature and the order of the physical world. Truth would be the simple correspondences

of observation. The Realist believes in a world of Things or Beings (metaphysics) and in

truth as an Observable Fact. Furthermore, ethics is the law of nature or Natural Law and

aesthetics is the reflection of Nature.

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Aims of Education

Realists do not believe in general and common aims of education. According to

them aims are specific to each individual and his perspectives. And each one has

different perspectives. The aim of education should be to teach truth rather than

beauty, to understand the present practical life. The purpose of education, according to

social realists, is to prepare the practical man of the world.

The science realists expressed that the education should be conducted on

universal basis. Greater stress should be laid upon the observation of nature and the

education of science.Neo-realists aim at developing all round development of the

objects with the development of their organs.

The realist’s primary educational aim is to teach those things and values which

will lead to the good life. But for the realist, the good life is equated with one which is in

tune with the overarching order of natural law. Thus, the primary aim of education

becomes to teach the child the natural and moral law, or at least as much of it as we

know, so that his generation may lead the right kind life; one in tune with the laws to

the universe. There are, of course, more specific aims which will lead to the goals

already stated. For example, realists set the school aside as a special place for the

accumulation and preservation of knowledge.

Realists just as other philosophers have expressed the aims of education in

various forms. According to John Wild the aim of education is fourfold to discern the

truth about things as they really are and to extend and integrate such truth as is known

to gain such practical knowledge of life in general and of professional functions in

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particular as can be theoretically grounded and justified and finally to transmit this in a

coherent and convincing way both to young and to old throughout the huEducation

should guide the student in discovering and knowing the world around him as this is

contained in the school subjects.

Russell follows the same line of reasoning in his discussion of educational

objectives. He too would not object to the school’s assisting the child to become a

healthy happy and well-adjusted individual. But he insists that the prime goal of all

school activities should be the development of intelligence. The well-educated person is

one whose mind knows they would as it is. Intelligence is that human function which

enables one to acquire knowledge. The school should do all in its power to develop

intelligence.

Concept of Student

Realism in education recognizes the importance of the child. The child is a real

unit which    has real existence. He has some feelings, some desires and some powers.

All these cannot be overlooked. These powers of the child shall have to be given due

regarding at the time of planning education. Child can reach near reality through

learning by reason. Child has to be given as much freedom as possible. The child is to be

enabled to proceed on the basis of facts; The child can learn only when he follows the

laws of learning.”

Broudy describes the pupil by elaborating four principles which, according to

him, comprise the essence of the human self. These are the appetitive principle the

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principle of self-determination the principle of self-realization and the principle of self-

integration.

The appetitive principle, mentioned first, has to do with the physiological base of

personality. Our appetites disclose the need of our tissues to maintain and reproduce

themselves. Physiological life, and therefore the life of personality, cannot go on unless

these necessary tissue needs are supplied. In order for us to do anything about our

tissue needs, except on an animal level, we must be aware of them; and in being aware

of them, we realize that pleasure and pain are central.

The self has continuity formal structure antecedents in the past and a yearning

toward the future. Our experience has some continuity throughout changing events and

places and in order to explain this we must recognize that the self is a common factor in

all of these experiences even though there are gaps in consciousness such as when we

are asleep or under anesthesia. The self has form as well as continuity. As for

determinism rationality requires that we recognize the validity and dependability; of

cause-and-effect relations but we do not need to hold to determinism with the meaning

that all of our experience is the result of physical forces. Our power to symbolize is one

element of our experience that does not bear out the truth of this kind of determinism.

The third principle of selfhood, self-realization supplements freedom as such

with value concerns. Freedom does not carry built-in guarantees that it will be turned to

good ends. In order to be freedom it must be free to make us miserable. The how of

choosing, as well as the what which is chosen is a necessary ingredient of the good life.

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 The child is to be understood a creature of the real world there is no sense in

making him a God. He has to be trained to become a man only.  To the realist, the

student is a functioning organism which, through sensory experience, can perceive the

natural order of the world. The pupil, as viewed by many realists, is not free but is

subject to natural laws. It is not at all uncommon to find realists advocating a

behavioristic psychology. The pupil must come to recognize and respond to the coercive

order of nature in those cases where he cannot control his experiences, while learning

to control his experiences where such control is possible. At its most extreme, the pupil

is viewed as a machine which can be programmed in a manner similar to the

programming of a computer.

Concept of Teacher

From this very general philosophical position, the Realist would tend to view the

Learner as a sense mechanism, the Teacher as a demonstrator, the Curriculum as the

subject matter of the physical world (emphasizing mathematics, science, etc.), the

Teaching Method as mastering facts and information, and the Social Policy of the school

as transmitting the settled knowledge of Western civilization. The realist would favor a

school dominated by subjects of the here-and-now world, such as math and science.

Students would be taught factual information for mastery. The teacher would impart

knowledge of this reality to students or display such reality for observation and study.

Classrooms would be highly ordered and disciplined, like nature, and the students would

be passive participants in the study of things. Changes in school would be perceived as a

natural evolution toward a perfection of order.

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 For the realist, the world is as it is, and the job of schools would Thus, the realism

has brought great effect in various fields of education. The aims, the curriculum, the

methods of teaching the outlook towards the child, the teachers, the discipline and the

system of education all were given new blood. Realism in education dragged the

education from the old traditions, idealism and the high and low tides to the real

surface.

The teacher, for the realist, is simply a guide. The real world exists, and the

teacher is responsible for introducing the student to it. To do this he uses lectures,

demonstrations, and sensory experiences, The teacher does not do this in a random or

haphazard way; he must not only introduce the student to nature, but show him the

regularities, the “rhythm” of nature so that he may come to understand natural law.

Both the teacher and the student are spectators, but while the student looks at the

world through innocent eyes, the teacher must explain it to him, as well as he is able,

from his vantage point of increased sophistication. For this reason, the teacher’s own

biases and personality should be as muted as possible. In order to give the student as

much accurate information as quickly and effectively as possible, the realist may

advocate the use of teaching machines to remove the teacher’s bias from factual

presentation. The whole concept to teaching machines is compatible with the picture or

reality as a mechanistic universe in which man is simply one of the cogs in the machine.

A teacher should be such that he himself be educated and well versed with the

customs of belief and rights and duties of people, and the trends of all ages and places.

He must have full mastery of the knowledge of present life. He must guide the student

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towards the hard realities of life. He is neither pessimist, nor optimist. He must be able

to expose children to the problems of life and the world around.

The Curriculum:

According to humanistic realism, classical literature should be studied but not for

studying its form and style but for its content and ideas it contained.

Subject matter is the matter of the physical universe- the Real World- taught in

such a way as to show the orderliness underlying the universe. The laws of nature, the

realist believes, are most readily understood through the subjects of nature, namely the

sciences in all their many branches. As we study nature and gather data, we can see the

underlying order of the universe. The highest form of this order is found in mathematics.

Mathematics is a precise, abstract, symbolic system for describing the laws of the

universe. Even in the social sciences we find the realist’s conception of the universe

shaping the subject matter, for they deal with the mechanical and natural forces which

bear on human behaviour. The realist views the curriculum as reducible to knowledge

position espoused by E.L. Thorndike that whatever exists must exist in some amount

and therefore be measurable.

Concept of Discipline:

Discipline is adjustment the individual in the educational program. Such

preoccupation with the individual flouts the reality to objectivity. It is necessary in order

to enable the child to adjust himself to his environment and concentrate on his work.

Bringing out change in the real world is impossible. The student himself is a part of this

world. He has to admit this fact and adjust himself to the world.

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 A disciplined student is one who does not withdraw from the cruelties, tyrannies,

hardships and shortcomings pervading the world. Realism has vehemently opposed

withdrawal from life. One has to adjust oneself to this material world.

The student must be disciplined until he has learned to make the proper responses.

Wild says of the student that it is. His duty…. to learn those arduous operations by which

here and there it may be revealed to him as it really is. One tiny grain of truth is worth

more than volumes of opinion.

The School:

John Amos Comenius in his great didactic describes the unique function of the

school in a manner which will symbolize modern realism. He said that man is not made a

man only by his biological birth. If he is to be made a man. Human culture must give

direction and form to his basic potentialities. This necessity of the school for the making

of man was made vivid for Comenius by reports which had come to him of children who

had been reared from infancy by animals. The recognition of this by Comenius caused

him to consider the education of men by men just as essential to man birth, as a human

creature, as is procreation. He therefore defined education as formation and went so far

as to call the school ‘a true forging place of man’

Evaluation of  Realism  in Education

In educational theory and practice, the scientific realists might be criticized for

the following reasons:

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Realism treats metaphysics as meaningless. The realists make no provision for the

world of supernature and takes an agonistic view towards it. Most  of the propositions

of traditional metaphysics are relegated to the realm of irrelevancy.

There is no role for functions as creative reason in realism. One reason for  this flows

from the monoistic assumption that the known and the knower are of the same nature.

There is no role for such functions as creative reason- in the sense that reason can form

abstractions from sense data.

The epistemology of the realists is inadequate. In realism only empirical

knowledge is recognized as valid with in their system. The passive aspects of the

knowing process are overemphasised by realists.

There is too much emphasis on the individual in realism .Some of them place too much

emphasis on of the complexity and interdependence of modern society.

Realism depends on cause- effect relationships. The next criticism deals directly with

the philosophical underpinnings of the realist position. Almost all the laws of nature that

the realists stress are dependent upon cause- effect relationships. Most philosophers

and scientists are chary of such absolutes. They prefer to deal in the realm of

probability. Past activity is no guarantee of future activity. Because the sun rises in the

East every day is no guarantee that it will rise there tomorrow, although the probability

is ridiculously high. Thus, to teach moral absolutes and natural laws is a highly

questionable procedure.

Realism fails to deal with social change. Like the idealists, the realists are

basically conservative in education. Rather than concern themselves with social change

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and educational progress they are most concerned with preserving and adding to the

body of organized truth they feel has been accumulated. In a period when there was

little social change occurring this type of philosophy may have been adequate. But in an

increasingly automated society operating on an ever-expanding industrial base, many

educators feel that education must be a creative endeavour, constantly looking for new

solutions to problems. This role appears to be incompatible with the realist’s

fundamental conception of the role of education in the society.

6. Meaning of Pragmatism:

The word Pragmatism is of Greek origin (pragma, matos = deed, from prassein = to do).

But it is a typical American school of philosophy. It is intimately related with the

American life and mind. It is the product of practical experiences of life.It arises out of

actual living. It does not believe in fixed and eternal values. It is dynamic and ever-

changing. It is a revolt against Absolutism. Reality is still in the making. It is never

complete.

Our judgement happens to be true if it gives satisfactory results in experience,

i.e., by the way it works out. A judgement in itself is neither true nor false. There are no

established systems of ideas which will be true for all times. It is humanistic in as much

as it is concerned more with human life and things of human interest than with any

established tenets. Therefore, it is called humanism.

Pragmatism means action, from which the words practical and practice have

come. The idealist constructs a transcendental ideal, which cannot be realised by man.

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The pragmatist lays down standards which are attainable. Pragmatists are practical

people.

They face problems and try to solve them from practical point of view. Unlike

idealists they live in the world of realities, not in the world of ideals. Pragmatists view

life as it is, while idealists view life as it should be. The central theme of pragmatism is

activity.

A. Educative experiences in life depend upon two things:

(a) Thought

(b) Action.

The emphasis of pragmatism is on action rather than on thought. Thought is

subordinated to action. It is made an instrument to find suitable means for action. That

is why pragmatism is also called Instrumentalism. Ideas are tools. Thought enlarges its

scope and usefulness by testing itself on practical issues.

Since pragmatism advocates the experimental method of science, it is also called

Experimentalism — thus stressing the practical significance of thought. Experimentalism

involves the belief that thoughtful action is in its nature always a kind of testing of

provisional conclusions and hypotheses.

Pragmatism has no obstructive dogmas. It accepts everything that has practical

consequences. Even mystical experiences are accepted if they have practical results.

Unlike idealists they believe that philosophy emerges out of educational practices while

the idealists say that “education is the dynamic side of philosophy”. The chief exponents

of Pragmatism are William James (1842-1910), Schiller, and John Dewey (1859-1952).

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B. Pragmatism in Education:

In the present world pragmatism has influenced education tremendously. It is a

practical and utilitarian philosophy. It makes activity the basis of all teaching and

learning. It is activity around which an educational process revolves. It makes learning

purposeful and infuses a sense of reality in education. It makes schools into workshops

and laboratories. It gives an experimental character to education. Pragmatism makes

man optimistic, energetic and active. It gives him self-confidence. The child creates

values through his own activities.

According to pragmatism, education is not the dynamic side of philosophy as

advocated by the idealists. It is philosophy which emerges from educational practice.

Education creates values and formulates ideas which constitute pragmatic philosophy.

Pragmatism is based on the psychology of individual differences. Pragmatists

want education according to aptitudes and abilities of the individual. Individual must be

respected and education planned to cater to his inclinations and capacities. But

individual development must take place in social context. Every individual has a social

self and an individuality can best be developed in and through society.

Thus pragmatism has brought democracy in education. That is why it has

advocated self-government in school. The children must learn the technique of

managing their own affairs in the school and that would be a good preparation for life.

Education is preparation for life. Pragmatism makes a man socially efficient. The

pragmatists are of the opinion that the children should-not be asked to work according

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to predetermined goals. They should determine their goals according to their needs and

interests.

Teaching-learning process is a social and bi-polar process. Learning takes place as

an interaction between the teacher and the taught. While idealism gives first place to

the teacher, pragmatism gives the first place to the taught. Similarly, between thought

and action, they give first place to action. The pragmatists decry verbalism and

encourage action. Today pragmatism occupies the most dominant place in the United

States of America.

7. What isn’t Existentialism

The term existentialism (French: L'existentialisme) was coined by the French

Catholic philosopher Gabriel Marcel in the mid-1940s.[17][18][19] When Marcel first

applied the term to Jean-Paul Sartre, at a colloquium in 1945, Sartre rejected it.[20]

Sartre subsequently changed his mind and, on October 29, 1945, publicly adopted the

existentialist label in a lecture to the Club Maintenant in Paris, published as

L'existentialisme est un humanisme (Existentialism is a Humanism), a short book that

helped popularize existentialist thought.[21] Marcel later came to reject the label

himself in favour of Neo-Socratic, in honor of Kierkegaard's essay "On The Concept of

Irony".

Existentialism encompasses so many different trends and ideas that have

appeared over the history of Western philosophy, thus making it difficult to distinguish

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it from other movements and philosophical systems. Due to this, one useful means of

understanding existentialism is to examine what it isn't.

For one thing, existentialism doesn't argue that the "good life" is a function of

things like wealth, power, pleasure, or even happiness. This is not to say that

existentialists reject happiness. Existentialism is not a philosophy of masochism, after all.

However, existentialists will not argue that a person's life is good simply because they

are happy―a happy person might be living a bad life while an unhappy person might be

living a good life.

The reason for this is that life is "good" for existentialists insofar as it is

"authentic." Existentialists may differ somewhat on just what is needed for a life to be

authentic, but for the most part, this will involve being conscious of the choices one

makes, taking full responsibility for those choices, and understanding that nothing about

one's life or the world is fixed and given. Hopefully, such a person will end up happier

because of this, but that isn't a necessary consequence of authenticity―at least not in

the short term.

Existentialism is also not caught up in the idea that everything in life can be

made better by science. That doesn't mean that existentialists are automatically anti-

science or anti-technology; rather, they judge the value of any science or technology

based on how it might affect a person's ability to live an authentic life. If science and

technology help people avoid taking responsibility for their choices and help them

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pretend that they are not free, then existentialists will argue that there is a serious

problem here.

Existentialists also reject both the arguments that people are good by nature but

are ruined by society or culture, and that people are sinful by nature but can be helped

to overcome sin through proper religious beliefs. Yes, even Christian existentialists tend

to reject the latter proposition, despite the fact that it fits with traditional Christian

doctrine. The reason is that existentialists, especially atheist existentialists, reject the

idea that there is any fixed human nature to begin with, whether good or evil.

Now, Christian existentialists aren't going to completely reject the idea of any

fixed human nature; this means that they could accept the idea that people are born

sinful. Nevertheless, the sinful nature of humanity simply isn't the point for Christian

existentialists. What they are concerned with is not so much the sins of the past but a

person's actions here and now along with the possibility of their accepting God and

uniting with God in the future.

The primary focus of Christian existentialists is on recognizing the moment of

existential crisis in which a person can make a "leap of faith" where they can completely

and without reservation commit themselves to God, even if it seems irrational to do so.

In such a context, being born sinful just isn't particularly relevant. For atheistic

existentialists, obviously enough, the whole notion of "sin" will play no role at all, except

perhaps in metaphorical ways.

A. EXISTENTIALISM

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Existentialism believes that humans don't have any pre-ordained purpose. Therefore,

each person is liberal to choose how we wish to measure our life, and what our life’s

purpose shall be (Duignan, 2011; Guignon; Lawless)

In the education perspective, existentialist believes that the

majority philosophies of the past have asked out people to think deeply about thoughts

and abstractions that had little or no relationship to existence. Scholastic

philosophy, during which thinkers debated such questions as how many angels could sit

on ahead of a pin. The answers to such metaphysical question provided nothing except

perhaps some psychological satisfaction at winning a debate through argumentation.

Existentialists believe that in their philosophy, the individual is drawn in as a

participant, ready to be filled with knowledge supported his ideas. Sartre believes that

“existence precedes essence” he added that if people have created ideas and practices

that are harmful, then they might also create ideas and practices that are beneficial. The

existentialist pose that a person is usually in transition, in order that the instant people

believe they know themselves is perhaps the instant to start the

examination everywhere again. They also believe that honest education emphasizes

individuality. It attempts to help each people is seeing ourselves with our fears,

frustrations, and hope.

For educators, existentialist want to change in attitude about education, rather

than seeing it as something a learner is stuffed with, measures against or fitted into,

they suggest that learners first be looked as individuals and that they are allowed to

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require a positive role within the shaping of their education and life. For the

existentialist, no two children are alike. They differ in background, personality traits,

interests, and desires they need to be acquired. Also, they wanted to determine an end

to the manipulation of the learners with teachers controlling learners along the

predetermined behavioural path. 

Existential theories are widely used in education. According to existentialists, a

good education emphasizes individuality. the primary step in any education then is to

grasp ourselves. Making existential methods within the classroom requires a

balance during which both teachers and learners as human beings preserve their

identity. Sarte believed that “Existence precedes essence” because the individual

human is very important as the creator of ideas. Hence, here are some aims of

education during this philosophy, to wit:

i. Fostering Unique Qualities and Cultivating Individualities. Existentialists believe that

each individual is unique and education must cater to the individual differences.

Therefore, the objective of education is to enable every individual to develop his unique

qualities, to harness his potentialities and cultivate his individualities.

ii. Development of Complete Man. Existentialists want that education helps a person to

be a whole man in his natural environment. For the event of complete man, freedom is

that the essential requirement. Freedom is given to a person with a view to realizing his

self and understanding his “being”

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iii. Becoming of a personality's Person. in keeping with existentialists, one among the

foremost important aims of education is the becoming of a

personality's person mutually who lives and make decisions about what the learners will

do and be. ‘Knowing’ in the sense of knowing oneself, social relationships and biological

relationships development are all parts of this becoming.

iv. Making Better Choices. As choice determines perfectibility and happiness, education

should train, man to create better choices. As such, the aim of education is to enable

man to thrash out better choices in one’s life.

v. Leading a Good life. The good life, according to existentialists, is authentic life which is

possible when a person starts realizing his individuality and makes his/her own

independent choices. Therefore, education aims at teaching him to guide an honest life

with its noble obligations a summit.

vi. Fostering of Values. in keeping with existentialist, the aim of education should be

developing a scale of supreme values in line with his freedom. The learners must

develop a commitment to those values and act for them.

vii. Students have to accept responsibility for themselves irrespective of their

circumstances. Many children will come to high school with many disadvantages and

disabilities, including Poverty; Physical disability; Mental disability; Social difficulties;

And so on. Nonetheless, an existentialist would let a baby know that they always can

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overcome adversity through the alternatives they create. This is often an empowering

message!

It shows students that they must have a growth mindset. rather than saying “I

can’t” they'll say “I can – and these choices will move me toward my goals”. A good idea

is to present students with case studies of individuals who overcame adversity by

choosing to make an effort and work hard

In this philosophy, the role of a tutor is to initiate the act of education and

influences the lives of his learners throughout his own life. The teacher is

extremely active and welcomes challenges to his ideas from the learners. As Kneller

quoted “ If there's anything that the existentialist teacher can do for his learners, it's to

bring them to a more appraisal and understanding of the meaning and purpose of

existence, so with time men may become quite a mere repetitive creature perpetuating

the bestial habits of his similar ancestors”

A.1 Role of Teacher and Learners

The teacher in existentialist education is there to provide pathways for students

to explore their own values, meanings, and choices. In order to do this, learners need to

be aware of as many options and choices as possible; they need to feel empowered and

free to determine their own values and identities; and they need a multiplicity of

experiences to enhance their self-awareness. The teacher’s primary responsibility is to

provide all these things, and to maintain a learning environment where students feel

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encouraged to express themselves through discussion, creative projects, and choice of

study areas.

The role of the student is to determine their own values and identity.

Existentialist education recognizes the role of both culture and individual nature in

identity formation. The existentialist student maintains a dialogue between the self and

cultural values: considering the self in cultural context, and considering cultural values in

relation to the self.

Freedom, choice, and responsibility form a complex interrelation in existentialist

philosophy. The student is free to form and pursue their own values, but that freedom

comes includes taking full responsibility for those values. The existentialist student

accepts responsibility for their own values, feelings, and actions, because these have

been self-generated rather than dictated by an authority.

8. LIBERALISM

Liberalism, political doctrine that takes protecting and enhancing the freedom of

the individual to be the central problem of politics. Liberals typically believe that

government is necessary to protect individuals from being harmed by others, but they

also recognize that government itself can pose a threat to liberty. As the revolutionary

American pamphleteer Thomas Paine expressed it in Common Sense (1776),

government is at best “a necessary evil.” Laws, judges, and police are needed to secure

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the individual’s life and liberty, but their coercive power may also be turned against him.

The problem, then, is to devise a system that gives government the power necessary to

protect individual liberty but also prevents those who govern from abusing that power.

Liberalism is a political and economic doctrine that emphasizes individual

autonomy, equality of opportunity, and the protection of individual rights (primarily to

life, liberty, and property), originally against the state and later against both the state

and private economic actors, including businesses.

A. Intellectual founders

The intellectual founders of liberalism were the English philosopher John Locke

(1632–1704), who developed a theory of political authority based on natural individual

rights and the consent of the governed, and the Scottish economist and philosopher

Adam Smith (1723–90), who argued that societies prosper when individuals are free to

pursue their self-interest within an economic system based on private ownership of the

means of production and competitive markets, controlled neither by the state nor by

private monopolies.

In John Locke’s theory, the consent of the governed was secured through a

system of majority rule, whereby the government would carry out the expressed will of

the electorate. However, in the England of Locke’s time and in other democratic

societies for centuries thereafter, not every person was considered a member of the

electorate, which until the 20th century was generally limited to propertied white

males. There is no necessary connection between liberalism and any specific form of

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democratic government, and indeed Locke’s liberalism presupposed a constitutional

monarchy.

B. View of human nature

Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on liberty, consent of the

governed and equality before the law. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending

on their understanding of these principles, but they generally support free markets, free

trade, limited government, individual rights (including civil rights and human rights),

capitalism, democracy, secularism, gender equality, racial equality, internationalism,

freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of religion. Yellow is the political

colour most commonly associated with liberalism.

Liberalism became a distinct movement in the Age of Enlightenment, when it

became popular among Western philosophers and economists. Liberalism sought to

replace the norms of hereditary privilege, state religion, absolute monarchy, the divine

right of kings and traditional conservatism with representative democracy and the rule

of law. Liberals also ended mercantilist policies, royal monopolies and other barriers to

trade, instead promoting free trade and free markets.Philosopher John Locke is often

credited with founding liberalism as a distinct tradition, based on the social contract,

arguing that each man has a natural right to life, liberty and property and governments

must not violate these rights. While the British liberal tradition has emphasized

expanding democracy, French liberalism has emphasized rejecting authoritarianism and

is linked to nation-building.

C. Liberalism in Education

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 A liberal education is a system or course of education suitable for the cultivation

of a free (Latin: liber) human being. It is based on the medieval concept of the liberal

arts or, more commonly now, the liberalism of the Age of Enlightenment.[ It has been

described as "a philosophy of education that empowers individuals with broad

knowledge and transferable skills, and a stronger sense of values, ethics, and civic

engagement ... characterised by challenging encounters with important issues, and

more a way of studying than a specific course or field of study" by the Association of

American Colleges and Universities.[2] Usually global and pluralistic in scope, it can

include a general education curriculum which provides broad exposure to multiple

disciplines and learning strategies in addition to in-depth study in at least one academic

area.

Liberal education was advocated in the 19th century by thinkers such as John

Henry Newman, Thomas Huxley, and F. D. Maurice.Sir Wilfred Griffin Eady defined

liberal education as being education for its own sake and personal enrichment, with the

teaching of values.

9. ESSENTIALISM

Essentialism is the view that every entity has a set of attributes that are

necessary to its identity and function.In early Western thought, Plato's idealism held

that all things have such an "essence"—an "idea" or "form". In Categories, Aristotle

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similarly proposed that all objects have a substance that, as George Lakoff put it, "make

the thing what it is, and without which it would be not that kind of thing".The contrary

view—non-essentialism—denies the need to posit such an "essence'".

Essentialism has been controversial from its beginning. Plato, in the Parmenides

dialogue, depicts Socrates questioning the notion, suggesting that if we accept the idea

that every beautiful thing or just action partakes of an essence to be beautiful or just,

we must also accept the "existence of separate essences for hair, mud, and dirt".[3] In

biology and other natural sciences, essentialism provided the rationale for taxonomy at

least until the time of Charles Darwin;[4] the role and importance of essentialism in

biology is still a matter of debate.

Essentialism can be particularly pernicious when applied to human beings and

their identities. In medical sciences this can lead to a reified view of identities –– for

example assuming that differences in hypertension in Afro-American populations are

due to racial difference rather than social causes –– leading to fallacious conclusions and

potentially unequal treatment.In general believing that social identities, such as

ethnicity, nationality or gender, are the necessary characteristics of people which define

who they are, can lead to dangerous consequences. Essentialist and reductive thinking

lies at the core of many hateful and xenophobic ideologies.Especially older social

theories were guilty of essentialism.

A. Essentialism in Basic Education

Essentialists believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be

transmitted to students in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this

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conservative perspective is on intellectual and moral standards that schools should

teach. The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic rigor.

Although this educational philosophy is similar in some ways to Perennialism,

Essentialists accept the idea that this core curriculum may change. Schooling should be

practical, preparing students to become valuable members of society. It should focus on

facts-the objective reality out there--and "the basics," training students to read, write,

speak, and compute clearly and logically. Schools should not try to set or influence

policies. Students should be taught hard work, respect for authority, and discipline.

Teachers are to help students keep their non-productive instincts in check, such as

aggression or mindlessness. This approach was in reaction to progressivist approaches

prevalent in the 1920s and 30s. William Bagley, took progressivist approaches to task in

the journal he formed in 1934. Other proponents of Essentialism are: James D. Koerner

(1959), H. G. Rickover (1959), Paul Copperman (1978), and Theodore Sizer (1985).

B. Bestor intellectual disciplines

Arthur Bestor, professor of history at the University of Illinois, lectured and

wrote extensively throughout the 1950s to repair and restore the teaching of the basic

intellectual disciplines in the schools. He declared the purpose of education to be

mental training through the intellectual disciplines. By the work of scholars spanning

millenia, all experience has been delimited, investigated, and analyzed in the systematic

structure of the disciplines to give man mastery over his environment.

The study of the disciplines trains the powers of the mind in abstract thinking.

The generalizations and the ability to apply them to new situations remain with the

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student so that the disciplines are the best broad and basic, although indirect,

preparation for life. Great historical figures, such as, the founding fathers of our country,

attest to their worth. Reserved for the aristocracy in former times here and in modern

times elsewhere, liberal and liberating education, free in means and end, is the right of

all our citizens.

The crucial period of liberal education is the years of secondary school.

Endorsing the scholarly pronouncements of the Committee of Ten of 1894, Bestor called

for a secondary curriculum comprised of courses in the five basic areas: history, English,

foreign languages, science, and mathematics. These intellectual disciplines are the basic

preparation for life in modern society and the necessary foundation for higher studies.

They should be taught according to high standards maintained by rigorous

examinations, especially college entrance examinations. Unpromising students would be

discouraged from continuing after the period of compulsory schooling; superior

students; especially the needy, should be given aid for subsistence through competitive

scholarships. However, Bestor found that progressive education for life adjustment was

replacing the fundamental disciplines with functional education responding to the felt

needs of youth and the needs of society. Vocational training and social conditioning

were supplanting intellectual discipline in the schools.

10. PERSONALITY

What is Personality?

An individual’s personality is a unique entity resulting from the interaction

between a person and his environment. It can be understood in terms of a person’s

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behavior, actions, postures, words, attitudes and opinions. Personality can also be

described as an individual's hidden feelings about the external world."Personality is the

dynamic organization within the individual of those psychophysical systems that

determine his characteristics behavior and thought"

A. Components of Personality:

Most psychologists believe that these traits are usually stable and result from

interaction between a person's genes and his environment. Let us look at them in detail:

1. Openness to experience- Inventive/Curious vs. Consistent/Cautious Openness to

experience refers to a person's accepted level of imagination and includes multiple

experiences like appreciating art, experiencing various emotions and taking up

adventurous ideas. Someone who is inventive and curious is likely to have a more

active intellectual thought process and multiple/different ways of dealing with a

situation or problem.

2. Conscientiousness- Efficient/ Organized vs. Easy-going/ Careless It represents a

planned and organized approach rather than spontaneity and randomness. A

'structured' person puts great value on order and control which reflects a way of

approaching tasks. For example, such a person plans a project to the last detail, in a

precise manner. In certain extreme cases, it appears somewhat obsessional or overly

perfectionist. A 'low structured' person has a more relaxed and casual approach to

life. As long as jobs are completed, they do not worry about systems or schedules or

organization and can sometimes appear disorganized. They may miss important

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details or be late for appointments. In a managerial sense, they prefer the over-view

or strategic approach, rather than the detail-oriented approach of a project.

3. Extraversion- Outgoing/Energetic vs. Solitary/Reserved Extraversion implies

energy, positive emotions, forcefulness, friendliness, and chattiness. The extrovert

person is sociable, outgoing and attracted to others. However, extroverts can be

impulsive and sometimes take risks without weighing the odds. Contrarily, an

introvert is less concerned with others and is more inward-looking. Generally, they

have a moderate outlook and a cautious approach to work, but lack excitement.

Introverts do not want to be 'in charge' nor do they seek limelight. More often, their

attitude is one of a personal challenge (the inner game), rather than competition

with others.

4. Agreeableness- Friendly/Compassionate vs. Cold/Unkind The ability to show

compassion and co-operation. It is a personality trait that can help you be an

amicable person in the workplace. Giving a cold shoulder to people you encounter

on a regular basis may not go down well and may hamper your work and progress in

the long and short run.

5. Neuroticism- Sensitive/Nervous vs. Secure/Confident It refers to emotional

stability, control over emotions and impulses, a tendency for anger, nervousness,

despair, or susceptibility. Those with self-confidence are relaxed, optimistic, enjoy

responsibility and like to be tested. Under pressure, they react calmly and in an

organized way, and have faith in their coping ability. At work, they can deal with

unexpected events easily, and present their views confidently. Those with low

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 confidence or emotional instability, have difficulty coping with stress. While they can

assume responsibility, they may find it to be a strain. They also question their

abilities, and show pessimism. At workplace, they like predictability and avoid

complex, open-ended situations. It suggests that routine jobs in large, supportive

organizations are more likely to suit them.

B. Types of Personality Workers

The Four Personality Types in the Workplace

Understanding the Four Personality Types in the Workplace Unless you are an

artist who never wants to sell your work or an author who writes only for yourself, you

have to deal with people. Workplaces are full of a diverse selection of people with

personalities that differ considerably. While every person has their own way of

expressing their personality, there are four main types that the majority of the world

falls into. Knowing these types can benefit you on the job in many ways.

C. Benefits of Understanding Personality Types

Knowing and understanding the various personality types offers many benefits.

These benefits are not only useful in the workplace but can also help you navigate the

world outside of work, improving relationships of every type. Let's take a look at some

of the other benefits.

IMPROVE DECISION-MAKING ABILITIES

Knowing your personality type helps your decision-making skills. For example, if

you are more inclined to use your "gut" feeling, trying to make a decision based solely

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on logic will be difficult and may not result in the answer that fits you best. Conversely, if

your personality type is one who uses reasoning, making a decision based entirely on

feeling may be unreliable.

AVOID CONFLICT WHEN IT ARISES

Conflict arises when two personality types get stuck in their own method of

thinking and can't see a situation from a different angle. Every personality also has both

positive and negative traits that determine how they deal with conflict. Knowing that

you tend to over-focus on the how and ignore the why in a conflict, you are able to use

this knowledge to back-up a bit and try to approach the conflict from a different angle. If

you know you tend to react without thinking, you can make an effort to think before

you speak, realizing how a brash action may make the situation worse.

LEARN TO APPRECIATE DIVERSITY

By understanding your own personality type better, you start to realize the

reasoning behind why others approach things a different way or respond from what

may seem a foreign place in your eyes. You start becoming aware of what personality

traits the others around you are operating with and this helps you see things from their

perspective easier. It also shows you how approaching things with different reactions or

with a different mindset can also have advantages.

C. Personality Differences

Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking,

feeling and behaving. The study of personality focuses on two broad areas: One is

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understanding individual differences in particular personality characteristics, such as

sociability or irritability. The other is understanding how the various parts of a person

come together as a whole.

C.1 Individual Differences

Individuals differ from one another behaviorally in myriad ways. Differential

psychology, the scientific study of these individual differences, provides an

organizational structure for this vast array of psychological attributes. By examining

broad behavioral patterns and using systematic assessments of relatively stable

personal attributes, differential psychology allows longitudinal forecasting of a variety of

important life outcomes. Because much of the research in this area focuses particular

attention on predicting long-term life outcomes, and because work is such a large and

important feature of adult life, the relationships between many commonly investigated

individual difference constructs and various aspects of work behavior (e.g., educational-

vocational choice, acquisition of job-related knowledge, job performance, job

satisfaction and tenure) are well understood.

C.2 Individual Differences Measurement Methods

Traditionally, the measurement of individual differences has relied on

psychometric scales based on the aggregation of many items. Because any single item

on a scale represents only a sliver of information about a personal attribute, aggregation

is used to create a composite of several lightly correlated items. This approach distills

the communality running through the items and constitutes highly reliable and useful

information about the human characteristic under analysis.

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 Although individuals are commonly described in the more popular press in terms

of types, implying that people are members of distinct categories (e.g., extraverts or

introverts), individual difference variables are rarely observed as discrete classes.

Rather, the majority of individuals are found near the center of a continuous

distribution, with few observations at either extreme. The distributional pattern of most

individual difference variables is well represented by the normal (bell-shaped) curve.

C.3 Major Domains of Individual Differences

The major dimensions of individual differences can be classified into three

overlapping clusters: cognitive abilities, preferences (interests and values), and

personality. Each will be reviewed in turn, but cognitive abilities will be focused on here

because of their importance for industrial/organizational psychologists.

Cognitive Abilities

General Intelligence. The predominant scientific conceptualization of cognitive

abilities involves a hierarchical organization. Various models of additional specific

abilities have been proposed, but the hierarchical nature of human abilities is salient in

each. For example, John Carroll factor analyzed more than 460 data sets collected

throughout the 20th century and found a general factor g) at the apex that explained

approximately half of the common variance among a heterogeneous collection of tests,

revealing a communality running through many different types of more specialized

abilities and the tests designed to measure them.

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 This general intelligence factor exhibits an extensive range of external correlates,

implicating it as arguably the most scientifically significant dimension of human

psychological diversity uncovered by differential psychology to date. It has repeatedly

demonstrated its utility in the prediction of educationally and vocationally relevant

outcomes, including the acquisition of job-related knowledge and job performance. For

example, in a meta-analysis of 85 years of research on personnel selection methods,

Frank Schmidt and John Hunter reported that g is the best single predictor of

performance in job-training programs, exhibiting an average validity coefficient of .56.

Schmidt and Hunter further reported that the validity of g in predicting job performance

is second only to that of work sample measures. However, because the use of work

samples is limited to use with incumbents and is much costlier to implement, g is usually

considered more efficient

The predictive validity of g in forecasting job performance varies as a function of

job complexity, with stronger relationships among more complex positions. Hunter

reports validity coefficients of .58 for professional and managerial positions, .56 for

highly technical jobs, .40 for semiskilled labor, and .23 for unskilled labor. For the

majority of jobs (62%), those classified as medium-complexity, a validity coefficient of .

51 was observed.

Specific Abilities. The general factor of intelligence is supplemented by several

more circumscribed, specific abilities that have demonstrated psychological importance.

David Lubinski and his colleagues have shown that at least three add incremental

validity to the variance explained by g: verbal, mathematical, and spa-tialabilities. The

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importance of specific abilities may be even more apparent at higher levels of

functioning. In examinations of numerous job analysis data sets, for example, Linda

Gottfredson found that, although the functional duties of jobs were characterized

primarily by their cognitive complexity (i.e., demands on general intelligence), jobs

requiring above-average intelligence were more dependent on profiles of specific

abilities than were those jobs requiring average or below-average general intelligence.

Specific abilities are relevant in the prediction of job performance, but they are

also important in predicting the educational and vocational niches into which individuals

self-select. This self-selection occurs even at extraordinary levels of general intellectual

development. In a recent 10-year longitudinal study, for example, Lubinski compared

the educational-vocational tracks chosen by three groups of profoundly gifted

individuals (top 1 in 10,000 for their age): a high verbal group (individuals with advanced

verbal reasoning ability, relative to their mathematical ability), a high math group

(individuals with advanced mathematical reasoning ability, relative to their verbal

ability), and a high flat profile group (individuals with comparably high verbal and

mathematical abilities). Despite having similar levels of general cognitive ability, the

three groups diverged in their professional developmental choices. High math

participants were frequently pursuing training in scientific and technological

professions, whereas high verbal participants were doing so in the humanities and arts.

High flat participants were intermediate. Spatial ability provides unique information

beyond g also in understanding development in educational and vocational contexts. It

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has been shown to be a necessary component in several career clusters, including

engineering, the physical sciences, and the creative arts.

Preferences

Modelling preference dimensions (interests and values) can be helpful also for

understanding how people approach and operate within educational-vocational

environments. John Holland has proposed a model that is particularly useful for

interests. The origins of this model stemmed from a theoretical, empirical keying

methodology in which the likes and dislikes of incumbents across a variety of

occupational categories were contrasted. Under the assumption that people in different

occupations share common interests, which differentiate them from people in other

occupations, measures of vocational interests compare an individual’s combination of

interests with the average interest profiles of individuals from various occupational

groups as a means for vocational counselling and selection. This empirical approach led

the way to a more cohesive theory of interest that contributes valuable information

regarding how people operate in learning and work environments.

Holland’s model of interests organizes six general occupational themes in a

hexagon with one theme at each vertex in the hexagon. The themes are ordered

according to their pattern of intercorrelations: Adjacent themes in the hexagon are

more highly correlated to one another, whereas opposite themes are least correlated.

This model is known as the RIASEC model, an acronym for the six themes represented in

the hexagon: realistic, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional.

Individuals with high realistic interests exhibit preferences for working with things and

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tools; those with high investigative interests enjoy scientific pursuits; high artistic

interests reflect desires for aesthetic pursuits and self-expression; social interests

involve preferences for contact with people and opportunities to help people;

individuals high in enterprising interests enjoy buying, marketing, and selling; and those

with conventional interests are comfortable with office practices and well-structured

tasks. Individuals’ relative normative strengths on each of the RIASEC’s general

occupational themes are commonly assessed using the Strong Interest Inventory.

Although the generalizability of the RIASEC model has emerged repeatedly in

large samples, Dale Prediger has suggested that the model can be reduced to two

relatively independent bipolar dimensions: people versus things, and data versus ideas.

People versus things may be superimposed on the social and realistic themes,

respectively. Running perpendicular to the first dimension, the second dimension, data

versus ideas, locates data between the enterprising and conventional themes and ideas

between the artistic and investigative themes. The people versus things dimension

represents one of the largest sex differences on a trait uncovered in psychology (a full

standard deviation, with women scoring higher on the desire to work with people, and

men, with things), revealing important implications for the occupations that men and

women choose.

Values constitute another category of personal preferences germane to learning

and work, which have demonstrated their utility in the prediction of both educational

and occupational criteria. Values are validly assessed by the Study of Values, which

reports the intraindividual prominence of six personal values: theoretical, economic,

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political, social, aesthetic, and religious. These dimensions provided an additional 13% of

explained variance above the 10% offered by math and verbal abilities in the prediction

of undergraduate majors in gifted youth assessed over a 10-year interval; moreover, this

finding has recently been generalized to occupational criteria, measured in

commensurate terms, over a 20-year interval. However, although preferences do seem

to play an important role in predicting occupational group membership and tenure,

once individuals self-select into occupational fields, the utility of preferences for

predicting job performance in those fields is limited.

Personality

Empirical examinations of personality use trait models to understand a person’s

typical interpersonal style and behavioral characteristics. These models have historically

relied on a lexical approach that assumes that important dimensions of human

personality are encoded in human language. This method has been fruitful: Lewis

Goldberg, among others, has factor analyzed the lexicons of many languages and found

a five-factor model of personality with remarkable similarities across cultures (see also

investigations by Robert McCrae and Paul Costa). Although the labels for each of the

factors have varied, similar underlying constructs consistently emerge: extraversion,

agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experience.

Extraversion is characterized by terms such as talkative, sociable, or not reserved;

agreeableness by good-natured, cooperative, or not cold; conscientiousness by

responsible, thorough, or not disorganized; neuroticism (sometimes referred to as

emotional stability, reversed) by anxious, emotional, or not calm; and openness to

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experience (sometimes referred to as culture or intellect) by imaginative, reflective, or

not narrow. The normative standing of individuals on each of the dimensions of the five-

factor model of personality is commonly assessed using the NEO Personality Inventory,

although an analogous instrument, the IPIP-NEO (IPIP is International Personality Item

Pool), is available in the public domain at http://ipip.ori.org.

Collectively (and sometimes individually), these broad dimensions of personality

are valid predictors of occupational training and subsequent performance. For example,

across multiple occupational categories, conscientiousness alone exhibits validity

coefficients in the low .20s for predicting training and job proficiency. However, when

conscientiousness was assessed in conjunction with emotional stability, Denise Ones

and her colleagues have documented a coefficient of .41 for predicting job performance.

This particular combination of personality factors, conscientiousness and emotional

stability, is found in tests of integrity commonly used in personnel selection. (Robert

Hogan and his colleagues reviewed these and other studies of personality in selection in

1996.)

D. Relationships among Attributes

Although each of the major classes of individual differences—cognitive abilities,

preferences, and personality—has traditionally been examined in isolation from the

other two, these classes are not independent. Cognitive abilities, preferences, and

personality traits tend to covary systematically to create constellations of personal

attributes; and these complexes have interdependent developmental implications.

Phillip Ackerman, for example, has proposed a theory of adult development that models

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the dependencies among individual difference attributes to describe how intellectual

processes and knowledge are relevant to occupational performance across the life span.

The cornerstones of Ackerman’s theory are intelligence-as-process, personality,

interests, and intelligence-as-knowledge. Intelligence-as-process regulates the

complexity and density of the knowledge assimilated, whereas the development of

intelligence-as-knowledge is guided by interest and personality attributes. Thus,

intelligence-as-process, through interactions with interests and personality, fosters

intelligence-as-knowledge.

How each individual attribute operates in a given person will vary according to

his or her full constellation of attributes. Because all three classes of individual

differences—cognitive abilities, preferences, and personality—influence the

development of particular knowledge structures over time, great variability exists

among the knowledge bases of individuals who are similar on some dimensions but

dissimilar on others. For example, two individuals with similar ability profiles, but with

contrasting interests and personality traits, might exhibit markedly diverse behavioral

patterns. Using a multidimensional approach to individual differences has important

implications for understanding professional development: Richard Snow has outlined

the importance of trait complexes in educational contexts, and Rene Dawis and Lloyd

Lofquist have done so in a discussion of taxons in vocational settings.

Although vocational counseling and personnel selection frequently attend to

individuals’ strengths and salient interests and personality traits, another feature of

personal profiles is relevant to these applications. Just as an individual’s strengths and

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preferences influence the niches people self-select into and their subsequent likelihood

of acceptable job performance and satisfaction with those occupations, their

weaknesses and dislikes are relevant here, too. At the individual level, relative

weaknesses and dislikes influence domains that people choose to avoid, but these

attributes likely influence subsequent performance and satisfaction-related job tenure,

as well.

Conclusion

Individual differences attributes and the constellations they form differentially attune

people to contrasting educational-vocational opportunities (affordances for learning and

work). From an individual’s perspective, an appreciation of one’s cognitive abilities,

preferences, and personality provide invaluable insight for directing one’s career

development in personally rewarding ways. From an organizational perspective, one

may use this information—available through measures of individual differences—to

estimate the likelihood of desirable work behavior (e.g., citizenship, job performance,

satisfaction, and tenure). Creating optimal niches for personal development and

satisfaction (for the individual) and meeting the environment’s goals and demands (for

the organization) may be achieved simultaneously using an individual differences

approach.

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11. Ethics

A. Definition

Ethics, also called moral philosophy, the discipline concerned with what is

morally good and bad and morally right and wrong. The term is also applied to any

system or theory of moral values or principles.

At its simplest, ethics is a system of moral principles. Ethics is concerned with

what is good for individuals and society and is also described as moral philosophy. The

term is derived from the Greek word ethos which can mean custom, habit, character, or

disposition.

A.1. Key element of proper ethics

 Personal Responsibility.

 Caring and sharing.

 Honesty.

 Self-confidence.

 Living Peacefully.

 Commitment.

 Empathy.

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A.2. Importance of ethics

Ethics guides us like a map

Most moral issues get us pretty worked up because these are such emotional

issues we often let our hearts do the arguing while our brains just go with the flow. But

there's another way of tackling these issues, and that's where philosophers can come in

- they offer us ethical rules and principles that enable us to take a cooler view of moral

problems.

Ethics is about feeling for others

At the heart of ethics is a concern about something or someone other than us

and our own desires and self-interest. Ethics is concerned with other people's interests,

with the interests of society. So when a person 'thinks ethically' they are giving at least

some thought to something beyond themselves.

Ethical values create integrity

High sense of ethics and values makes a man trustworthy and representable. If a

professional individual follows every legal and moral codes, abides by the rules and

regulations of the company and tries to create the maximum profit for the client and for

the company then the said individual catalysis the increment of integrity of the company

as well as himself/herself

Work Ethics

a. Basic duties of workers

(a) carry out the work in accordance with established safe work procedures as

required by the act and the regulations;

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 (b) use or wear protective equipment, devices and clothing as required by the

regulations;

(c) not engage in horseplay or similar conduct that may endanger yourself or

another person;

(d) ensure that your ability to work without risk to your health or safety, or to

the health or safety of any other person, is not impaired by alcohol, drugs or

other causes;

 any contravention of the act, the regulations or an applicable order of

which you are aware; and

 the absence of or defect in any protective equipment, device or clothing,

or the existence of any other hazard, that you consider is likely to

endanger you or anyone else;

(f) co-operate with the joint committee or worker health-and-safety

representative for the workplace; and

(g) co-operate with the board, officers of the board and any other person

carrying out a duty under the act or the regulations.

b. Basic duties of employer

 Make sure that work areas, machinery and equipment are kept in a safe

condition.

 Organize ways of working safely.

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 Provide information, instruction, training and supervision of employees so they

can work safely.

 Make sure that employees are aware of potential hazards.

 Provide protective clothing and equipment where hazards can't be avoided.

 Consult and co-operate with health and safety representatives and other

employees at the workplace.

 Inform employees about hazards in the workplace and improve their

understanding of safe work procedures. (The information does not always have

to be written - it can be spoken, or in the form of videos and tapes.)

 Provide new employees with specialized induction training to help them become

familiar with their new work environment, procedures, equipment and materials

so they can do their job safely. Induction should be much more than having a

chat with your supervisor, completing a few forms and being introduced to your

workmates.

 Provide information about hazards and the actions taken to control workplace

risks (including the use of personal protective equipment where necessary).

 Provide supervision to ensure that employees are not exposed to hazards.

Supervision should include regular checks to make sure health and safety

instructions are being followed.

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  Consult with employees to identify and control hazards in workplaces.

Employees who are experienced in a job will usually know what can go wrong,

and why

 consult with employees and health and safety representatives on health and

safety matters

 make sure equipment and materials are used, stored, transported and disposed

of safely

c. Morality and personnel management

Morality are principles concerning the distinction between right and

wrong or good and bad behavior. It is a particular system of values and principles

of conduct, especially one held by a specified person or society. The extent to

which an action is right or wrong.

Personnel management is defined as an administrative specialization that

focuses on hiring and developing employees to become more valuable to the

company. It is sometimes considered to be a sub-category of human resources

that only focuses on administration.

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