PHILOSOPHY IN EDUCATION: ROOTED FROM A SINGLE IDEA

Synthesis 1

In a layman’s understanding of what philosophy meant, it is simply answering a

question without any presuppositions or it is simply from that of an idea. The birth of that
idea meant a specific manner of thinking that presupposes any other cognitive
knowledge. However, the ‘bringing up’ of that idea would pave way to a whole new
dimension – a brand new concept.

Concepts had gone through various intellectual processes. May it be rooted from
experience, from books read, and to the mind alone! The concepts formed would then
be developed yet it does not seek for a new knowledge but to understand that concept.
This is how philosophy works. Thus, this gives birth to various school of thought
especially in the western part of the world.

The influences of the west from their colonization, they greatly impacted the
Philippines in various schools of thought in the field of philosophy. Thus, it affected the
learning process and the way how they think – the psychological aspect.

1. Idealism – focuses on the ultimate reality as the spiritual and mental.

Knowledge is independent from the sense of experience. All knowledge came from the
mind and man has the capacity to reason. This can be seen in the aspect of the ideal
centeredness of the learning of the learner. Whereas the transfer of knowledge came
from the teacher alone.

2. Realism – is the inverse of idealism. The focus was on the experience and free
from the mind. Knowledge is known from experience. Or in a phrase “experience is the
best teacher”. Thus, the effects in the educational system was child-centered and it
uses various teaching methods.

3. Pragmatism – the essence of an idea comes from the consequences of its test
or practice. In other words, through experimentation process. This paved way to giving
students a free hand in doing activities whereas he only acts as a facilitator of learning.
Hence, it brings out in the educational curriculum the home and livelihood subject and
even technology.

4. Progressivism – accepts the concurrent changes happening in our world

today. They believed that education is not constant but static. That means, it always
develops ways to develop individuals to be the best version of themselves. In
educational aspect, the way of learning must be problem solving. The teacher acts as a
facilitator and it encourages cooperation than competition.

5. Essentialism – is a theory that states children should learn traditional basic

subjects and that these should be learned thoroughly and rigorously. The aim of this
was to develop the intellectual growth of the learners. The learning process was that
they must be inculcated with the basic subjects.

Submitted by: Wennie B. Aquino