1.5. Philosophy and Education

The term 'philosophy' has a Greek origin. It can be traced to the Greek word 'philosophia' which is made up of two words i.e. 'phileo' (love) and 'sophia' (wisdom). Therefore, philosophy literally means 'love of wisdom'. Since times immemorial there have been various pursuits for unfolding the mystery of the universe, birth and death, sorrow and joy. Various ages have produced different thoughts throwing light upon the mystic region. The ultimate truth is yet to be found out. This eternal quest for truth lends the origin of philosophy. A love of wisdom is the essence for any philosophic investigation. Education is a growing science and its foundations are to be explored for a study of the subject as an inter-disciplinary approach^[1]. Philosophy is the corner-stone of the foundation of education. But this does not mean that education should be enslaved to philosophy or some set of values created by human society. Philosophy should be interpreted as a vision in a wider perspective. This being so, education should be wedded to some philosophy in general. We need some frames of reference in which education has to fit. There have been various schools of philosophy presenting their views with much optimism.

Education is the process of enabling people not merely to live but to live adequately. There are various facets of education: academic, aesthetic, and moral, physical, social and spiritual. Theories of education have been formulated and different values emphasized. Thus, both philosophy and education are correlated, but interdependent. Without philosophy, education would be blind effort and without education, philosophy would be crippled.

The Philosophy should give up the futile attempt to know ultimate realities like God and the self and limit itself to the world of experience. Plato states that the knowledge of reality is knowledge of the universal unchangeable and eternal. And such knowledge cannot be given by sense perception, which does not reveal the reality of things but gives mere appearance.

From above it would appear that there are two broad concepts of philosophy:

(1). Philosophy is a science of some kind and it differs from the special science not in kind but in degree. Philosophy is concerned with most general types of problems and also examines them more critically.

(2). Philosophy is not merely the intuitive experience of reality, it is an intellectual attempt to interpret and understand universe.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

The Mother, Guidance on Education: Advice to Students and Teachers, pp.127-128.