1. Philosophy

2. Philosophy Philo (love) + sophia (wisdom)
Philosophy is the love (or pursuit) of wisdom
Wisdom is good judgment
So, philosophy is the love (or pursuit) of good judgment
Thales

3. Wonder Philosophy begins in wonder
At the world
At what we do
At our nature
Wonder —> reflection —> critical examination
Buddha at Wei, China

4. Metaphysics The study of what there is What is the world made of?
What kinds of things are there?
What is real? What is merely apparent?
What am I?
Laozi

5. Epistemology The theory of knowledge How do I know? What is knowledge?
Can I have knowledge of anything at all?
If so, where do I get it?
Can I know anything independently of experience, through philosophical reflection alone?
Ruins at Nalanda, India, site of university at which Gautama, Nagarjuna, and Gangesa taught

6. Ethics Ethics is practical— pertains to action
So, ethics is the pursuit of good judgment about action—
about what to do
Socrates

7. Is philosophy practical?
Philosophy asks questions
What the world is like,
How we know it, and
What we ought to do about it,
Which affect our lives every day
Philosophy is the most practical of all disciplines

8. Socrates ( )
Contemporary of Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, Herodotus, and Thucydides
First in West to advance philosophical arguments
Wrote nothing; appears as character in dialogues of Plato ( )
Socrates

9. Socratic method (dialectic)
Socrates asks what ___ is
Someone answers
Socrates analyzes the definition and asks questions to show that
It’s unclear
It’s too narrow
It’s too broad
Someone proposes another definition, etc.

10. What is a chair?
Chairs

11. Definitions and their problems
Chairs
What is a chair?
“A kind of furniture”
Unclear: What kind?
“A piece of furniture with four legs and a back”
Too narrow
Too
broad
Things satisfying the
definition

12. Definitions and their problems
Chairs
What is a chair?
“A kind of furniture”
Unclear: What kind?
“A piece of furniture with four legs and a back”
Too broad: stools, divans, sofas, benches
Too narrow: bean bag chairs, chairs suspended from ceiling
Too narrow
Too
broad
Things satisfying the
definition

13. The Apology
“And so he [Meletus, the prosecutor] proposes the death penalty. What shall I propose, O men of Athens? Clearly that which is my due. And what should I pay or receive? What should be done to a man who has never had the wit to be idle during his whole life?”

14. What Socrates tried to do
“I have been careless of what the many care about-- wealth, family interests, military offices, speaking in the assembly, magistracies, plots, and parties. Reflecting that I was really too honest a man to live like this, I didn't go where I could do no good to you or to myself, but where I could do the greatest good privately to every one of you.”

15. Seek Virtue and Wisdom
“I sought to persuade every one of you to look to himself, and seek virtue and wisdom before he looks to his private interests, and look to the state before he looks to the interests of the state; and that this should be the order which he observes in all his actions.”

16. What do I deserve?
“What should be done to someone like me? Doubtless some good thing, O men of Athens, if he has what he deserves. The good thing should be suitable to him. What would be a reward suitable to a poor man who is your benefactor, who desires the leisure to instruct you?”

17. A free lunch!
“There can be no more fitting reward than free meals in the Prytaneum, O men of Athens, a reward which he deserves far more than the citizen who has won the prize at Olympia in the horse or chariot race, whether the chariots were drawn by two horses or by many.”

18. Why?
“For such a victor does not need free meals, but I do. He only gives you the appearance of happiness; I give you the reality.”

19. Divine Command
“Someone will say: Yes, Socrates, but can't you hold your tongue? Now I have great difficulty in making you understand my answer to this. For if I tell you that this would be a disobedience to a divine command, and therefore that I can't hold my tongue, you won't think I'm serious.”

20. The Examined Life
“If I say again that the greatest thing a man can do is to converse about virtue every day, and that the unexamined life is not worth living-- you are still less likely believe me.”

21. To philosophize is to Seek wisdom and virtue Lead an examined life
Reflect on what life is and ought to be
Put your life in perspective
To see and reflect on “the big picture”

22. Confucius (-551 - -479) Kong Fuzi (K’ung Fu-Tzu)— grand master Kong
Contemporary of Laozi, Buddha, Thales, Aesop, Biblical prophets
Superior person (junzi)

23. To philosophize is to Try to understand the world with an open mind
Seek the truth wherever it leads
2:14. The Master said, "The superior person is open-minded and not partisan. The mean person is partisan and not open-minded.” J

24. Look Within Look within ourselves
15:20. The Master said, "What the superior person seeks is in himself. What the inferior person seeks is in others."

25. To philosophize is to Seek clarity
16:10. Confucius said, "The superior person thoughtfully considers nine things: With his eyes, he wants to see clearly. With his ears, he wants to hear distinctly. In countenance, he wants to be warm. In demeanor, he wants to be respectful. In speech, he wants to be sincere. In business, he wants to be careful. When in doubt, he wants to ask others. When angry, he thinks of difficulties that might result. When he sees opportunity for gain, he thinks of righteousness."

26. To philosophize is to Get to the bottom of things
1:2. “. . . The superior person attends to the root of things. From the root grows the Way.”

27. To philosophize is to Know yourself
2:17. The Master said, "Yu, shall I teach you what knowledge is? When you know something, to maintain that you know it; when you don't know something, to admit that you don't know it-- this is knowledge."
Confucius teaching, Ming dynasty sketch; Tholos temple, Delphi

28. Two Philosophical Issues
1. Is the world independent of us, or do we in some sense construct it?
2. Can we know anything about the world independently of experience?

29. Realism and Idealism
1. Is the world independent of us, or do we in some sense construct it?
Realism: Some things are independent of mind
Idealism: Everything depends on mind; things are constructions or projections of the mind

30. What difference does it make?
Realism
Idealism
Truth
Correspondence
Instrumental
Standards
External
Internal
Progress
Representation
From a point of view

31. Rationalism and Empiricism
2. Can we know anything about the world independently of experience?
Rationalism: Yes: Some knowledge of the world is independent of our own experience
Empiricism: No: All knowledge of the world comes from experience

32. What difference does it make?
Rationalism
Empiricism
Philosophical reflection— the humanities
Independent source of truth
At best, depends on science
Knowledge beyond experience— God, the soul
In principle, yes No

33. Four Kinds of Philosophers

34. Classifying philosophers
Realist Idealist
Rationalist Explorer Dreamer
(Platonist) (Kantian)
Empiricist Scientist Skeptic
(Aristotelian) (Humean)

35. Explorers (Platonists)
Rationalism: We can know something about the world independently of experience
Realism: Some things are independent of mind

36. Explorers (Platonists)
We can know something about the world as it is, independently of mind, through reflection alone

37. Explorers (Platonists)
How?
The structure of the mind matches, in some respects, the structure of the world
Mind and world harmonize

38. Architects (Platonists) tend to be:
> Internalists: Knowledge is justified true belief
> Correspondence theorists: truth is correspondence with reality
Plato, Origen, Augustine, Avicenna, Descartes, Leibniz

39. Dreamers (Kantians)
Rationalists: We can know something about the world independently of experience
Idealists: Everything is mind-dependent

40. Dreamers (Kantians)
We can know something about the world through reflection alone
How?
Our minds construct the world

41. Dreamers (Kantians) tend to be
> Internalists: Knowledge is justified true belief
> Coherence theorists: Truth is maximally comprehensive coherence
Buddha, Laozi, Kant, Hegel

42. Scientists (Aristotelians)
Empiricists: All knowledge of the world comes from experience
Realists: Some things are mind-independent

43. Scientists (Aristotelians)
We can gain knowledge of the world, but only through experience

44. Scientists (Aristotelians) tend to be
> Externalists: Knowledge = true belief from a reliable process
> Correspondence theorists: truth = correspondence with reality
Aristotle, Confucius, Nyayayikas, Aquinas, Locke, Mill, Russell

45. Skeptic (Humean)
Empiricists: All knowledge of the world comes from experience
Idealists: Everything is mind-dependent

46. Skeptic (Humean)
We know at most our own ideas, and those only through experience
We have no better insight into the workings of our minds than into the world itself

47. Humeans tend to be
> Internalists: Knowledge = justified true belief (or would be, if we had any)
> Skeptics: We know nothing at all
Sextus, Nagarjuna, Berkeley, Hume

48. What is Philosophy?
Philosophy has been called many things and it can have many meanings
Those single words or statements on the right side are only some of them
What words would you add?
Wisdom
Reality
Theories
Meaning of Life
Nature of being human
Life perspectives

49. Here is One Definition:
Putting the nature of the universe, including meaning, people, and relationships, into an understand-able or explainable perspective
What is your definition???

50. The purpose of this presentation is to acquaint you with various philosophical systems or models. Each system or model can be interpreted in terms of the education or training of adults.
Once you examine a particular system or model, ask yourself such questions as (a) With what parts do I agree and with what parts do I disagree? (b) How might they impact on or affect the way I train or educate adults? (c) What does the model have to say for my role as an adult educator or trainer?
Examine the visual representation of these notions in the next slide.

51. Various Philosophical Systems or Models
Idealism
Humanism
Can be Interpreted in Terms of Educating/Training Adults
With Implications for Training/Educating Adults
With Implications for Adult Educator Roles

52. IDEALISM Meaning is in the ideals of life itself
Reality is made up of absolute truths
However, a “truth” sometimes is only in the eye of the beholder
Educationally this means the use of inductive reasoning, lecturing
Plato was an early key proponent of this model

53. REALISM Meaning comes through empirically proven facts
Reality is made up of natural laws, facts
However, empirical facts are always subject to change
Educationally this involves scientific reasoning
Chisholm and Whitehead proponents

54. PROGRESSIVISM Meaning comes through concrete facts
Theory based on truth makes up reality
Problem solving and experimenting are instructional techniques
But does this diminish the teacher’s role?
John Dewey a leading proponent (had a huge impact on American education)

55. LIBERALISM Freedom comes through a liberated mind
Humans endowed with reasoning ability
Thus, educationally you teach learners the classics and develop their minds
But, the past may not relate to modern problems and situations
Aristotle was an early proponent

56. BEHAVIORISM Human behavior tied to prior conditioning
External forces control all human behavior
Could learning be too complex for the control of certain behaviors?
Teaching methods include behavioral conditioning, feedback, drill and practice
B. F. Skinner well known proponent (he also impacted heavily on U.S. education)

57. HUMANISM Intellect distinguishes humans from animals
Humans have potential/innate goodness
Thus, educationally you facilitate and encourage self-direction
Some educational needs may be missed?
Abraham Maslow early proponent

58. RADICALISM People themselves create meaning
Knowledge leads to an understanding of reality and, ultimately, necessary change
This approach can be idealistic in nature and often leads to confrontation
Teach by dialogue and problem solving
Paulo Freire prominent proponent

59. ECLECTICISM
Fortunately, there is a way of dealing with all the various models
Eclecticism is not a philosophical system or model, but rather is the synthesizing and per-sonal interpretation of various models to draw out the best components for yourself
Thus, you pull the best from various models in any effort to build your own statement of personal philosophy

60. Selected References
Archambault, R. D. (1964). John Dewey on education. New York: Modern Library, Random House.
Bambrough, R. (Ed.). (1963). The philosophy of Aristotle (A. E. Wardman & J. L. Creed, Trans.). New York: New American Library of World Literature.
Bergevin, P. (1967). A philosophy for adult education. New York: Seabury.
Brubacher, J. S. (1969). Modern philosophies of education. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Chisholm, R. M. (1961). Realism and the background of phenomenology. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.
Cushman, R. E. (1958). Therapeia: Plato's conception of philosophy. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York: Macmillan.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan.
Elias, J. L., & Merriam, S. (1980). Philosophical foundations of adult education. Malabar, FL: Krieger.
Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Herder and Herder.
Lindeman, E. C. (1928). The meaning of adult education. New York: New Republic.
Maslow, A. (1976). Education and peak experience. In C. D. Schlosser (Ed.), The person in education: A humanistic approach. New York: Macmillan.
Rogers, C. R. (1969). Freedom to learn. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Skinner, B. F. (1971). Beyond freedom and dignity. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Taylor, A. (1926). Plato: The man and his work. London: Methuen & Co., Ltd.
Whitehead, A. N. (1933). Adventure of ideas. New York: Macmillan.
Zinn, L. M. (1990). Identifying your philosophical orientation. In M. W. Galbraith (Ed.), Adult learning methods: A guide for effective instruction. Malabar, FL: Krieger.