In The Quest for Being, Sidney Hook defines naturalism as 'the systematization of what is involved in the scientific method of inquiry.' Since the formal educational process is a process of acquiring knowledge, and since Hook believes the naturalistic viewpoint to be the most adequate to this task, he therefore believes that naturalism should be the philosophical underpinning of the educational process. This study examines Sidney Hook's naturalism in an attempt to evaluate its adequacy as the foundation for a philosophy of education. Chapter 1 is a preliminary analysis of the philosophical implications of an explicitly naturalistic philosophy of education. Chapter 2 focuses on Sidney Hook's relationship to his philosophical predecessors in order to clarify the nature and roots of Hook's naturalism. In Chapter 3, Hook's naturalistic philosophy of education is elucidated, analyzed, and evaluated. Chapter 4 is concerned with advancing beyond Hook's work by considering the future possibilities of a naturalistic philosophy of education The thesis advanced in this study is that Hook's naturalistic philosophy of education is basically sound. Hook achieves in his philosophy of education the goal he aims for in his naturalism in general, viz., to offer a 'reasonable' point of view, a 'reasonable' view being, for Hook, one that is philosophically defensible, scientifically informed, and rooted in the problems with which men actually find themselves confronted. He achieves this goal despite what are ultimately the two major weaknesses in naturalism itself: its inability to establish absolute certainty in moral judgment, and its resulting inability to make a philosophically defensible position psychologically appealing as well. This study serves to highlight an aspect of Hook's work which has recently been in a state of eclipse--his philosophy of education--by showing that it provides not only an opportunity for serious philosophical reflection, but offers insights toward the resolution of perennially important problems in education / acase@tulane.edu
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_26029 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Contributors | Forrest, Barbara Carroll (Author), Reck, Andrew J (Thesis advisor) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Access requires a license to the Dissertations and Theses (ProQuest) database., Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law |
Page generated in 0.0015 seconds