The history of philosophy of education is an important source of concerns and

issues—as is the history of education itself—for setting the intellectual agenda

of contemporary philosophers of education. Equally relevant is the range of
contemporary approaches to the subject. Although it is not possible here to
review systematically either that history or those contemporary approaches,
brief sketches of several key figures are offered next.

The Western philosophical tradition began in ancient Greece, and philosophy

of education began with it. The major historical figures developed
philosophical views of education that were embedded in their
broader metaphysical, epistemological, ethical, and political theories. The
introduction by Socrates of the “Socratic method” of questioning
(see dialectic) began a tradition in which reasoning and the search for reasons
that might justify beliefs, judgments, and actions was (and remains)
fundamental; such questioning in turn eventually gave rise to the view that
education should encourage in all students and persons, to the greatest extent
possible, the pursuit of the life of reason. This view of the central place of
reason in education has been shared by most of the major figures in the
history of philosophy of education, despite the otherwise substantial
differences in their other philosophical views.

Plato
Socrates’ student Plato endorsed that view and held that a fundamental task of
education is that of helping students to value reason and to be reasonable,
which for him involved valuing wisdom above pleasure, honour, and other
less-worthy pursuits. In his dialogue Republic he set out a vision of education
in which different groups of students would receive different sorts of
education, depending on their abilities, interests, and stations in life. His
utopian vision has been seen by many to be a precursor of what has come to
be called educational “sorting.” Millennia later, the American pragmatist
philosopher John Dewey (1859–1952) argued that education should be
tailored to the individual child, though he rejected Plato’s hierarchical sorting
of students into categories.
 Aristotle
Plato’s student Aristotle also took the highest aim of education to be the
fostering of good judgment or wisdom, but he was more optimistic than Plato
about the ability of the typical student to achieve it. He also emphasized the
fostering of moral virtue and the development of character; his emphasis on
virtue and his insistence that virtues develop in the context of community-
guided practice—and that the rights and interests of individual citizens do not
always outweigh those of the community—are reflected in contemporary
interest in “virtue theory” in ethics and “communitarianism” in political
philosophy.
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) famously insisted that formal education,
like society itself, is inevitably corrupting; he argued that education should
enable the “natural” and “free” development of children, a view that eventually
led to the modern movement known as “open education.” These ideas are in
some ways reflected in 20th-century “progressivism,” a movement often (but
not always accurately) associated with Dewey. Unlike Plato, Rousseau also
prescribed fundamentally distinct educations for boys and girls, and in doing
so he raised issues concerning gender and its place in education that are of
central concern today. Dewey emphasized the educational centrality of
experience and held that experience is genuinely educational only when it
leads to “growth.” But the idea that the aim of education is growth has proved
to be a problematic and controversial one, and even the meaning of the slogan
is unclear. Dewey also emphasized the importance of the student’s own
interests in determining appropriate educational activities and ends-in-view;
in this respect he is usually seen as a proponent of “child-centred” education,
though he also stressed the importance of students’ understanding of
traditional subject matter. While these Deweyan themes are strongly
reminiscent of Rousseau, Dewey placed them in a far more sophisticated—
albeit philosophically contentious—context. He emphasized the central
importance of education for the health of democratic social and political
institutions, and he developed his educational and political views from a
foundation of systematic metaphysics and epistemology.

Of course, the history of philosophy of education includes many more figures

than Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Dewey. Other major
philosophers, including Thomas Aquinas, Augustine, Thomas Hobbes, René
Descartes, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Karl
Marx, Bertrand Russell, and, more recently, R.S. Peters in Britain and Israel
Scheffler in the United States, have also made substantial contributions to
educational thought. It is worth noting again that virtually all these figures,
despite their many philosophical differences and with various qualifications
and differences of emphasis, take the fundamental aim of education to be the
fostering of rationality (see reason). No other proposed aim of education has
enjoyed the positive endorsement of so many historically important
philosophers—although, as will be seen below, this aim has come under
increasing scrutiny in recent decades
2. What are the general characteristics of the pre-socratic and the socratic philosophies?
They emphasized the rational unity of things and rejected supernatural
explanations, seeking natural principles at work in the world and human
society. The pre-Socratics saw the world as a cosmos, an ordered
arrangement that could be understood via rational inquiry.
3.
Socrates main contribution to Western philosophy is his method of
inquiry that was called after him Socratic method, sometimes also known as
elenchus. According to the latter, a statement can be considered true only if it
cannot be proved wrong.
Plato regards education as a means to achieve justice, both individual
justice and social justice. According to Plato, individual justice can be
obtained when each individual develops his or her ability to the fullest. In this
sense, justice means excellence.
Aristotle was one of the largest influences on western culture in the ancient
world. It is because of him that most fields of science exist in the quality
they do. Also, the widespread existence of Political government can be
rooted to Aristotle's political philosophy
If epistemology, broadly speaking, is the theory of knowledge, then it is
directly concerned with the work that any student performs. To 'do' education
is to work with knowledge and for knowledge
Another important aspect studied in education epistemology is the
explanation and understanding of some types and methods of cognition
on the specific reality of education and also issues related to own
knowledge sources.

Metaphysics provides a base for educational thought by establishing

knowledge, truths and values, as ontological realities whose nature must be
understood to understand its place in educational matters.

Axiological approach involves the transfer of young people value

standards in the educational process. It leads to the accumulation and
growth of axiological potential of a young person and it can take place only on
the basis of cultural values.
Axiology affects why you are learning (motivations, desired outcomes), what you are
learning (dominant cultural practices), and even how you learn (factual recall vs. ‘learn
by doing’).
5. We gain knowledge of entities only by projecting a pre-existing "fore-
structure" of understanding within which those entities then become
constituted as meaningful. This fore-structure is more existential than
conceptual, more a matter of embodied practice than of mental content.
Existentialists believe that every 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.

Thus, the two basic forms of idealism are metaphysical idealism, which
asserts the ideality of reality, and epistemological idealism, which holds that in
the knowledge process the mind can grasp only the psychic or that its
objects are conditioned by their perceptibility.
They emphasize the importance of moral and spiritual education and
points out the values of humanities, social sciences, art and literature. It
emphasizes man's perfection in various facets of life-physical, spiritual,
intellectual, moral, esthetic and social.

Then, a naturalistic approach to knowledge is one according to which

knowledge is a natural phenomenon, in particular, a natural process
continuous with the biological process by which life is sustained and
evolved. For, knowledge has a vital role, in the sense that life exists only
insofar as there is knowledge.
Applied to education, naturalism considers child as a gift of nature with
potentialities for natural growth according to laws of nature. The child is
an active individual capable of self- development. The aim of education is to
develop the child as healthy and active personality in a natural setting.

For Dewey, Peirce, and like-minded pragmatists, knowledge (or warranted

assertion) is the product of inquiry, a problem-solving process by
means of which we move from doubt to belief. Inquiry, however, cannot
proceed effectively unless we experiment—that is, manipulate or change
reality in certain ways.
Pragmatism is an educational philosophy that says that education should be
about life and growth. That is, teachers should be teaching students things
that are practical for life and encourage them to grow into better people. Many
famous educators, including John Dewey, were pragmatists.

What is knowledge according to rationalism?

In religion, rationalism commonly means that all human knowledge comes
through the use of natural faculties, without the aid of supernatural
revelation.
Rationalism is the philosophical view that knowledge is acquired through
reason, without the aid of the senses. Mathematical knowledge is the best
example of this, since through rational thought alone we can plumb the
depths of numerical relations, construct proofs, and deduce ever more
complex mathematical concepts.
According to realism, objects of knowledge exist objectively, i.e.
independently of our mind. According to antirealism, they are formed by our
mind, by our perceptions or our reason.
Realism calls self-discipline for the learners by controlling their feelings,
desires and perform duties. Realism tells teacher to treat learners with
affection and sympathy and it allows considerable freedom to the learners so
that moral and religious education in the curriculum are recommended.
What are the conception of philosophy of education?
A philosophy of education refers to the examination of the goals, forms,
methods and meaning of education. The term can be used to describe the
fundamental philosophical analysis of these themes and analysis of practical
pedagogical approaches.
I believe a good teacher, first, has a powerful faith in the future. Like the forester
planting an oak seedling knowing he or she will never see the tree in all its glory,
I know I may never see the fruits of my labors as teacher. My calling is to plant
and nurture seeds that will grow and shape tomorrow.

The good teacher knows and understands students, how they develop and learn. I
know that students actively construct and transform their own knowledge based
on past experiences and prior learning. I know that students do not all learn in
the same way or at the same rate. I believe it is my responsibility as a teacher to
be an effective diagnostician of students’ interests, abilities, and prior
knowledge. I must then plan learning experiences that will both challenge and
allow every student to think and grow.

I believe a good teacher must also understand motivation and the effects of peer
interactions on learning. I want all my students to achieve at high levels, so I
avoid sorting them and setting them up to compete with each other. I know most
learning happens through social interaction; therefore, I structure learning so that
students productively collaborate and cooperate with each other the vast majority
of class time.

The good teacher must know her subjects and how to help students learn those
subjects. I know the good teacher must have a deep appreciation of how
knowledge is created in the discipline, how it is organized and how it is linked to
other disciplines. I use my knowledge of the discipline to expose my students to
modes of critical thinking, encouraging them to analyze, apply, synthesize, and
evaluate all they read and hear. I love the subjects I teach, and I know how to
make them come alive for my students.

A good teacher cannot begin or continue to inspire learning without being a

learner. The good teacher must constantly learn what is new in the discipline. In
fact, the good teacher often helps to create new knowledge. To live this belief, I
must continuously examine my teaching methods and find new ones. To remain
connected to my students, their lives and the schools in which they will practice
their professions, I must be a student of society and the constantly changing
worlds in which students live. I eagerly and willingly learn from my students as
they learn with me.

I believe a teacher is the most powerful of role models. I am ever aware of the
awesome obligation I have to “walk my talk” with my students. If I ask them to
live their values and beliefs, I must do the same. I expect the best — of myself
and others — and, therefore, I usually get the best. I try to treat all people with
dignity and respect, and I expect my students to do so also.
Despite writing a teaching philosophy, I really prefer to think about learning and
helping others learn as opposed to teaching. I believe many of us have come to
accept a working definition that teaching means giving information, which I
believe is only the beginning of teaching and certainly only a small part of
learning. When one gives information, it is so easy to equate learning with the
memorization of that information. Memorization is not always learning because
learning requires thinking. I am beginning to understand that the teacher’s
greatest gift to the learner is helping the learner be motivated to think, and then
to want to learn more.

I believe in the power of questions and questioning strategies to cause thinking. I

constantly try to ask questions for which there are no “right” answers. I
constantly work to become a better “questioner” for the effective use of
questions is the most powerful strategy a teacher has to help students learn.

Finally, I believe a teacher lives to serve. A teacher is dedicated to learning, to

his or her discipline, to his or her students, and to making the future the best
possible place for all of us to live. These are the challenges I accepted when I
chose to be a teacher. I remain committed to them.
Effective teachers of mathematics know the pedagogy that
determines how their students successfully learn. Such
teachers recognize that in order for students to effectively use
mathematics they need to understand the concepts presented
as well as become fluent with the skill taught. It is through the
ongoing and increasingly complex application of concepts and
skills that students become secure and competent in their
use.
Good math teachers show their students why the material they're learning
matters and how it can be useful in actual situations. Effective math
teachers seize opportunities to get students out of the classroom to connect
their learning to the real world in real-time.
How important is the role of a teacher in teaching mathematics?
Teachers support students in developing their ability to solve problems,
reason mathematically, and connect the mathematics they are learning
to the real world around them. Teachers provide ongoing meaningful
feedback to all students about their mathematics achievement, which helps to
build confidence.