FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION MODULE II PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATION Frame I The Importance of Philosophy The importance of philosophy especially in education and

in our curriculum is when you propose the teaching of a particular body of knowledge, course or subject, you will be asked, What is your philosophy for introducing that content? If you are unable to answer the question, you may not be able to convince others to accept your proposal. Philosophy is the starting point in any curriculum decision making and is the basis for all subsequent decisions regarding curriculum. A philosopher can be a person who knows philosophy even though he or she engages in little or no philosophising. Philosophy also refers to the collective works of other philosophers. It can mean the academic exploration of various questions raised by philosophers. Philosophy becomes the criteria for determining the aimsespecially in education.It also helps us to answer more precise tasks such as deciding what textbooks to use, how to use them, what homework to assign and how much of it, how to test and use the results. THE AGE OF NATURALISM VIS--VIS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS The idea of an old earth really began to take hold in science in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, before Darwins controversial theory appeared on the scene. Prior to this, in Europe and North America, where science was born and developed under the influence of Christianity and assumptions about physical reality were rooted firmly in the Bible, the dominant, majority view was that God created the world in six literal days about 6,000 years earlier and judged it with a global, catastrophic Flood. THE FORM OF STAGES AND DEVELOPMENT From infancy to adulthood, the stages of development is a fascinating process. Studies regarding the various stages of physical and mental growth have led to important scientific discoveries. Understanding the stages of growth plays a helpful role in parentingbecause nurturing plays a vital role in everyday living.and a way of life. FRAME II WORLDS GREATEST PHILOSOPHERS *Plato *Aristotle *Socrates *Confucius *Lao-Tze *Rosseau *Pestalozzi *Herbart *Spencer *John Dewey

*Comenius *John Locke The Worlds Greatest Philosophers stated the significance of education in playing the fundamental role in the development of society and of individuals alike. Education should seek to produce virtuous individuals which will alter human nature. By raising individual moral standard, society will become more governed and its citizens law-abiding virtuous and the country will be well-governed. FRAME III CLASSICAL AND CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY NATURALISM -is a philosophical worldview and belief system that holds that there is nothing but natural elements, principles, and relations of the kind studied by the natural sciences, i.e., those required to understand our physical environment by mathematical modeling. Methodological naturalism, on the other hand, refers exclusively to the methodology of science, for which metaphysical naturalism provides only one possible ontological foundation. Thomas Hobbes Jean Jacques Rousseau Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were philosophers with similar, yet contrasting theories about human nature. Hobbes theory is based upon the assumption that human nature is naturally competitive and violent; while Rousseaus theory about the state of natural man is one living in harmony with nature and in a better situation than what he was seeing throughout his life in Europe. Hobbes has been criticized because of his overly cynical view of human nature, whereas Rousseau has been criticized because of his nave view of human nature .Rousseaus natural man is a very idealistic notion and undermines his argument more than Hobbes natural man. Therefore, Hobbes has the more plausible theory about human nature. REALISM- is the belief that our reality, or some aspect of it, is ontologically independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc. Realism may be spoken of with respect to other minds, the past, the future, universals, mathematical entities (such as natural numbers), moral categories, the material world, or even thought. Realism can also be promoted in an unqualified sense, in which case it asserts the mind-independent

existence of a visible world, as opposed to idealism, skepticism and solipsism. Philosophers who profess realism state that truth consists in the mind's correspondence to reality. *Plato *St. Thomas Aquinas * John Amos Comenius *John Locke

PLATO AND ST. THOMAS AQUINAS *The influences of Plato, and of the wide variety of ancient, Arabic, and medieval Platonisms, on Aquinas must be distinguished from what he knows about them. The first are pervasive, persistent, and ever increasing. The second change markedly as he reads more of the commentaries and treatises of the Hellenic Neo-Platonists and Peripatetics during the last decade of his work. i Exemplary of these is William of Moerbekes translation of Proclus Elements of Theology finished in 1268. It enabled Aquinas to discern that the Liber de causis was notas had been supposed by medieval Latin Peripatetics, including himselfthe cap of the Aristotelian system, describing the emanations from the First Principle. Rather, he learned, it was composed of excerpts from the Elementsand, unknown to Aquinas, from Plotinusmodified to conform to the needs of Islamic monotheism, just as the Dionysian Corpus had modified its Neo-Platonic sources in Christian directions. The Corpus, with its quasi-Apostolic origin for Aquinas, was his most authoritative and influential source of NeoPlatonisma character intensified when conveyed in Paris interlarded with unattributed glosses from Eriugena.ii The Elements confirmed what Aquinas discerned to be Dionysius Platonic style and way of thinking, when he had explicated The Divine Names (1265-1268); his earliest view had been that the Areopagite mostly followed Aristotle. iii Expositing the Liber in 1272, involved comparing the Elements, the Dionysian Corpus, and the Liber and reinforced his conviction that the latter agreed on fundamental mattersa similarity John Locke August 1632 28 October 1704), widely known as the Father ofLiberalism,[2][3][4] was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development of epistemology and political philosophy partly explained by knowledge of the Corpus in the Arabic circles where the Liber was confected.iv In the Arab Peripatetic tradition, where Aquinas understanding of Aristotle was formed, the Philosopher had absorbed Plotinus and Proclus.v In judging Aquinas Platonism, we must remember how Neo-Platonic his Aristotle was because Aquinas inherited the reconciliation of Plato and Aristotle at which the Neo-Platonists and Arabic Peripatetics aimed. Even what are taken to be his most characteristically Aristotelian positions, e.g. intellection by way of abstraction from the sensible, are given their character in that concordance.

JOHN LOCKE AND JOHN AMOS COMENIUS

*John Locke August 1632 28 October 1704), widely known as the Father ofLiberalism,[2][3][4] was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social contract theory. His work had a great impact upon the development

of epistemology and political philosophy , while John Amos Comenius shared with the greatest minds of his time the enthusiasm abou t a new discovery, the discovery of "method," understood as a form of systematic and empirical inquiry which would guarantee the harmonization between man's reason and the naturaland perhaps even the supernaturaluniverse. The man who impressed Comenius most of a ll was Francis Bacon. Through Bacon, he became convinced that the new inductive method would shed light not only on the arcana naturae but also on the mysteries of the human mind and of human learning. The long title of Comenius's Great Didactic (Didactica Magna) tells the reader that the author believes he has found a system to teach "all things to all men." Comenius was one of the first to grasp the significance of a methodical procedure in schooling, to project a plan of universal education, and to see the significance of education as an agency of international understanding. Often quoted are the eight principles of teaching that Comenius of theGreat Didactic, in strange analogy to what he supposes to be the economy and order of the sun's functioning in the universe. Still valid in these principles is the emphasis on the interrelation between mental maturity and learning, on the participation of the student, and on the logical interconnection of the subjects in the curriculum. Philosophical Foundations of education want students to develop critical thinking skills and call for lesser emphasis on rote learning. Through the centuries, many philosophies of education have emerged, each with their own beliefs about education. In this chapter, we will discuss four philosophies, namely; IDEALISM, PRAGMATISM,EXISTENTIALISM,ESSENTIALISM,PROGRESSIVISM,proposed by philosophers. Also, discussed are the viewpoints of three Eastern phi losophers; namely, al-Farabi, Tagore and Confucius. Each of

these educational philosophies is examined to see what curriculum is proposed and how teaching and learning should be conducted. SPECIFIC EASTERN PHILOSOPHIES Eastern Philosophies such as Buddhism and Taoism and Hindu have much to offer the west even though their way of perceiving the world and the Universe is completely different from western philosophy and thought. Western thought is full of dualism and dichotomies, but eastern thought and philosophy is based on the principle of oneness.To sum up, eastern philosophy and thought is drastically different from Western thought which is full of dualism and dichotomies. Eastern philosophies hold to the principle of Cosmic Oneness with the Universe and derive their way of thinking from certain religious and spiritual traditions such as Taoism, Buddhism and Hindu much like the west derives its way of thinking from Christianity and Judaism. Eastern philosophies also see the ego as a division between a self that thinks it exists apart from the Whole while western thinking holds that self is all there is. Eastern philosophies hold that the Universe or "God" IS while western philosophies see that individuals exist apart from a God who lives in a Heaven. FILIPINO THOUGHTS / PHILOSOPHY Philosophy is not all about making equations. neither is it about coining an original idea... philosophy is all about the triumph of life. our own beliefs are our own philosophies in life. why do we have to compare our way of thinking to those of the westerners... we have our own way of thinking and it can be studied by metalinguistics and phenomenology... there may not be sufficient works to support the claim that Filipino Philosophy does exist, but the current works of the likes of Gripaldo, Mercado, Timbreza, etc. has given us head-start that there really is a Filipino philosophy - our own brand of looking at life. the study of Filipino Philosophy is still a young endeavor... and it will only reach maturity if we give emphasis on its study. what i'm saying is that we can help... one thing that could really help us is by looking at our culture. as what Gianan of UP-Los Baos has said, "Philosophy and culture are interdependent entities. The latter is said to be the cradle of the former; the former analyzes, refines, and appreciates the latter. Culture in this view needs to cultivate and

nurture philosophy; and philosophy functions as an evaluator and studies culture in order to further develop and enrich it.It can be said that without culture, there is no philosophy; more specifically, it can be said that without Filipino culture, there is no Filipino philosophy. Undeniably, however, there is a Filipino culture that generates a Filipino mindset, and philosophy, which is embedded in it. This becomes the state of affairs because of the fact that philosophy does not subsist in a vacuum. In this case, after all and truly, Filipino philosophy subsists in the Filipino culture as seen in the context of the reality that philosophy necessarily emerges from culture." I believe that every Filipino has its own philosophy in life as he/she depends on how he/she could see or interpret world view, and how he/she present himself/herself for others. The Filipino is the end-product of his historical past. In spite of the pluralism in Philippine society, some commonalities are subsumed by the name Filipino. Filipino thought is understood here as the Filipino's world view or philosophy. It is not the philosophy of any individual philosopher as in Western tradition, but rather of the people, its diwa or Volksgeist.2 For example, Elements of Filipino Philosophy was a pioneering attempt to explicitate the people's implicit world view. Our role was like that of a linguist who makes the first grammar of a language. The people may not explicitly know their grammar, but they correctly speak their language, and just as a language grows and changes, so does a people and its philosophy. Filipino philosophy or the people's diwa is what is, not what should be, and as such it has its weakness and strengths. Because it is both dynamic and static, it can be the basis for the Filipino's development since it is his own model. Elitist Filipinos, who have more leanings toward the West than toward their fellow countrymen, are naturally inclined to import Western models in understanding their own people or to invite the common tao to embrace said Western models. The resultas seen in various development attemptshas mostly been disastrous. Bertrand Russell defined philosophy as "the no-man's land between science and theology, exposed to attack from both sides." Philosophers are often attacked and stereotyped as people who live on their ivory towers. This charge has some basis as illustrated in the history of Western philosophy. Aristotle challenged the philosophical

claims of his teacher, Plato and through the centuries philosophical schools have challenged each other across the spectrum from left to right. The ivory tower mentality has two explanations. First, if philosophy is not grounded on the facts, then the endproduct of its musings can be doubtful. Down-to-earth philosophy then must base itself on the facts or, to be more precise, on the findings of social sciences. This type of philosophy begins where the social sciences end. While ancient and medieval philosophy was mostly about being and eternal truths, modern philosophy has turned to humankind as the center and truth as both dynamic and static. In the Indian story of the six blind men who reported differently on the part of the elephant which each touched, the six needed a seventh person to correlate their different findings. That is the job of the philosopher. Is philosophy then a social science? If one holds the scholastic model of philosophy as a science of beings and eternal truths, then it is in a class b y itself. But if we hold that philosophy is primarily about man as being from a higher perspective, then it is a social science. In this second opinion, philosophy begins where the social sciences end. We follow the second opinion.We see the same trend in modern theology. While pre-Vatican II theology based itself on philosophy, contemporary theology tends to base itself more on the broader base of the social sciences. This shift towards anthropocentrism has occurred in both theology and philosophy. The old scholastic theology began in general abstract themes, i.e., God as the perfect Being with metaphysical attributes. The reverse has taken place in our time. Instead of proceeding from God to man, theology now begins with man and ends with God. In the anthropocentric approach, theologians realize the need of the social sciences. If philosophy is then to be truly man-centered, it must remember that the human person is not just a rational animal but is situated in a given time and culture. In this approach philosophy needs the help of the behavioral sciences. The second reason is that Western philosophy tends to be the product of individual persons. And as the Latin saying goes, Quot capita, tot sententiae. Therefore a hundred individualistic philosophers will produce as many different philosophies.In our work, we have tried to avoid those two pitfalls. Only after getting the facts

from the various disciplines did we attempt philosophical explanation. Secondly, we do not claim that the philosophy we present is our own but the explicitation of the implicit philosophy of Filipinos. Anthropological philosophy is related to world view, which is a part of every culture. That is why every culture has its philosophy.