Influence of Philosophers on Contemporary Education - Coursework Example

INFLUENCE OF PHILOSOPHERS ON CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION Introduction Most of the schools of thoughts that serve as the basis for contemporary education are rooted deep into history and directly associated with the works of philosophers who lived in the past (Reynolds, 2006). By implication, these philosophers were foresight thinkers whose philosophical schools of thoughts were not necessary in shaping the world around them alone but the one that was yet to come also (Cooper, 1999). In this paper, the works of seven philosophers and how their works shaped contemporary education and contemporary thoughts are discussed. As part of the discussion, special emphasis is placed on the epistemological and axiological foundations, as well as overreaching sense of ontology of the philosophers. This way, it is possible to view the schools of thoughts from a holistic manner as they shape the entirety of the world around them rather than the personal opinions of the philosophers alone. Descartes as an early epistemological idealist From the perspective of Rene Descartes, idealism is a metaphysical and epistemological reasoning that argues that ideas and thoughts make up the fundamental composition of reality (Earnshaw, 2006). By implication, emphasis is taken away from the physical world and the physical things we see around us into a realm of what the mind is able to ensemble for itself. From his perspective, Descartes saw what we know as a manifestation of our own consciousness rather than the makeup of the physical world around this (Warnock, 2007). This is because from an epistemological stand point, Descartes saw the physical world as a revelation of what the mental consciousness had produced. In that situation, Descartes would rather assign the reality of life and the things around us to ideas and thoughts rather than the product of the physical. The impact that this position held by Descartes on contemporary education and contemporary thought is that it has shaped and brought about a way of learning where there is much emphasis on the power of mind to reason and conceptualize ideas rather than put emphasis of praise on the end result of learning. In effect, in between concepts such as metaphysical science and technology, the real make up of the world would be assigned metaphysical science rather than technology. It is in light of this that Descartes claimed that “I think, therefore I am” is the only assertion to viewing life that cannot be disputed (Barrett, 2010). Moderate Realism of Thomas Aquinas The philosophical thought of realism has always held the opinion that all entities of the world have their own objective reality that is completely ontologically independent of the conceptual schemes around them (Kauffman, 1975). Having been born in an era where realism was already a philosophical school of thought that was taught, Thomas Aquinas came to add what will be called a moderate reasoning to the philosophy of realism. Thomas Aquinas therefore acknowledged the ontological basis of the independence of objective reality but held this from the perspective that human reason could not totally comprehend God’s being (MacDonald, 2000). This means that Thomas Aquinas had a theological approach, if not a religious one to realism. As part of the theological approach, Thomas Aquinas influenced contemporary education and contemporary thought by promoting the emphasis that through theology man was allowed to create a connection between the universals and individual objects within the universe. The moderate realism position of Thomas Aquinas can therefore be said to be a middle ground between Platonic realism and Nominalism [NOT A WRONG WORD - refers to either of two philosophical positions regarding what exists.]. This is because Thomas Aquinas conceptualized realism from the school of thought that there is actually no separate realm where the concept of universe exists because universals are found right in space and time as and how a person at the helm of consciousness wants to have a manifestation of these entities. This school of thought has therefore become the basis of several subjects such as Science, Mathematics, Religion, and Law. Albert Camus and Existentialism Like most other existentialists, Albert Camus considered the nature of the human condition as a crucial philosophical problem that is best and only solved through ontology. He therefore viewed the solutions to the basic problems of human life from seven major themes of reasoning, which included anxiety and authenticity, freedom, situatedness [NOT A WRONG WORD - refers to involvement within a context.], existence, irrationality, and the crowd. Albert Camus has however been criticized for taking existentialism from much of an irrationality view point that he is often thought of as an absurdist (Lottman, 1997). But from whatever perspective his philosophical opinions are viewed from, Albert Camus had a great impact on contemporary education and contemporary thought and did much work to give reason that he was indeed in favor of the fundamental reasoning and arguments for existentialism. For example, Albert Camus is on record to have stated that he does not believe in reason and in system (Malraux, 2008). Rather, his core emphasis to life was to know how a person ought to behave in a world where the fellow does not believe in God or reason (Solomon, 2004). This ideology came to have much influence on contemporary education and contemporary thoughts and continues to have such influence. For example, it has created an era of disciplinarian thought that is largely focused on self discipline as the best mandate needed of a person to make the best out of the reasons of the world. It is for this reason Camus opined that accepting absurd does not necessarily lead to nihilism but to a sense of action and participation, provoked by self empowerment. Charles Darwin and Positivism Positivism has long been used to find the relationship between scientific method and philosophy and the influence that exists between them thereof. Through the foundations given of the philosophy of positivism from Auguste [NOT A WRONG WORD – It is someone’s name] Comte, positivism had been known to holding the characteristic thesis that science is the only valid knowledge and that facts that make up scientific principles are the only possible objects of knowledge (Thrody,1961). With the coming of Herbert Spencer however, what became known as evolutionary positivism became born from an ontological perspective. This because Herbert Spencer did not come to accept the core school of thought that philosophy does not possess a method that is different from science (Sartre, 2005). Even though there was an admission of the relationship between philosophy and science, the position held by evolutionary positivism and for that matter Herbert Spencer is that positivism is not based on society or history as held by social positivists like Comte (Sartre,, 2005). Instead of seeing positivism as being based on society and history, Herbert Spencer argued that positivism is rather based on nature. This means that for Spencer, science was about nature rather than society. The influence that Herbert Spencer had on contemporary education and contemporary thought is that his reasoning came to give higher emphasis to the sphere of physics and biology, which have a lot of basis in natural science rather than social science. Contemporary European Thought - Henri Bergson In the periods before the Second World War, Henri Bergson became the embodiment of a new philosophical ideology that became known as the contemporary European thought. Abbagnano [NOT A WRONG WORD – It is someone’s name] (2007) has said that contemporary European thought may not be seen as a differentiated philosophy in itself but an awakening of series of perceptions to life that are based on the need for man to take advantage of his persona abilities in influencing the world around him. Some of the works of Henri Bergson that manifested this school of thought were the concept of multiplicity and creative evolution. From a Bergsonism [NOT A WRON WORD – Refers to the following of Bergson] perspective, concept of multiplicity became represented by the immediate data of consciousness (Todd, 2007). This is unlike phenomenology where the concept of multiplicity is related to a unified consciousness. This means that Bergson’s emphasis about multiplicity was on qualitative multiplicity as against quantitative multiplicity. In contemporary education and contemporary thought, the work of Bergson on multiplicity shaped the European approach to spatial location, where every element of society was viewed to be based on a spatially separated view point (Warnock, 2007). Once this concept was accept, the people of Europe became more focused on personal achievement and self empowerment. Contemporary American Thought - John Dewey The place of John Dewey in American philosophy and education is often trumpeted by other philosophers and educationists who came after him. This is because John Dewey was perceived to have had such a dominant influence on contemporary American thought and education that without him, the face of education would have been totally different from what it is today. This is because as a philosophy, John Dewey is often praised for going beyond the ordinary formation of educational theory to the formation of an entire educational system (Barrett, 2010). What means is that the position that John Dewey put education was more from a practical and all-round perspective rather than a limited perspective made up of minimal emphasis and focus on theory. Writing about John Dewey, Reynolds (2006) noted that a single perspective that Dewey had that set him apart from philosophers that came before him was the fact that Dewey devised a whole theory of knowledge, which is epistemology. It is for the pragmatic nature of Dewey’s perspective idea that the epistemological school of thought from which he argued the direction for education became generalized as Darwinism. Today, Darwinism has influenced education with core championing of ideas of social action, freedom and individualism, which have become the bedrock of the American pride for independence (Reynolds, 2006) Margaret Wheatley on Quantum Mechanics Margaret Wheatley has been referred to as the mother of modern day leadership and management through her ideologies on the relationship between the desperate world of quantum mechanics and scientific process. From a very philosophical point of view, she has held the school of thought that just as particles of scientific elements such as atoms interact and relate to each other to make the formation of various molecules possible, so is the need for interpersonal relationships that are focused on growth and personal development. By implication, Margaret Wheatley sees he way forward for organizational leadership and management as a quest that is approached from a more collective and formidable perspective where everyone sees the input of the other person as very vital and crucial for success. The influence that this position held by Margaret Wheatley has had on contemporary education and contemporary thoughts is that it has created a new dimension of collective and share responsibility and learning (Solomon, 2004). This is because the strength in collective and progressive association has been accepted over acts of marginalization. Conclusion From the discussions above, a very fundamental understanding has been had on contemporary education and contemporary thought. The understanding that has been established is that contemporary education and contemporary thoughts are two broad spectrums of life that cannot be viewed, understood and interpreted from only one dimension. It is for this reason that using different epistemological, axiological and ontological foundations, different philosophers could have a different hold of contemporary education and contemporary thoughts. Until now, one perspective of thought and education can hardly be said to be better off than the other. Rather, the best way to utilize the different schools of thoughts held by these philosophers is by equating the positions of the philosophers into any unique situations we find ourselves in and making the most out of their thinking. References Abbagnano, N. (2007). Positivism. In P. Edwards (Ed.). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy 6 (3) 414-419). New York: Macmillan. Barrett W. (2010). Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy New York: Anchor House. Cooper E. D. (1999). Existentialism Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. Earnshaw S. (2006). Existentialism: A Guide for the Perplexed London: Continuum. Kauffman W. (1975). Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre New York: Penguin. Lottman, H. R. (1997). Albert Camus: A Biography. Corte Madera, CA: Gingko Press. MacDonald Paul S.. The Existentialist Reader – An Anthology of Key Texts (Edinburgh: Edinburg University Press, 2000) Malraux, A. (2008). Anti-Memoirs. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Reynolds J. (2006). Understanding Existentialism Stocksfield: Acumen. Sartre, Jean-Paul. “Camus’ The Outsider.” In Situations. New York: George Braziller[SOMEONE’S NAME], 2005. Solomon C. Robert. Existentialism (USA: Oxford University Press, 2004) Thrody, Philip. Albert Camus, 1913-1960. London: Hamish Hamilton, 1961 Todd, Olivier. Albert Camus : A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1997. Warnock M. (2007). Existentialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Read More