What are and what should be the leading principles
of method of philosophy of education? Traditionally, it
has been claimed that the leading principle consists of the
deduction of statements about education from statements in
"regular" philosophy. It has further been claimed that
differing statements about education differ because they
have been deduced from different positions in regular philosophy.
These claims are analyzed by applying some tools of
modern philosophical analysis to the works of four selected
reputable philosophers of education who are assumed to
"represent" three of the chief modern "schools" of philosophy
of education.
This analysis reveals that the traditional characterization
of the leading principles of method is at best
very misleading. It reveals in fact that the leading principles
of the Idealists and Realists are more accurately
described as "pseudo-science" in which explanatory systems
are devised by selecting statements about empirical facts or
states-of-affairs and encrusting the system with terms which
are metaphysical, synonymous and without empirical meaning.
It further reveals that the writings of philosophers of education
are also encrusted with ethical terms which have
dominantly emotive meanings.
The leading principles of the Instrumentalists are
shown to be somewhat closer to those of the modern analytical
philosophers and closer to the best of traditional regular
philosophy.
In conclusion, it is asserted that philosophy of
education should in future have two leading principles:
1. The academic exercise of analyzing the writings of
traditional philosophers of education using the tools of
philosophical analysis.
2. The application of some or all of the techniques of philosophical
analysis to empirical theories about education,
such as learning theories. / Arts, Faculty of / Philosophy, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/42412 |
| Date | January 1963 |
| Creators | Daniels, LeRoi B. |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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