RAINBOW OF EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

Philosophy of education lends to a belief that there is a necessary relationship between the two disciplines. But “just what this relationship is constitutes one of the controversies in educational theory today.”

To the question: What is philosophy of education? McClellan hesitates to offer a definition because “many otherwise sensible men and women turn quite silly when they try to answer the question. I’ve no reason to think that I shall succeed where others have failed, but I am obliged to make the effort.”  Price offers one reason for this pessimism concerning the definition of philosophy of education. “This vagueness of the phrase ‘philosophy of education’ consists in the absence of a boundary marking off philosophies of education from other theories.”  According to Price, philosophy of education has no subject matter of its own since it takes the narrated educational experience of other educational disciplines as given and reflectively inquires into their meaning. As a mixed science philosophy of education has no clear contours. Smith mentions another difficulty stemming from many definitions of philosophy and education. “If there are many ways of conceiving philosophy and many ways of conceiving education, it follows that there must be many, many ways of conceiving philosophy of education. It might prove interesting and rewarding to develop systematically the possible permutations.”  Despite the seeming optimism of this approach Smith is quick to note that the number of topics and permutations makes this approach impossible to manage.

Since defining the contours of philosophy of education and interfacing philosophy and education have not yielded significant progress in the definition of philosophy of education defining it by discrimination may prove useful. This is a way of understanding philosophy of education by highlighting what it does differently from other humanities of education like psychology, pedagogy, sociology, history, and administration.

Psychology of education “deals with the specific qualities of human beings as they manifest themselves in the learning process in schools and in life itself. As education is organized it is necessary to understand, too, the part the teacher plays in the process.”  Psychology of education answers questions like: Is experience necessary in education? What is rationalization, intelligence, common sense, imagination and its relationship to memory? Psychology of education differs from philosophy of education in focus and scope. Concerning focus psychology of education is a systematic observation of and experimentation on human behavior in educational settings and subjecting these findings to theoretical scrutiny. Philosophy of education, on the contrary is not a fact-gathering process but a coordination and clarification of data already collected by other disciplines. With regard to scope educational psychology restricts itself to well-defined behavioral theories whereas educational philosophy crosses boundaries and borrows the theories of other disciplines like sociology to establish itself. Hence, educational philosophy is more far-ranging in the use of theories than educational psychology.

Sociology discusses social factors in education and answers questions like: does education aim at direct social results? What are the socio-educational institutions? What are the social problems and questions that have a direct bearing on education? The difference between educational sociology and educational philosophy is the same as what was said about educational psychology. History of education wants to know what education was in the past. What is the significance of social inheritance for education? The historian and philosopher of education are interested in an analysis of past educational experience. However, they differ in the kind of report they want to present from such an analysis. The historian wants to produce a more factual and accessible report whereas the philosopher is interested in constructing a conceptual report. The historian wants to know what happened in the experience called education. The focus is on events, particulars. The philosopher asks depth questions and the focus is on basic patterns, categories, ideas, generalities, and the implication thereof which underlie and render meaningful the whole process of education.

Pedagogy of education grapples with questions of methods and means such as: What is meant by teaching and learning method? Administration of education is busy with the educational machinery: organization and finance. It answers questions like: What is the nature of the educational system? Who pays for education? Are experts necessary in this educational system? Pedagogy and administration of education analyze the principles of education primarily to provide guidance for educational practitioners. The primary purpose of philosophy of education is interpretation and understanding of educational practice; application is only a secondary purpose. Also, pedagogy and administration are interested in principles designated as the best by educational theory. Educational philosophy, on the contrary, is not immediately interested in the best principle but in the assumptions or premise that underlie the best practices.

Philosophy of education attempts “to find the meaning of the whole educational process as it takes” shape in history, sociology, administration, and the other humanities.  Philosophy of education attempts to give an inclusive answer to the question: What is the precise meaning of all these fragmented aspects of education? What is the final truth that does justice to all the other aspects of education? Philosophy of education is interested in the ends and purposes of education. Hence, the answer given by philosophy of education must give unity to the truths of the other disciplines of education. Philosophy of education has no new facts of its own about education to consider. Rather it considers the old facts of the other disciplines of education in its own way. Philosophy of education questions the significance of the facts already discovered in other disciplines of education in the light of the ends of education. Philosophy of education wants to know what the discoveries of other fields of education suggest about the ultimate nature of education. In a way, philosophy of education demands consistency of purpose in the educational arrangement.

In brief, what does it mean to philosophize in education? It means a reasoned and systematic engagement in a meta-analysis and synthesis of educational findings with the hope of understanding the ultimate meaning of the educational system. Philosophy of education is a systematic discussion of educational problems at a philosophical level, that is, probing educational problems until they are reduced to their ultimate meaning – what is really true, valuable, and real about the system. Philosophy of education takes educational reflection beyond the common sense level by correcting and refining it. It encourages the educational community not merely to hold its nose to the grindstone. According to Thomas Moore, “philosophers of education, then, are concerned