
First of all the word education is sometimes used to signify the activity process or enterprise of educating or being educated and sometimes to represent the discipline or field of study taught in schools of education that concerns itself with this activity process or enterprise as an activity or process education may be formal or informal private or public.
Individual or social but it always consists of cultivating dispositions such as abilities skills pieces of knowledge traits by certain methods as a discipline of education studies or reflects on the activity or enterprise by asking questions about its aims methods effect forms history costs value and relations to society.
What is the philosophy of education?
The term philosophy of education may be either the philosophy of the process of education or the philosophy of the discipline of education that is it may be part of the discipline in the sense of being concerned with the aims forms methods or results of the process of educating or being educated or it may be meta-disciplinary in the sense of being concerned with the concepts aims and methods of the discipline.
However, even in the latter case, it may be thought of as part of the discipline just as met philosophy is thought of as a part of philosophy although the philosophy of science is not regarded as a part of science historically philosophies of education have usually taken the first form but under the influence of analytical philosophy they have sometimes taken the second.
The first form of philosophy of education:
Education was traditionally developed by philosophers such as Aristotle, Augustine, and John Locke as part of their philosophical systems in the context of their ethical theories however in the 20th century philosophy of education tended to be developed in schools of education in the context.
What is called foundations of education thus linking it with other parts of the discipline of education educational history psychology and sociology rather than with other parts of philosophy it was also developed by writers such as Paul Goodman and Robert m Hutchins who were neither professional philosophers nor members of schools of education.
Types of philosophy of education:
There are many kinds of philosophy many philosophies and many ways of philosophizing so there are many kinds of educational philosophy and ways of doing it in a sense there is no such thing as the philosophy of education there are only philosophies of education that can be classified in many different ways.
Philosophy of education as such does not describe compare or explain any enterprises to systems of education past or present except in Safar as it is concerned with the tracing of its own history it leads such inquiries to the history and sociology of education.
Analytical Philosophy
The analytical philosophy of education is meta to the discipline of education to all the inquiries and thinking about education in the sense that it does not seek to propound substantive propositions either factual or normative about education.
It conceives of its task as that of analysis the definition or elucidation of educational concepts like teaching indoctrination ability and trait including the concept of education itself.
The clarification and criticism of educational slogans like teach children not subjects the exploration of models used in thinking about education for example growth and the analysis and evaluation of arguments and methods used in reaching conclusions about education whether by teachers administrators philosophers.
scientists or laymen to accomplish this task analytical philosophy uses the tools of logic and linguistics as well as techniques of analysis that vary from philosopher to philosopher its results may be valued for their own sake but they may also be helpful to those who seek more substantive.
Empirical of normative conclusions about education and those who try to be careful about how they reach them this entry is itself an exercise in the analytical philosophy of education.
Normative Philosophy:
Normative philosophies or theories of education may make use of the results of such analytical work and of factual inquiries about human beings and the psychology of learning but in any case, they propound views about what education should be and what dispositions it should cultivate wide bought to cultivate them how and in whom it should do so and what forms it should take.
Some such normative theories of education are implied in every instance of educational endeavor for whatever education is purposely engaged in it explicitly or implicitly assumed that certain dispositions are desirable and that certain methods are to be used in acquiring or fostering them and any view on such matters is a normative theory of philosophy of education.
But not all such theories may be regarded as properly philosophical they may be of several sorts some simply seek to foster the dispositions regarded as desirable by a society using methods laid down by its culture here both the ends and the means of education is defined by the cultural tradition.
Others also look to the prevailing culture for the dispositions to be fostered but appeal as well to experience possibly even to science for the methods to be used in a more pluralistic society an educational theory of assault may arise as a compromise between conflicting views about the aids if not the methods of education.
Especially in the case of public schools then individuals or groups within the society may have conflicting full-fledged philosophies of education but the public philosophy of education is a working accommodation between them more comprehensive theories of education rest their views about the aims and methods of education neither on the prevailing culture nor on compromise but on basic factual premises about humans and their world and on basic.
Normative premises about what is good or right for individuals to seek or do proponents of such theories may reach their premises either by reason including science and philosophy or by faith and divine authority.
Both types of theories are called philosophies of education but only those based on reason and philosophy are properly philosophical the others might, better be called theologies of education even those that are purely philosophical may vary in complexity and sophistication in such a full-fledged philosophy.
Normative theory of educationbesides analysis of the sorts described there will normally be propositions of the following kinds one basic normative premise about what is good or right two basic factual premises about humanity and the world.
The role of the philosophy of education
let us assume as we have been doing that philosophy may be analytical speculative or narrative and remember that it is normally going on in a society in which there already is an educational system then in the first place philosophy may turn its attention to education thus generating philosophy of education proper and becoming part of the discipline of education.
Second general philosophy may be one of the subjects in the curriculum of higher education and philosophy of education may and presumably should be part of the curriculum of teacher education if teachers are to think clearly and carefully about what they are doing third in a society in which there is a single system of education governed by a single prevailing theory of education the philosopher may do any of four things concerning education.
He may analyze the concepts and reasoning used in connection with education to make people’s thinking about it as clear explicit and logical as possible he may seek to support the prevailing system by providing more philosophical arguments for the dispositions aimed at and the methods used he may criticize the system and seek to reform it in the light of some more philosophical theory of education.