NDEJJE UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF EDUCATION- KAMPALA CAMPUS

END OF SEMESTER EXAMS

NAME: TUNGWAPE MIRIAM

REG NO.: 19/2/358/W/022

COURSE: BECE

COURSE UNIT: PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

COURSE UNIT CODE: BPS 1201

YEAR: I

SEMESTER: II

PROGRAM: WEEKEND

QUESTIONS ANSWERED: 3, 5, 6

 
2.

The Agnostic philosophers indicated the impossibility of obtaining true knowledge for the following
reasons;

Imperfections of the human language.

Human language refers to the mode of communication used by the human beings. Using this approach
to pass on knowledge to learners makes it hard for understanding to be complete. This is because
human language is limited in the following ways;

The accent of the teacher.

Teachers have different accents influenced by their mother tongue. The language used to pass on the
knowledge will influence the perception of learners and what they understand. In the process,
knowledge is lost.

Language Barrier.

This refers to the inability to comprehend a particular language. Due to the presence of many dialects in
the world, learners at times may fail to understand what the source of knowledge is saying and so the
value of knowledge may be lost in the process of transmission.

The human language lacks the complete vocabulary that should be used to pass on the full meaning and
content of a subject that should be passe on to the learner. Therefore, a teacher can only use the
vocabulary to his level of capability to pass on whatever he can. In the process, he gets to eliminate
some of the content of the subject.

Knowledge is described as the object under scrutiny that would have changed its nature several times
like the amoeba to the extent that the definer would be recording past conceptions.

Information that is shared in class keeps changing overtime due to the constant factor of change in the
world. For example, Different presidents come and go, and so it would be hard to keep the exact same
literature in history. Therefore, new experiences are incorporated in the transfer of knowledge and by
the time it reaches the learner, the original content has been lost.

The picture of the object of scrutiny will be subjectively communicated from the view point of the
communicator since no two persons are identical.

Different teachers pass on knowledge to their learners according to their personal views and
experiences. Each teacher will pass on what they have understood in their own way and method. For
example, two class streams may both study social studies but with different teachers. When asked, two
individual learners from each stream will be able to explain differently a perspective to something
similar they have learnt.
Therefore, this means;

Nobody has a definite claim to knowledge.

Knowledge is highly complex and elusive to the extent that extreme care should be taken in its pursuit
both by the teacher and the receiver.

Teaching and learning cannot start unless both the teacher and the learner humble themselves to the
fact that the only thing any human can recognize is the fact that we do not know anything.
3.

THE ESSENTIALIST PHILOSOPHY

The essentialist combines the views of the idealist and the realist and arrives at a system of philosophy
in education. The idealist may be better described as an idealist; ae this approach views the reality of
things and the highest quality of the person as ideas. That is, the perceptual world, imporas it may be, is
surpassed by idea. Hence, a person is a part of a world the, according to the idealist, has a dual nature
and the apparent and the real. The real world, according to the view of the idealist, is found in the mind.

The ultimate ideas that are formulated in the mind are of a higher order than the reality perceived by
the senses. It is the mind that capable of transforming perceptual reality into ideas that are a more
perfect form of reality and that have eternal qualities of permanence and, absoluteness. The perfection
of ides is found in its unchangeability. The mind, obviously, is an attribute of the person. The education
of a person as possessor of mind, according to the idealist, must emphasize the development of the
mind. Building mental capacity is accomplished through symbols and ideas that represent the
perceptual world. The emphasis on symbols, including language, mathematics, and those arts which
convey the great ideas over time, is the mainstay of education, whose purpose is to develop the
learner's mind. The learner is a mind to be expanded and developed through symbols and the world of
ideas.

Realists, the other contributors to the philosophy of the educational essentialist, see the sensory
qualities of the physical world as reality. The individual does not improve on reality by forming mental
images or ideas of reality'. Reality just is, and the individual is able to participate in reality by being an
observer. Through careful observation and application of intelligence, individuals can come to a more
complete understanding of the world. Reality exists on-its own and it is not dependent on any
individual's knowledge of it. Reality, to repeat, just is. The reality of the world is characterized by a
certain orderliness.

There are natural laws that operate and govern the affairs of all that is. Persons are as subject to natural
law are other elements in the universe. The universe is an enormous machine, governed and operated
by a set of laws fixed throughout time. It is against this backdrop that human knowing can occur. The
learner, in the realist view, is provided with a capacity to sense the real world. Observations, especially
scientific observations, provide the basis for understanding reality. Developing the learner's ability to
observe the laws of nature and using one's mental faculties to apply those laws to the affairs of people
are in keeping with the learner's needs. Because reality is fixed, the learner, when properly trained, is
able to provide correct responses to given stimuli. Literally, the learner is like a circuit board ready to be
imprinted with circuits that make appropriate connections. The idealist and realist philosophies together
have dominated educational views throughout much of the history of education.

Although the two systems of thinking appear somewhat antagonistic, they may also be thought of as
complementary. That is, the two systems complement each other in providing for understanding the
two worlds. the world of ideas and the world of things Neither system denies the existence of the other.
They simply have different emphases. One emphasizes the learner's need for ideational development,
and the other emphasizes the learner's need to observe and apply natural law. The one provides the
learner with the materials of the symbolic world; the other provides the learner with a demonstration of
the regularity and orderliness of the systematic and predictable universe. The essentialist's view of the
learner may be summarized in two statements. First, the learner is a microcosmic mind that is capable
of knowing the important ideas that do not change with time. Second, the learner is also a sensor of the
physical world, able to master important facts about the universe. facts that are as unchangeable as the
important ideas. These two statements may be an oversimplification of very complex ideas, yet they
capture the essence of the essentialist's view of the nature of the learner.

The essentialist teacher

The essentialist teacher represents the qualities of philosophical idealism and realism. The task of the
teacher is to bring together the world of idea and the world that exists beyond the classroom. The world
of idea is itself represented by the teacher. 'teachers, after all, are exposed to an idea world as they
prepare for their roles.

Teachers, especially at the university level, epitomize the development of the mind and the absorption
of great ideas. These characteristics are generally an outcome for those who prepare to teach the
language arts and social studies, especially literature and history. As possessors of the greatest ideas of
time, they are most capable of sharing those ideas with learners; this sharing of ideas and development
of a world of idea in the learner's mind comprise a primary task for the teacher.

The teachers with specialties in the subject matter of the perceptual world, science and mathematics,
represent another aspect of the essentialist ideal. These teachers are experts in understanding the
physical world, its regularity, and its universal laws. These teachers developed the capacity to share with
the students, through precise demonstrations and controlled activity, the exactness of the physical
world. Helping the students master the laws and specific facts of that world is of primary, importance in
fulfilling the teacher's role.

Realist influences are also evident in some forms of pedagogy preferred by the teacher. The precise and
definitive subject matter emphasized by the side of the essentialist's curriculum also results in precise
and definitive methodology. Development of particular skills leads itself to drill, repetitive practice,
conditioning, and formation of desirable habits. Of these, the area of conditioning stands as the best
representation of skill development pedagogy. Behaviorism and "stimulus-response learning reflect the
realist's intent to achieve precision in learning and to influence, in very specific ways, the subsequent
behavior of the learner. In effect, given a specific situation or set of stimuli, the response of the learner
is "built in" and thus known in advance.

The essentialist curriculum

The essentialist curriculum reflects the notions of truth held by the philosophical idealist and realist.
These two philosophical systems agree on one aspect of truth: to both, truth impelled with a capital 'T."
Truth is fixed and unchanging, and the curricula of schools must therefore be the same everywhere. Two
major elements make up truth in the essentialist's curriculum.

The idealist finds truth as idea. The great ideas enduring the test of time are candidates for inclusion in
the curriculum. Literary classics and writings of great historians are primary source documents that
reveal truth. Ultimate truth, however, exists in the mind as idea. The curriculum of idea focuses on
developing the mind as the possessor of truth. The mind, in turn, is characteristic of the person. Here is
found the object for receiving and paying attention to truth the person or self and the attendant mind.
Whatever goes on in the name of education, according to the essentialist-idealist, must be fit stuff for
enlarging the ideas of self and ideas held in the mind.

The realist's influence on the curriculum of the essentialist is equally important. As in the world of idea,
the physical world of truth is fixed. Truth is not changeable or changing. Truth simply is and awaits the
individual to uncover, understand, and apply knowledge to life's activities and affairs. At its highest level,
the truth that is arrived at through sensory perception and verified through careful scientific
investigation corresponds with the ideas about that which is known.

A fundamental difference exists between "idea" as held by the realist and that of the idealist. The realist
depends first on sensory perceptions and scientific examination to uncover facts and information about
reality. This process eventually leads to the formulation of "idea" to correspond with physical reality. On
the other hand, idealists come to idea through mental processes that are not entirely dependent on
physical sensations and stimuli for verification. The realist sees truth as having application to the things
of the world; therefore, mastering facts is an important precursor to application.

The idealist holds that ideas as truth is power to influence the affairs of people rather than the things
that represent the physical world. Both get to essentially the same end via different routes.

The essentialist captures the truth of the idealist's and the realist's worlds. Initially, truth has a universal
quality and rigidity. Part of knowledge comes from a perfect world of ideas. Complementary knowledge
comes from a universe displaying immutable laws. Taken together, there need not be any other source
of truth. After all, what else is there?

THE PRAGMATIST PHILOSOPHY

The pragmatist is, in education, the equivalent of the philosophical experimentalist." Experience is an
important word in the ontology of the pragmatist. While the realist-essentialist claims that reality just is,
the pragmatist avows that reality is what we usually experience in life.

To the former, reality is a noun, whereas to the latter reality is verb-like. The ultimate expression of the
pragmatist's position is to reject all notions that reality is transempirical (or beyond ordinary experience)
and to claim that reality consists of and is limited to the experience of people in this world. The world,
being verb-like, is not fixed or set-in time and space. The world is vibrant, in process, and becoming.
Because the world is in process, the pragmatist claims that it is meaningless to speculate about the
ultimate nature of reality.

After all, there is no absolute reality. Reality is what we usually experience in ordinary life and, as time
passes, the reality of tomorrow will become different from the reality of today. What is the nature of the
learner in a universe where experience is the ultimate reality? The learner is a transactional being, one
who transacts business with the world. Transaction is process, and process to the pragmatist is
experience. The learner is subject to change just as is the world. Each transactional event causes the
learner to change dimensions in some fashion reconstruction of experience. To define forever that the
learner is this or that or something else is to deny the very nature of being, according to the
experimentalist. Being is becoming.
The pragmatist teacher

The pragmatist teacher is very much like the learner. Each has a set of unique experiences, although the
teacher's experiences are more likely to be more expansive than those of the learner. The pragmatist
teacher, because of the unique nature of experience, is open to the possibility that the learner may
have, in selected areas, an expertise greater than that of the teacher. The teacher, while engaged in the
teaching role, is also experiencing and learning.

The teacher who embraces the pragmatist philosophy places faith in learning by doing, by experiencing.
The objective is to provide the learner with experiences that involve the psychological, biological, and
social aspects of each learner in or to relate learning to living and to provide for active interaction with
the learner's environment. The approach of the pragmatist teacher may be described as teaching based
on the logic. By contrast, in essentialism, subject matter that is taught for its factual nature and that is
to be memorized and recalled on demand may be described as the logic of the learned Pragmatic
teachers who implement the logic, of the learner hold to, a reconstruction of experience for learners.

Learning is achieved by relating activity to past experiences, current interests, and practical applications
in the here and now. Most frequently, this kind of learning is achieved through problem solving and use
of techniques, especially the scientific method, that reveal the open-ended nature of our world. The
teacher acts as a director of learning activities rather than as a dispenser of settled knowledge and
established fact. In the pragmatic perspective, learning is a lifelong activity. The continued encounters of
the person with the world create opportunities for new experiences and a restructuring of
comprehension.

From this perspective, the pragmatist teacher assists the individual learner in acquiring the special
experiences that are now most appropriate. The teacher also emphasizes the nature of change and the
need for each person to maintain continuity in living by participating in and interacting with a changing
world throughout life. In all of this, the teacher participates as a fellow traveler and a lifelong learner.

The pragmatist curriculum

The pragmatist's claims for are at variance with those of the essentialist. First, truth is spelled with a
small "t," and what is called truth is more appropriately labeled as tentative truth. Stable facts are
acceptable, but rigidity of knowledge that precludes examination and transforms such knowledge into
dogma is totally unacceptable. Knowledge under this conception of truth is open-ended. and ongoing,
subject to error, and in need of continuous reevaluation.

Second, truth is found not in the mind or in nature, but rather through the experiences of temporal
beings. Truth for the pragmatist is measured by its workability. Truth is workable when it accurately
anticipates or predicts events or solves the problem at hand. This does not mean that a lie becomes
truth because it works by getting the teller out of some difficulty. The truth here is that telling lies is a
predictable way of escaping a situation.

Truth becomes the instrumentality that helps people to manage the affairs of society. In this sense of
workability, truth is workable when it stands the. test of careful examination vis-s-vis the methods of
scientific inquiry.
 The public nature of truth is important in the epistemology of the pragmatist. Although the individual
has experiences of a private nature, they are not the source of knowledge. Experience that is open,
testable, and may be warranted is the only kind of experience that produces knowledge. Truth and
knowledge are of the community of people and are not the private domain of great scholars or of those
who have spent a lifetime uncovering the nature of the universe.

Deciding what to teach in the schools hinges on several points. Truth is the property of the community
and not of the educator, whether at public mandated levels or in institutions of higher education.
Knowledge has a quality of workability that makes it useful in dealing with the business of living. Truth is
also characterized by fluidity and change. The pragmatist is open to the possibility that what is
considered as truth today may not be true tomorrow. The final decision about truth is left to the
common and collective experiences of people.

THE EXISTENTIALIST PHILOSOPHY

The existentialist represents one of the more recent philosophical groups to emerge in Western
thought. The comparative recency of existentialism may account for its, low level of influence on
contemporary education. The newness of existentialism may also be a factor in the educational
communities' lack of understanding of the position of the existentialist, especially as to how that
position appears if put into educational practice. Contrasting with this lack of understanding is the
appeal of existentialism, with its 'emphasis on the primacy of existence. Despite the apparent lack of
understanding about existentialism, and perhaps because of its appeal as an individualistic philosophy,
numerous practitioners claim to be existentialists.

The comparative immaturity of existentialism and the variety of opinions held by its proponents create
confusion about existentialism. Some philosophical authorities do not even consider existentialism a
true system of philosophical thought. They argue that the emphasis of existentialism on subjectivity and
its lack of a system of logically constructed thought and rationality detract from its coherency as a
system of philosophy. Furthermore, according to some cities, existentialism lacks a systematic approach
to the fundamental issues of philosophy while being highly subjective and is thus full of inconsistencies
and contradictions

The existentialists rebut the critics by asserting that human existence is too complex to yield to any
systematic description and that real meaning is only found in the existence of the individual. The
existentialist places primacy on the person as existing. Initially, the person exists without a recognition
of selfhood. Existence precedes essence.

The person, however, is not definable in terms of others or in terms of predetermined notions except in
that the freedom to choose and become whatever is chosen exists as the right of the individual. The
individual declares the nature of his or her personal reality through the cognition, "I am." Once the
individual comes to the awareness of self, the individual may then declare the further nature of reality.
Reality awaits the affirmation of the individual being, and the 'reality acknowledged by one person is not
necessarily the same reality determined by another being. Each individual 14 free to choose and, in
effect, to create reality. It is, according to the existentialist, because first "I am" that all other reality
must be specified by the person; "I am" comes before other forms of reality. The learner is the central
figure in determining the reality of what is. Because reality grows outward from the individual and an
understanding of self, the individual's awareness and conception of self is a need of the highest level.
The learner is viewed as having a capacity to accept the freedom to choose, to understand the meaning
of choice, and to accept the anguish that comes from both. As the learner comes to selfhood, the
anguish of choosing remains; alternate futures must be sorted out and the ultimate nature of the
learner's reality decided. Harm may result if a prior design or set of conceptions is foisted off on the
learner. In short, the learner is a chooser who develops a personal identity in and through
conceptualization of the world.

The existentialist teacher

The existentialist teacher is a person who has come to an awareness of selfhood and has declared, "I
am." Having arrived at the existential moment, that person is in a position to help others find their own
selves and thus become able to assign meaning to other elements of reality.

The existentialist teacher carries a burden of restraint in the learner teacher relationship. It is not
appropriate for the existential teacher to declare, "This is what reality consists of," or "This is truth," or
"Here is what is of value." Rather, the teacher must provide encouragement to the learner in choosing
meaning and sustaining a commitment and responsibility for the choice. Choosing values and
determining the criteria for selecting values reside with the individual, and the teacher is committed to
helping the learner develop this capacity and understand the nature of existential choice.

Existential choice must be based on an understanding of self together with an awareness of possibilities
and consequences. The teacher is obligated to provide students with opportunities to see alternatives in
reality, truth, and value, while declining to suggest that one alternative is more meritorious than
another. Eventually, each person must choose that which has greatest meaning for self and must govern
personal actions on the basis of individual choice. The teacher's goal is to assist the learner to find and
understand self-way of existing.

THE EXISTENTIAL CURRICULUM

The existentialist posits that truth is the absolute choice of the individual. The person arrives on the
world scene without a voice in the matter of initial being; hut once there is cognition of self and a
declaration that "I am," all other matters become subjected to individual choice. The freedom to choose
truth carries a heavy responsibility for the existentialist.

Choosing represents a level of commitment that is inescapable. Knowledge is a matter of individual

understanding and belief that carries, with it a built-in attachment that directs individual behavior and
decision making. The attachment to knowledge and truth for the existentialist is at a level far different
than those of the essentialist or pragmatist. For the existentialist, truth is not an idea or the laws of the
physical world or the collective property of the community "Truth," declares the existentialist, "is mine It
is personal and a part of who I am." And because truth is so much a part of the person, it has a
compelling force on human activity. At the same time, it may also be an escape from rationality. Truth in
the existential system is represented by knowing at two levels.

The first level is represented by a perceptual awareness of being and the existence of other forms of
being animate and inanimate. The more important and second level may be described as being
conscious of personal consciousness of the world. The first level is somewhat like the experiencing
process and scientific method of the experimentalist. It is the second level of knowing that brings
commitment and acts as a compelling force in existential being. Level-two knowing puts primacy on
personal choice as a basis for truth and knowledge.

The nature of existentialistic knowledge makes it difficult, if not impossible, to declare what knowledge
is of greatest importance in the school. If there is truth or knowledge that the schools must seek, it has
to be determined by the individual, deliberately and knowingly chosen. The truth of the school is the
person. Knowledge grows out of selfhood, choice, and its attendant commitment. There is no truth, no
knowledge of value, beyond the individual.
4.

Philosophy of education is that branch of philosophy that addresses philosophical questions concerning
the nature, aims, and problems of education. As a branch of practical philosophy, its practitioners look
both inward to the parent discipline of philosophy and outward to educational practice, as well as to
developmental psychology, cognitive science more generally, sociology, and other relevant disciplines.

Philosophical mindset is a tendency to view a correct and broad-minded approach on any kind of events.

With a philosophical mindset, a teacher gets the knowledge of this universe and nature of human life
and he gets the ability to understand the nature of education and solving its problems. This is its utility
and this is its importance;

Knowledge of Universe and Various Perspective of its human Life.

philosophy lets us know about the universe and from the mystery of human life and whatever mystery
remains, provides us inner vision for that. Without knowing about ourselves, we can do some good to
ourselves; this does not seem to be logical. Hence, study of philosophy is essential. Interpretation of
fundamental principles of various philosophies takes place in philosophy of education. With this study,
we get the knowledge of universe and about different perspectives of its human life and select correct
philosophy of life on its basis.

Knowledge of various Objectives of human life and Tools to attain them.

with the study of philosophy of education, we get knowledge of nature of human life and its objectives.
On the basis of this knowledge and own experience and logic, a teacher makes a perspective and
provides for education on that basis. with study of philosophy of education, he also makes available
methods of attainment of objectives of life and forms its path on that knowledge basis.

Knowledge of Concept of Education and objectives.

in philosophy of education, interpretation of concept of education and its objectives takes place on the
basis of various philosophical perspectives. Whatever perspective the philosophy has about universe
and human life, it defines nature of education and its objectives accordingly. Education is the tool to
attain objectives of human life, hence it carries same objectives as that of human life and since
objectives of human life have been defined differently by different philosophers, hence there is
difference in the objectives defined. By studying philosophy of education, teacher gets knowledge of
these objectives and becomes able to understand objectives of education on the basis of this
knowledge, to attain objectives of life. He can’t be successful without knowing objectives. Hence, he
must study philosophy of education.

Syllabus related knowledge of Education.

apart from getting knowledge of various objectives of education; teacher also gets knowledge of
syllabus of education as defined by various philosophers. By studying its, teacher also get to know about
principles of syllabus formation and become able to effect necessary changes in various situations. We
know that syllabus can’t be understood in the absence of objectives and without understanding actual
form of syllabus, teacher can’t work on correct path. Hence, to move education forward correctly,
teacher should have knowledge of all of these and he must study philosophy of education.
Knowledge of Methods of Education.

by studying philosophy of education, teacher gets knowledge about various methods of education as
defined by various philosophers and gets to read many logics of various philosophers and pedagogue on
whom, when and how; one should be taught. On the basis of this study, teacher is able select his idols
i.e., to select correct methods of education for attainment of educational objectives. Hence, he must
study them.

Knowledge of disciplinary perspectives in Education.

in philosophy of education, different thought on problems of discipline and philosophies are studied. By
its study, teacher understand its actual nature and gets to know about the tools of its attainment. We
know that discipline is required in the fi eld of education also; hence to understand its actual nature and
understand ways to achieve those, teacher must study philosophy of education.

Knowledge of importance and functions of teacher and student.

process of planned education happens between teacher and student. In this process, what should be
the relative status of teacher and student, philosophers have different opinion. Philosophy of education
studies them all. On this basis, teacher becomes successful in defining its duties.

Knowledge of nature of Schools and Duties.

philosophy of education also studies that for planned education, what should be the nature and duties
of schools. There is difference of opinion amongst philosophers on this. behind this difference, there are
different logics of them. with the study of philosophy of education, teacher gets to know all this and he
is successful in defining nature of schools and its functions for the attainment of objectives of education.
In the absence of philosophy of education, we could not defi ne nature and duties of schools. Hence,
teachers should study it from this perspective also.

Philosophical solution to other problems of Education.

in the absence of philosophy, no teacher can find solutions to educational problems. After studying it
only, teacher can understand problems of education and perspective of different philosophers towards
it and can find solution by testing various perspectives on the basis of his experience. As long as we are
not able to be aware of gradual growth and the result of concept of education, its objective, its syllabus
and its method of education, we can’t find solutions to our educational problems.

Application of philosophical knowledge in the world.

world is dynamic and these days it changing very fast. Our social, religious, political and economic
situation is also changing very fast. Inventions of science has changed our lives completely. Education
has to keep pace with it; else we shall not be able to keep ourselves safe in the times to come. But only
that can reply to questions like this-how much we need to change and how much not and why to change
that much and why not change that much-who has studied philosophy of education. After this, there is
one more problem is that for achieving all that, what should be the change in education, this can also be
replied by that teacher only who has studied philosophy of education. Hence, teacher must study
philosophy of education. But he must test the material with his experience and should keep adding new
experiences and decisions into it. Then only, development of education is possible.