Traditional School of

Philosophy
Definition and Meaning

PROFESSOR AIEMAN AHMAD AL-OMARI

Idealism
School of Philosophy
Idealism School of Philosophy

Greek Philosophers:

Plato 427-347 B.C

Socrates 469-399 B.C
How does this school see the reality (metaphysics)?

1. The world of mind, ideas and reason is primary

2. Mind over matter.
3. Nothing exist or is real except ideas in the mind of person or the mind of God,
4.There are two major divisions of reality:
a- Apparent reality (day to day experience).
b- Real reality (The real ideas).
The Epistemology branch in Idealism:

1. All knowledge includes a mental grasp of ideas and concepts.

2. Inductive and deductive logic are heavily emphasized by idealism.
3. Logic provides the framework for unifying our thoughts.
The Axiology branch in Idealism:

1. Puts values in order, hierarchy, and classification system.

2. Values are absolute
3. Good and the true and beautiful basically do not change.
4. Values are part of the very nature and being of universe.
Some other philosophers who believed in idealism:
René Descartes: French philosopher, in his famous dictum The phrase originally
appeared in French as:
je pense, donc je suis

“I think, therefore I am”

As a concept of existence that explained:

“The primary and ultimate fact of my experience is mind and consciousness”.
René Descartes:

 He determined that all ideas, save one, depend on other

ideas. The only idea that itself is not depending on any idea
other than itself is the idea of perfect Being or God.
Immanuel Kant:

 He believed that there were certain universal moral laws known as categorical
imperatives that guide our actions of behaviors above all things, obedience is an
essential feature in the character of a child.
 This moral maxim has become a primary basis for moral training or character
development in education
Hegel:

 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel , German Philosopher.

 He approached reality as a:
“ concept of opposites "As an antithesis form such as:
•life and death
•love and hate
•individual and society
Realism
School of Philosophy
Realism School of Philosophy :

1. One of the oldest philosophies.

2. Dating back to ancient Greece and the time of Aristotle.
3. The universe exists whether the human mind perceives it or not.
4. Matter is a primary and is considered an independent reality.
5. The World of things is superior to the world of ideas.
 Realism is a school of philosophy that holds that reality,
knowledge, and value exist independent of the human mind.
 In other words, realists reject the idealist notion that ideas are
the ultimate reality.
Dualistic Positions of Idealism and Realism

IDEALISM
REALISM
 Supernatural causes for
 Natural causes for
creation of the universe
revolution of the universe
 World of mental
 World of physical objects
conceptions is the
is the ultimate reality
ultimate reality
 Body
 Mind
The Metaphysics branch in Realism

 Realism stresses the world of nature or physical things and our experiences and
perceptions of those things.
 Realism leads us to full understanding of the world of things.
What is the reality?

 * Reality is composed both matter (body) and form (mind).

 * Matter can only become by the mind the interaction of matter and form is
governed by not God but by scientific and nature with its laws.
Nature of Self:

 Realist considers the person a sensing and rational being capable of understanding
the world of things, so the person, like all matter and form, has evolved from and is
subject to nature and its laws.
The Epistemology branch in Realism

 • Knowledge is established by the scientific method.

 •Reality, knowledge and value exist independent of the mind.
 •The objects of our knowledge are presented directly in consciousness with no
intervening or construct or mental state, and with no needed to account for our
knowledge of the external world.
The Axiology Branch in Realism

 * Values are derived from nature.

 * Natural law or moral law is the major determinants of what is good.
 * No absolute value, but written moral law.
 *Aesthetics is the reflection of nature.
 * Values reflect the order line and rationality of nature.
 * Aristotle’s thought is “ material things have exist since the beginning of time, prior
to our knowledge of their existence, and they will continue to exist after we depart.
 Francis Bacon and John Locke Both are a philosopher and a politician.
They advanced a scientific form of realism they depend on the inductive method of
inquiry following a similar path.
 Locke studied human knowledge and one of Locke’s major notions’: tabula rasa (blank
tablet)concept which gained wide acceptance.
“ we come into the world with a mind like a blank sheet of paper”
 Locke stated that the mind of a person is blank at birth and that the person’s sensory experiences
make impressions on his blank tablet.
 Locke distinguished between sense data and the objects they represent. The objects, or things
people know, are independent of the mind or the knower insofar as thought refers to them and not
merely to sense data. Ideas (round, square, tall) represent objects. Locke claimed primary
qualities (such as shapes) represent the world, whereas secondary qualities (such as colors) have a
basis in the world but do not represent it.
 Knowledge is acquired from sources independent of mind as a result of sensation and reflection.
 Other major philosophers who contributed to realism is Alfred North whitehead and
Bertrand Russell.
 Alfred North Whitehead (1861-1947), a philosopher and mathematician, attempted to
reconcile some conflicting tenets of idealism and realism. He proposed “process” to be
the central aspect of realism. Unlike Locke, Whitehead did not see objective reality and
subjective mind as separate. He saw them as an organic unity that operates by its own
principles.
Pragmatism or Experimentalism School of
Philosophy:
Pragmatism or Experimentalism School of
Philosophy:

 * Focuses on the things that work.

 * Viewed as a philosophy of twentieth century.
 * Developed by American famous philosophers “ John Dewey” .
 * Has its roots in British, European and ancient Greek tradition.
 * The world of experience is central.
Pragmatism and Epistemology:

 * No truth as absolute.
 * The idea that truth is determined by function or consequences.
 * Shun the use of word of the truth and at best speak of a tentative truth that will
serve the purpose until experience evolves a new truth.
 * Knowledge is arrived at scientific inquiry, testing, questioning and retesting, and is
never conclusive.
Pragmatism and Axiology

 * Values are only tentative.

 * Values constructed from experience.
 * Values are subject to testing, questioning and retesting.
 * Which is ethically or morally good is that which works. Pragmatism and Axiology.
 Values that concerned with social consequences “what work” are what works for
large community not just the self .
 Aesthetic values: what is beautiful is not determined by some objective ideals, but by
what we experience, when we see, feel, touch.
 Art is a creative expression that reflects consensus.
Dualistic Positions of Idealism, Realism, & Pragmatism

PRAGMATISM
IDEALISM REALISM
 Experience
 Idea  Problem  Nature
 Mind solving with  Body
reason
 Pragmatism philosophers:
Who they are?
British and European Philosophers

August Comte Charles Darwin Jean Jacqes Rousseau

American Philosophers

William James Charles Sanders Pierce John Dewey

 Charles Peirce  William James

True Knowledge depends on verification There were no absolutes, no universal, only

of ideas through experience. an ever changed universe.
 John Dewey
Experience, thought and consequence were
interrelated. So education should stress function or
experience through problem solving and the
scientific method.
Existentialism school of philosophy:

 It appeared a century ago… as a revolt a against the mathematical, scientific, and

objective philosophies that proceeded it.

Metaphysics and Existentialism

 * The existentialist believes that existence precedes essence.
 * There is neither meaning nor purpose to the physical universe.
 * Human being born into the universe by chance.
 * Human being owe nothing to nature but his/her existence.
 * Since we live in a world without purpose, we must create our own meaning.
 * We determine reality by our choices.
 * We cannot escape from the responsibility to choose, including the choice of how we
view our past.
 Existentialism and Epistemology
* The way we come to know truth is by choice.
* The individual self must ultimately make the decision as to what is true and how we
know.
* whether we choose logic, intuition, scientific proof, or revelation is irrelevant.
*What matter is that we must eventually choose.
*The freedom to choose carries with it a tremendous burden of responsibility that we
cannot escape.
* There are no absolute, no authorities, and no single or correct way to the truth, the
only authority is the authority of the self.
 Existentialism and Axiology
* Choice is imperative for determining reality, knowledge and value.
* Explains what concerning values, authority and choice are key.
* There is no norms no standards and so assurance that we have chosen correctly of
rightly, choice is frustrating and exasperating at times.
Leading proponents

Soren Kierkegaard Jean-Paul Sartre Martin Heidegger

Danish philosopher French philoso[her German philosopher
 In Sartre's Existentialism, "existence is prior to essence" (or, put a
different way, the existence of humans precedes consciousness), in
the sense that the meaning of man's life is not established before
his existence, and man is "thrown into" into a concrete, inveterate
universe that cannot be "thought away". Thus, it is what we do
and how we act in our life that determines our apparent
"qualities". As Sartre put it: "At first [Man] is nothing. Only
afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made
what he will be".
 Sartre famously declared that "man is condemned to be free"
(meaning, free from all authority) and, although he may seek to
evade, distort or deny that freedom (what Sartre called "mauvaise
foi" or bad faith"), he will nevertheless have to face up to it if he
is to become a moral being. Individuals are responsible for the
choices they make, and for their emotional lives, but because they
are always conscious of the limits of knowledge and of mortality,
they constantly live with existential dread or "angst".