What is Philosophy?
Philosophy is the study of
general problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, truth,
beauty, justice, validity, mind, and language. It is distinguished from other
ways of addressing these questions by its critical, generally systematic
approach and its reliance on reasoned argument.
The word philosophy is
derived from Ancient Greek “philos” means beloved or lover or friend and
“Sophia” means wisdom. Thus in Greek philosophy means ‘love of wisdom’ or
‘search for truth’ or ‘quest for knowledge’. Philosophy is the love, study and
pursuit of wisdom, knowledge and truth. The word philosophy has been clarified
as ‘drisyant anne yeti dharsnam’ in Upanishad. The Sanskrit word ‘dris’ means
to see.
We know that man is a
curious creature by nature. He is always thirst of gaining new things. He
wants to search all knowledge about the universe to know how the universe has
been created who is the creator of this universe. The area of his search has no
limitation. What is soul and the supernatural power, who created the world? The
discipline which is related to this endless inquiry is called philosophy. It is
a knowledge or reliable knowledge which is generally gained by seeing. So is
called dris. The philosophical questions begin with the experience of human
beings of external world and these questions try to investigate ultimate
reality. These questions have no limitation as each finding gives birth to the
new question. It is the man’s endeavor to explain total universe around him. In
this way Philosophy is a discipline that is related to the search pf eternal or
everlasting truth. It is the systematic inquiry of universe.
Philosophy is an approach
of open-mindedness, skepticism and inquisitiveness. It is an attitude and way
of seeing things. It knows better, not because it ‘knows more things’, but
because it ‘knows ‘them differently. Both are intellectual and practical since
wisdom about what is going on includes practical wisdom about how to live well
focused on the things that really matter. It doesn’t compete with specialized
sciences. It is an outlook or ‘method’ which animates, welcomes, and unifies
all types of inquiry and search for evidence. Various thinkers have defined
philosophy in different ways. Such as:-
Socrates says, “Those who
are lover of vision of truth are philosophers.”
According to Aristotle
“Philosophy is the science which investigates the nature being as it is in
itself.”
Plato states that
“Philosophy aims at knowledge of eternal nature of things. He who has a taste
for every sort of knowledge and who is curious to learn and is never satisfied
may justly be termed as philosopher.”
According to B. Russell
“Philosophy is a linkage between theology and science.”
Another thinker Herbert
Spencer thinks “Philosophy is the synthesis of science or a universal science.”
In nutshell, we can say
that philosophy is a systematic view of all things and is a theory of ultimate
and absolute reality. It is a system of values. Thus, Philosophy is putting the
nature of the universe, including meaning, people and relationships into an
understandable or explained perspective. Philosophy can have various meanings
such as reality, theories, wisdom, meaning of life, life perspectives and
nature of being human.
Functions of philosophy
There are various
functions of philosophy which are given below:-
Perspective function:-
This function is sometimes
called the normative function. Philosophy presents not only the truth, but it
also tells the human beings about their duties. It develops the value system
which should be followed by human beings. It establishes ideals standard moral
behavior, social duties etc. it gives the knowledge of what is true and what is
false, right or wrong about the activities which are existing in the world.
Philosophers think that the world where human beings stay is not only the
physical world but so many realities such as moral social relationships and art
depends in it. We can’t imagine life without it. Scientists study about the
facts but philosophy evaluates those facts. Philosophy tells us about the
truth, god, nature, good and bad human qualities, etc. and recommend to do the
things considering the scientific thinking and existing situation as well.
Speculative function:-
Philosophy uses
logic for the function of speculation which is related to the prediction of
knowledge and also to assist the systematic investigation of knowledge.
Speculation or guessing is the beginning of the philosophy. Philosophers
speculate about the things or elements of universe to define truthfully. Such
speculation can be done by thinking and doing efforts. Men try to think about
universe, truth, god, knowledge about other things for this. We can find
hermits or monks had done meditation to find the truth in eastern.
Analytical Function:-
Sometimes this function is
called function of criticism of philosophy. It analyzes about truth or untruth.
Philosophy analyzes truth into positive and negative category as well as
analyses the strength and weakness of human conduct.
Philosophy also
deals with the relationship between existing knowledge. It tries to find out
true and false, good and bad, soul and god, god and goodness, knowledge and
ignorance etc. on the basis of analyzing, giving logic, finding reality and
scientific principles, for instance what is soul or god? What is human mind and
human behaviour? And what is the meaning of reason, motivation, compound,
interest etc of educational concept.
In brief, the main
functions of philosophy can be summarized in the following:-
1. Discovers knowledge.
2. Discovers and presents the
explanation of the universe in terms of some or more unifying principles.
3. Presents a guide to
conduct.
4. Evaluates and interprets
the assumption and findings of science.
Discuss about the Branches
of Philosophy
To give an exhaustive list
of the main branches of philosophy is difficult task as there have been various
equally acceptable divisions at different times and the divisions are often
relative to the concerns of a particular period. However, the following
branches are usually accepted as the main areas of study.
Metaphysics: Theory of
reality:-
This theory was developed
after the development of physics when it can not deal many problems or solve
them. Physics dealt only with external forms or forms of existence, so to
address real essence of things, Metaphysics came into existence. Physics
addressed only the ends not the means. Therefore to give ends philosopher
Aristotle propounded this theory.
It is concerned with
explaining, as rationally and as comprehensively as possible the nature of
reality. It deals with the following Metaphysical questions such as what is
reality. What is truth or untruth? Who is the creator of the universe and how
was it created? Is the world one or many? Etc.
It also investigates the
nature of being and the world. It explores questions such as what does it mean
to exist? What is human kind’s place in the scheme of things? Etc. Such type of
metaphysical questions is at the heart of educational philosophy.
Metaphysics is concerned
with the search of ultimate truth which doesn’t care the utility of this truth.
It only investigates the fundamental elements and process of this universe.
In nutshell, Metaphysics
is the study of the nature of man, nature of the universe, nature of truth,
nature of existence. Its subject matter includes self, the world and the god.
Metaphysics means beyond the nature. So it studies nature of truth and
existence.
Epistemology: Theory of
knowledge.
It is also known as theory
of knowledge. It is concerned with the nature and the scope of knowledge and
whether knowledge is possible. It investigates the different ways of acquiring
knowledge, methods of verifying knowledge, for distinguishing truth and untruth.
It also tells which methods should be employed in the search of the truth. The
main question of epistemology is how to acquire the knowledge about ultimate
reality. There are various kinds of Epistemology:-
a. Revealed knowledge
Revealed knowledge believes on the basis of
religious faith or in believing god. It does not believe on experiments or
observation. Words of god, command, threatening, and guidelines given by the
gods are put under this category. These kind of knowledge are in the form of
religious such as The Gita, Vedas, The Kuran, The Bible, Tripitak etc.
Revealed knowledge is in
part the kind of knowledge that god discloses to man.
b. Authoritative
knowledge
It is also called
the knowledge of authoritative knowledge on the basis of different
achievements, experiments and facts given by the experts. This knowledge is
accepted since it comes from experts. The knowledge is in fact accepted by
finding the facts in the authentic books, for instance, Dictionary, Encyclopaedia
etc.
c. Intuitive knowledge
Knowledge is combination of man’s thought and
consciousness but intuitive knowledge more than that. Knowledge is acquired
from intuition. It can be achieved but we can’t say how it is possible.
Nietsche says, “The
most intelligent of all kinds of intelligence is intuitive knowledge”.
According to
Bruner, “It is the intellectual technique of arriving at plausible but
tentative formulations without going through the analytic steps by which such
formulations would be found to be valid or invalid conclusion”.
Axiology: Theory of value
Generally, Axiology means
the study of values. The main function of Axiology is the classification of
truth investigated by metaphysics in useful and harmful category.
It investigates the
knowledge related to human welfare among the all eternal truths. It also
determines the ideals, aims and duties of human life which prepares a code of
conduct for them. It highlights the fact that the teacher has an interest not
only in quantity of knowledge which studies acquire but also in the quantity of
knowledge knowledge which students acquire but also in the quality pf life that
becomes possible because of knowledge. It can be categoreized into three
sub-topics which are given below:-
Logic: - It is the science
of reasoning which deals with patterns of thinking that leads from true
premises to true conclusion .originally developed in ancient Greece beginning
in the late 19th century. Today it has two broad subjects’ mathematical
logic and philosophical logic. It is the science of sciences. The knowledge of
logic helps us in avoiding error and arriving at correct generalization in
every field of knowledge. It is science of truth.
Ethics:- It is the science
of character or value of knowledge. It deals with question of how person ought
to act or if such answers are answerable. It also associated with the idea of
morality. It is the science of human conduct. Human beings habits and behaviors
are related with the permanent. It also deals with peculiarities of human
character. It is the science of goodness. Without ethics education is usually
blind.
Aesthetics: - It is the
science of beauty. Thus it deals with the beauty, art, enjoyment,
sensory-emotional values, perception and matters of taste and sentiments.
Show the relationship
between education and philosophy?
The English word
education is derived from Latin word ‘Educare’ means to bring up, to develop or
gaining knowledge. But Philosophy means love of knowledge. Thus education is
gaining of knowledge while philosophy is love of knowledge. Therefore it is
love of knowledge and gaining of knowledge.
The philosophy of
education is the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education.
This can be within the context of education as a societal institution or more
broadly as the process of human existential growth .i. e. how it is that our
understanding of the world is continually transformed.
Educational philosophy
consists of what you believe about education –the set of principles that guides
your profession action. Every teacher has a philosophy of education- a set of
beliefs about how human beings learn and grow and what one should learn in order
to live the good life. Your behavior as a teacher is strongly connected to your
personal beliefs and your belief about teaching and learning, studies,
knowledge.
Both are interrelated.
Philosophy is the general principle of education whereas education is the
practical aspect of philosophy. Philosophy postulates the theories whereas the
education will deliver the postulated theories to humans. Educational doctrines
are an application of philosophical ideas. Every philosophical life depends on
certain beliefs. If the belief is useful for life it should have educational
importance. Educational principles are the practical use of philosophical
ideas.
There are no educational
facts in philosophy. Philosophy searches for the importance of education in
life. Like philosophy, education is also based on certain philosophy. So both
education and philosophy are related with life. Education and philosophy are
two sides of a coin. If all the facts are combined together, two different
things can be found.
a. Education world process
b. Education temporal
process
Philosophy will guide and
assist them.
Philosophy and education
are complimentary to each other. Without philosophy education is useless and
without education philosophy is futile. The philosophy is thought or plan side
and education is application or practical side. Education is the conscious
dynamic process which needs proper guidance and supervision. It cannot achieve
its goal of life and also provides suitable and effective guidance for
educational achievement.
According to Sir John
Adams, “Education is the dynamic side of philosophy. It is the active aspect of
philosophical belief, the practical means of realizing ideas of life.”
Education can’t be
successful process without the development and achievement. Thus we can say
Education and philosophy are two sides of coin as the relation between them is
like that of nail and flesh. There is close relationship between them as given
below:
Philosophy
|
Education
|
1. It is love of knowledge.
2. It discovers knowledge.
3. It produces belief.
4. It is the general principle of
education.
5. It postulates theories.
6. It explains the universe.
7. It presents a guide to conduct.
8. Shows problems of man, things
and society.
9. Speculates about everything and
finds out reality.
10. Uses the method of reflective thinking.
11. Explains everything in terms pf priori principles.
12. It deals with truth, goodness and beauty.
|
1. It is love of knowledge.
2. It discovers knowledge.
3. It produces belief.
4. It is the general principle of education.
5. It postulates theories.
6. It explains the universe.
7. It presents a guide to conduct.
8. Shows problems of man, things and society.
9. Speculates about everything and finds out reality.
10. Uses the method of reflective thinking.
11. Explains everything in terms pf priori principles.
12. It deals with truth, goodness and beauty
|
Q. Why does a teacher need
Philosophy?
Philosophy is like
pure crystal clear water which mirrors the personality of human being.
Philosophy helps everybody to discover themselves and realize the truth. It is
the component which helps the person to think or know about truth, goodness and
beauty. It enables person to walk on the right path. So, one doesn’t find or
see mistakes or faults in anybody. Therefore, a teacher must be concerned with
philosophy of education. Only a true philosopher may give a practical shape of
education to the students. Thus how she or he behaves the students and how she
/he communicates depends very much on how she or he defines the students.
Without a philosophy a teacher won’t be able to impart knowledge clearly.
Without philosophy
the curriculum will not have any sense of purpose in its design. Science
supplies the means, philosophy supplies the ends. It provides a comprehensive
and total view of the educational situation. A teacher provides information and
knowledge to the students but his or her personal stamp is always in the form a
philosophy of life. What the great teachers have given to the world is
philosophy not information.
Philosophy is a theory of
education. It is the theory of education in its most general phases. S/he gets
theory teaching from the philosophy of education.
“Philosophy is to be
studied not for the sake of any definite answers to the questions but rather
for the sake of questions themselves: because the questions enlarge our
conception of what is possible , enrich our intellectual imagination and
diminish the dogmatic assurance which closes the mind against speculation”,
says Bertarad Russell.
No comments:
Post a Comment