Chapter 1

 Concept and Scope of Philosophy of Education                                       

Philosophy plays the most important role in determining the nature of any education. Although the nature of man and different inventions of science affect the nature of any education, still the role of philosophy for the same is the most important. Since the creation of man, different efforts have been made to understand man, his origin, his aim, his diverse relationships and his destiny. Man is endowed with the quality of critical thinking and is always contemplating about the environment around him. The process of his ideas and thinking is Philosophy. There is no aspect of human life and human activity which is differentiated from philosophy.

Etymological Meaning of Philosophy:
The term philosophy is derived from two Greek words – “Philos” and “Sophia”. Philos means “Love” and Sophia means “Wisdom”. So, the word philosophy means “love of wisdom”. It is concerned with a search for eternal truth and the man who engages himself in this search is called a Philosopher. Wisdom consists in knowledge plus the ability to utilize it properly in different situations. Thus philosophy gives the man that wisdom with the help of which he understands the whole universe, its nature and purpose, its relations to himself and all the people around him.

Specific Meaning of Philosophy:
To be precise and definite , one may call philosophy as that deep thinking and meditation which concern itself to the God, the soul and the nature. Henderson and his colleagues have well said, “Philosophy is a rigorous, disciplined and guarded analysis of some most difficult problems which man has ever faced.” Some examples of philosophical problems are : What is knowledge?. What is world?. Who has created the world?. Is there God?. Who am I?. What is the aim of my life?. Why should I live?. All these are the topics of philosophical thinking and ultimate realization.

Meaning of Education

Etymologically, the word education is derived from educare (Latin) "bring up", which is related to educere "bring out", "bring forth what is within", "bring out potential" and educere, "to lead". Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual. In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching(now that's really useful, isn't it?) Educate is further defined as "to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of..." Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students. In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. (As many of you know the word education comes from the Latin educere meaning "to lead out.")

Definitions of Philosophy:

1. Philosophy is a science which investigates the nature of being as it is in itself. “By Aristotle”

2. Philosophy is the science of Knowledge. “By Fichte”

3. Philosophy is concerned with everything as a universal science. “By Herbert Spencer”

Characteristics of Philosophy:
1. It is a living force.
2. Open mindedness-Willingness to afford a fair hearing to all.

3. It is the oldest and original discipline of thoughts.

4. It is a search for truth and reality.

5. It is a systematic approach showing connections between different parts of beliefs or thoughts systems.

6. It is a way of life.

7. It is a search for knowledge and wisdom.

8. It is digging beyond the obvious.

9. It is theory building from these principles.

10. It is an explanation of the puzzling features of things.

11. It is an attempt to answer the ultimate questions of life.

12. It is based on inquiry about life and existence.

13. It is a conceptual rather than a practical activity.

14. It provides basis in justifying reasons to convince informed, non-sectarian people.

15. It is universal, although its methods and questions remain the same, interpretations and applications will differ from place to place.

16. Skepticism of received opinions and the statistics.

Philosophy and Education

Philosophy determines the various aspects of education. In the words of J. Ross, ‘Philosophy and education are like the two sides of the same coin; the one is implied by the other; the former is the contemplative side of life, while the latter is the active side.’

One of the most influential thinkers on the concept of education in the 20th century, John Dewey, has remarked: ‘Education is the theory of education in its most general phrase…’ ‘Education is a laboratory, in which philosophical distinctions become concrete and are tested.’

Herbert Spencer: ‘True education is practicable only to true philosophies.’ Philosophy decides the goals towards which education has to go. Hence, philosophy decides the transmission of knowledge via education down the ages. Philosophy deals with the objectives and education is the means to achieve those objectives.

Philosophy determines values, recommends notions and establishes the principles. On the other hand, education, in its process and through its means, endeavours to achieve them. Philosophy denotes the contemplative side while education is its active side. The former deals with the theoretical aspect and the latter with the practical aspect. It is absolutely right to say that education is the dynamic side of philosophy.

Great philosophers have also been great educationists. The great philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, Locke Rousseau, Froebel, Gandhi, Tagore, Radhakrishnan, Confucius and Dewey are acknowledged great educators.

Ross rightly remarked, ‘If further agreement is needed to establish the fundamental dependence of education on philosophy, it may be found that all great philosophers have been great educationists.’ Socrates presented to the world the ‘method of questioning and cross-questioning’in teaching. Rousseau advocated that education should follow nature; Gandhi propagated the scheme of basic education.

Philosophy is the foundation of different aspects of education. For instance, the aims, curriculum, textbooks, methods of teaching, class discipline, time table, teacher, headmaster, — are all determined by philosophy. Hence, we realize that philosophy and education are interrelated and interdependent.

Meaning of Educational Philosophy

Educational philosophy is the most important branch of general philosophy, which answers educational questions such as aims, curriculum, method of teaching role of a teacher, discipline, evaluation and so on. In words of John Dewey “Educational philosophy is the most significant phase of philosophy, for it is through the process of education that knowledge is obtained”. So we can define educational philosophy as it is the application of philosophical principles in the educational practices which directs the process of education towards the fulfilment of human life.

Objectives of Educational Philosophy:

Educational philosophy is the cornerstone of the foundation of education. It provides direction to education by assigning certain objectives. Thus, the study of the objectives of educational philosophy has become an important aspect in the study of education:

● The main purpose of studying educational philosophy is to make education dynamic according to the need and aspiration of the society.

● The objective of studying educational philosophy is to produce better citizen by fostering democratic values and attitudes in behaviour.

● The most important objective of studying educational philosophy is to find solutions for various educational issues.

● Another leading objective of studying educational philosophy is to make education flexible in order to achieve the goals of a country i.e. national integration, international understanding and globalization.

● To develop education as a powerful instrument to bring about social, cultural, political and economic changes in a society.

● To expand our knowledge and experiences to implement them in educational practices.

● To bring out all-round personality development in child and prepare him/her to stand on his/her own feet.

● The objective of studying is to make education according to the need based life and society.

Scope of Educational Philosophy

The nature and scope of educational philosophy is confined to the field of education and the philosophy of education is concerned with the problems of education. These problems are mainly as follows:

a) Interpretation of human nature, the world and the universe and their relationship with human being.

b) Interpretation of goals, aims and ideals of education.

c) The interdependence of various components of the system of education.

d) Relationship of education with various areas of national life such as economic system, social system, political system etc.

e) Educational values.

f) Theory of knowledge, its relationship and its implication to education.

The above mentioned problems constitute the scope of educational philosophy and explain its nature. Thus, the scope of educational philosophy includes the followings:

1. Aims and ideas of educational philosophy: Education critically evaluates the different aims and ideals of education. These aims and ideals have been advocated by various philosophers in different times. Their character building for good human making, harmonious human development, preparation for adult life, development of citizenship, better use of leisure, training for civic life, achieving social and national integration and ultimately utilization of scientific and technological advancement for human development.

2. Interpretation of human nature: A philosophical concept of human nature is a result of synthesis of the facts borrowed from all the human activities with the values discussed in different normative areas. The philosophical concept, therefore, is much bigger as compared to the concept of man drawn by biology, psychology, economics and other human sciences.

3. Educational value: Educational values advocated by different philosophers have been emerged from their own world, view and other outlook on the purpose of human life. Therefore, a scrutiny of the world views, outlook beliefs is the specific function of the philosophy and it is necessary for the philosophical treatment of the values.

4. Theory of knowledge: Education is related to knowledge. It is determined by the source, limit, criteria and means of knowledge. This discourse falls within the jurisdiction of epistemology, one of the branches of philosophy.

Therefore, an important area of the function of philosophy of education is related to theory of knowledge and creation of new knowledge structure.

The scope of educational philosophy also includes different methods of teaching. The method of teaching must have philosophical support to make it effective and meaningful. It also includes the role of teacher in the process of teaching. It is educational philosophy that indicates the position of the teacher in different types and in different places.

The scope of educational philosophy provides guidelines in preparing text books according to the maturity, interests, attitudes and abilities of learners and also growing needs and aspiration of the society.

The scope of educational philosophy also includes self control, freedom and social discipline those are implemented in different schools of thought.