In 1973, Maxine Greene, an American educational philosopher, once said, “Do philosophy,” challenging

the educators of her time. Her aim in stating this is that she wanted the educators to open their minds to taking risks
and focus on a whole different perspective when it comes to the methods of teaching and strategies for promoting
education. It's true that all foundations of education aim to propose set goals for the curriculum. However, to think of
philosophy as your basis introduces the practice of thinking thoroughly in creating those goals from which those goals
are created. Having a philosophical foundation for the curriculum allows us to identify our motivation, the driving
purpose of education, and what should be expected from those who benefit from it.

In her article, Harrington-Atkinson (2017) mentioned that there are at least four major philosophical principles within
education, which can be sorted into either traditional or contemporary views. Those traditional ideas include idealism
and realism, while their counterparts, pragmatism and existentialism, are more on the contemporary side.

Realism

In simple terms, realism is the conception that the world exists in terms of matter, that it can make sense through
reasonable reasoning and senses as it is experienced through nature, and that it is separate from the world of ideas
and entirely independent of it (Ornstein & Hunkins, 2009). Realism emphasizes logic and activities or experiences
that will develop additional reasoning and thoughts.

The realist’s school of thought is traced back to Aristotle, a classical Greek philosopher and polymath from 384–322
BC, a student of Plato. From Aristotle’s philosophy, he believes that matter or objects, anything that we see today, exist
by themselves and can exist with or without the existence of man, meaning that they are not a construct of the human
mind.

Like idealism, there are three branches of realism: classical, religious, and modern.

Obviously, Aristotle’s take on realism falls back on classical realism, which suggests that matter is real and that it is
separate from our perceptions. Matter still exists even though you may not see, hear, or feel it. He asserted that ideas
can exist without matter, but matter cannot exist without ideas. Education cultivates the capacity to reason, which
allows for proper choices. If one understands the matter, then one will be led to understand the idea. Additionally, he
advocated the idea of free will after he realized that there were some who chose not to reason. Still, he encouraged
humanity to seek the Golden Mean, the desirable middle of what is deficient and excess. In the end, this branch of
philosophy boils down to one question: “What is its purpose?”

It was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) who founded Religious Realism, in which he trusted that God is pure
reasoning, the truth of all things. He believed that the existence of God could be proven in five ways, mainly by:
1) observing movement in the world as proof of God, the "Immovable Mover"
2) observing cause and effect and identifying God as the cause of everything
3) concluding that the impermanent nature of beings proves the existence of a necessary being, God, who originates
only from within himself
4) noticing varying levels of human perfection and determining that a supreme, perfect being must therefore exist;
and
5) knowing that natural beings could not have intelligence without it being granted to them by God.

Modern realism was advocated by two philosophers, Francis Bacon (1561–1626) and John Locke (1632–1704). In his
time, Bacon attempted to revise the structure of realism from deductive reasoning, “top down," if A=B and B=C, then
A=C approach, to an inductive, “cause-and-effect reasoning," approach where he would reform realists’ thinking from
a specific idea in the physical world to a more general assumption. Inductive reasoning relies on patterns and trends,
while deductive reasoning relies on facts and rules. Meanwhile, Locke inferred that everything we know, at this exact
moment, comes from our experience and from our reactions to it. That we are a blank slate without any innate or
preconceived ideas.
It is known that Realism is the foundation of scientific reasoning. Educators who follow a realistic manner of thought
tend to encourage their students to draw their observations and conclusions from the world around them, rather than
confining themselves to an analysis of their own ideas and are less likely to encourage their students to seek the truth
in literature and ideas. According to Ritz (2006), the curriculum for these realists consists of reading, writing
arithmetic, science and the arts. They are objective educators who lean on a systematic approach to order and
classified knowledge, building on previously learned information.

Under this curriculum, the following principles are upheld:

● the principle of independence of matter,
● the principle of orderliness of the world behind its organization, this means that law and order prevail in the
universe,
● the principle of the world as real as discovered by the scientist.

The educational implication of realism curriculum includes:

● The ultimate educational aim is achievement of knowledge of nature and inner workings of the universe.
● Education is essentially transmission of inherited culture from one generation to another.
● Disciplines of curriculum should contain certain elements of culture.
● Students should learn disciplines to develop intellectual skills to discover important principles and theoretical
insights.

Based on this philosophy, there should be a core curriculum for every learner.
References

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Harrington-Atkinson, T. (2017, February 13). Curriculum Foundations. Paving the Way. Retrieved September 20, 2022, from
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