B.Ed First Year Notes English Medium
Q. Relationship between education and philosophy
Both, philosophy and education are based on the conceptions of wisdom, ideology and critical enquiry, the difference being that philosophy is contemplative in nature while education is an active process.
The philosophy of education is that branch of knowledge which is in constant quest of truth and those who are lovers of visions of truth are called philosophers. Thus a philosopher naturally becomes an educationist.
Every man has his own philosophy of life and it is natural that he will seek to influence and convince or convert others to his way of thinking.
And education is nothing but this process of influencing, convincing and converting. Thus education is a practical means of realizing the philosophical idea of life and it is fundamentally dependent on philosophy.
Philosophy towards life and values in general determine what we feel towards the role of education in shaping a child’s character. For eg., earlier, corporal punishment was a preference whereas now it is an aversion.
Thus we can see that the setting and subsequent changing of a curriculum is highly influenced by the philosophy held by people at a particular point of time.
The inter-dependence of philosophy and education and relationship between philosophy and education can be found in the lives and teachings of all great thinkers. Eg. Socrates and Dewey in the West to Yajnavalkya and Mahatma Gandhi in the East. And Plato’s philosophy in the Republic is universally accepted as a classical treatise on education.
Thus to conclude, James Ross rightly pointed out that education and philosophy are two sides of the same coin.
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