Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Multidisciplinary Journal
Volume 1, N0. 1, 2011
EXISTENTIALISM IN EDUCATION
Matrika Prasad Koirala
Department of Education
Abstract
This paper is an attempt to survey the historical development of existentialist
philosophy, meaning of existence, its philosophical premises and perspectives. Further,
this also deals with implications of existentialism in selection of aim of education,
organization of curriculum, role of teachers and students and school organization.
Keywords
Existence, nihilistic, being-in-itself, being-for-itself, individuality
Buddhist philosophy, which seeks enlighten- mean only by ‘his being alive’. It stands for the
ment, “bodhi”. There are a number of corre- full, responsible and progressive life of the
lates in Hindu philosophy for existential con- individual in the ever-developing industrial
cepts e .g. anguish, dukha, dread and horror; society. Humans should get an opportunity
bhagya etc Chaube &Chaube(1991). Plato, Spi- for subjective consciousness. Truth is realized
noza Leibnitz, Descartes and also majority of only in inner life. As modern mechanical /
western thinkers believe in the immutability industrial life has taken away individual free-
of ideas and the rest of the thinkers have been dom from man, existentialism lays emphasis
suggesting correctives to it. The last in the se- on freedom and individual responsibility. It
ries was Hegel who carried farthest this effort has an eye-view on human weakness and in-
to understand the world rationally. security as man is leading a lonely life being
surrounded by anxieties, frustrations, fear,
Reason and nature were given more impor- feeling of guilt etc. Their individuality is being
tance during the eighteenth century. As a re- crushed.
sult, there were industrial and technological
developments and science was given greater Views on existentialism
importance. Objectivity was very much en-
couraged. This situation curtailed the free- Soren Aabye Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
dom of individuals and they became puppets Kierkegaard is regarded as the father of ex-
in the developing industrial society. Machines istentialism (Feibleman, 1973). Kierkegaard’s
were handmade, but they became slaves to original and extremely important contribu-
them. From the scientific viewpoint, like oth- tions to existentialist philosophy are under
er aspects of nature; man was also regarded as three categories. First, there is Kierkegaard’s
an object of exploitation. Against this devel- interpretation of the essentially subjective
oping situation, existentialism emerged as a nature of human existence; his insistence on
protest against the society, the state and the the complete freedom of the individual to
world and asserted the supremacy of the in- chose and to become what he wills himself to
dividuality of man(Chaube & Chaube ,1995). become; and his consequent denial of deter-
mination and the priority of essence over ex-
Existentialism found great recognition and
istence. Secondly, there is his protest against
popularity during the twentieth century
institutionalized Christianity that seeks to
(Wikipedia, 2011). Five men are generally con-
understand and make clear what is paradoxi-
ceded to be the leading figures in existential-
cal and absurd and therefore outside the pos-
ism. They are Soren Kierkegaard (1815-1855),
sibility of human reasons. Third, there is Ki-
Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), Martin Hei-
erkegaard’s analysis of the human conditions
degger ( 1899 -1976), Karl Theodor Jaspers ( as being one of despair and anxiety, at the
1883- 1969) and Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980). root of which lies the necessity for choice in a
Academic Voices, Vol. 1, N0. 1, 2011
Martin Heidegger (1889 –1976) The fact of freedom: One of the important
ideas in the existentialist tradition is that man
Heidegger does not accept himself as an is free to choose and his choices are undeter-
existentialist but from the philosophical he mined by external conditions. In this sense,
is an existentialist (Chaube & Chaube, 1995). existential philosophers emphasize the prin-
He made a deep study of history but Greek ciple of indeterminism as to oppose various
philosophy has been the main source of his deterministic theories of nature and human
philosophical ideas. According to him, the behavior. However, freedom of man plays an
individual may experience his ‘self’ by living
important part in the thought of most exis-
in the World itself. The following two kinds
tentialist philosophy (Wingo, 1975).
of things are found in the world: a. Those
things that was present in the world before No acceptance of readymade concepts: Exis-
man was born.b. Those things that man uses tentialism believes that man cannot accept
as a means. According to Heidegger, man’s the readymade concepts of existence forced
knowledge is a result of interaction between upon him. He is a free agent capable of shap-
the mind and object of the world. Knowledge
ing his own life and choosing his own destiny.
comes through the insight of the individual.
This knowledge expands further, through Man is not alone in the world: Man is connect-
“self”. Freedom is necessary for obtaining this ed to other man; he communicates to others;
knowledge. Free dom is essence of truth. therefore, he cannot live in a state of anarchy.
Jean Paul Sartre (1905 –1980) Life is seen as a gift, which, in part is mystery.
Man is free choosing commitments’ in life, in
One of the fundamental concerns in Sartre’s his choice, he becomes his self. He is the prod-
philosophy is the ontological question of uct of his choice.
being, which is the great concern of Heidegger
Academic Voices, Vol. 1, N0. 1, 2011
as well. Perhaps, the most important aspect of Truth is introvert and subjective: Existentialist
Sartre’s treatment is his distinction between advocated that the truth should be really ex-
two forms of being: being-in-itself and being- perienced in one’s life. The existence of indi-
for-itself. By being-in-itself, Sartre means viduality will be powerful only when the truth
the self-contained being of things: what gives self-satisfaction. In fact, truth should
we in common speech call object that is, give self-satisfaction.
trees, stones, chairs, tables, and so forth are
examples of being-in-itself. They are what they Death and nothingness: Existentialist believes
are in themselves. On the other hand, being- that existence of a person means his period
for-itself is a realm of human consciousness from birth to death. There was nothing before
and essential fact of consciousness is that it is birth and would be nothing beyond death. In
always outside of and ahead of itself. between we have been thrown in to a social
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M.P. Koirala
life and the characteristics of this social life quantities and selected qualities of knowl-
are the contingent circumstances of our life. edge and skill, determined by adult person
This contingency is often characterized by ex- or specialist bodies are passed on by teachers
perience of dread, horror, anguish, solitude, to learners. Even this approach is not popular
bewilderment uncertainty and finally limited with existentialists. As they take a stand that
by death. nothing is fixed, final, absolute or finite, the
“boxes of knowledge” approach is likely to
Self knowledge: The existentialist considers challenge students to define themselves too
‘self –know- thyself’ as the basic premise of soon (Thakur, 1882).
this philosophy (Aggarwal, 1985).
The existentialists reject any subject matter
Having reviewed the major elements of the that is unrelated to human aspiration, needs
existentialist school, now I would like to turn
and conditions. They offer suggestions on
to consider the implications of existentialism
how to use the existing subjects properly. For
to education:
example, social studies is not for adjustment
as treated traditionally but is for the “dreaded
Educational implications freedom”; and history should not merely con-
cern itself natural events but with activities of
Aim of education men who were free to choose the line of their
• The aim of education is to assist a feel- action. Scientific subjects and mathematics
ing, suffering, and rejoicing, free person should be included in the curriculum but they
fashion an essence for himself (Dhakal & should not be given more stress, as they deal
Koirala, 2066, p. 75). with objective knowledge. Self knowledge
precedes universal knowledge.
• The duty of the practitioner of education
is to assist the students to assume respon- Teaching method
sible sel ood, to grow up and face the
world responsibly. The existentialist philosophy advocates the
Socrates method as a model. The way in which
• Education is for full development of the Socrates conducted his teaching, at least as it
individuality of the individual. is portrayed by Plato, and the kind of rela-
tionship he established with various ideas we
• Education is to contribute in the realiza- have discovered in existential philosophy. His
tion of self. method of teaching was one of asking ques-
• Education must make up pupils aware of tions, refining answer, asking more questions,
the infinite possibilities of his freedom and pushing the issue until some acceptable
and the responsibilities he must bear in conclusion was reached. Existentialists re-
Academic Voices, Vol. 1, N0. 1, 2011
The existentialists want to give full freedom to Aggarwal, J. C. (1985). Theory and principles of
the child. But the child should know his ‘self’ education. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing
and recognize his being and convert imper- Houses Pvt.
fection into perfection. Under the guidance
of the teacher, the student should try to re- Chaube, S. P. & Chaube, A. (1995). Founda-
alize his self. The student accepts the disci- tions of education. New Delhi: National
pline prescribed by the teacher and does not Publishing House.
become irresponsible. The child has to make
choice and decision. Chaube, S. P. & Chaube, A. (1991). Philosophi-
cal and sociological foundation of
School in existentialism education. Agra: Vinod Pustak Bhandar.
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M.P. Koirala
The Author
Matrika Prasad Koirala is a Lecturer in Education in Thakur Ram Multiple Campus,
Birgunj. He has been teaching various courses such as Foundations of Education, Social
Justice and Educational Psychology for the last thirteen years. He has co-authored a
book on education. His subject of interest includes educational philosophy.
Academic Voices, Vol. 1, N0. 1, 2011
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