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Introductory part
Aims of the course

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•.To expose students to different philosophical schools of thought

•To acquaint students with knowledge, and skills into philosophical inquiry about educational issues and problems

•To involve students in applying some ideas  from different educational philosophers

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Expected Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course students are expected to:

i.Identify a variety of schools of thought and important philosophers in philosophy of education

ii.Use ideas from various schools of thought in analyzing and discussing educational issues and problems of today

iii.Develop argumentation skills/clarity and analysis

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Course Contents

1.Module 1: Conceptualizing Philosophy of Education

a)The Popular conception of Philosophy

b)Professional sense of Philosophy

c)The Branches of Philosophy

d)Functions of Philosophy

e)Integration of philosophy and education

f)Approaches of studying philosophy in general

Module 2: Philosophies of education(schools of thought in education)

a.Naturalism :Epicurus,  Spencer,  Comenius

b.Metaphysics (idealism): Plato, Berkeley, Hegel

c.Empiricism/Realism: Aristotle, John Locke

d.Academic Rationalism: Rene Descartes

e.Behaviorism: Watson, Skinner

f.Pragmatism: John Dewey, William James,

g.Existentialism: Sartre, Tillich ,Niebuhr

h.Dialectics: Karl Marx

i.Social Constructivism: Immanuel Kant

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Module 3: Promotion of Creative and Critical Thinking

a.Definition of the Terms

b.Education for Creativity and Critical thinking

c.Rationale for promoting creativity and critical thinking

d.Features of Creative individuals

e.Modes of identification of creative individuals

f.The Socratic method

Module 4:
The Dynamic side of Philosophy

a)Definition of logic

b)Logic and argumentation

c)Syllogisms and forms of arguments (deductive and inductive logic)

d)Logical and illogical argumentation (Fallacies)

Types of fallacies

üFallacies of Relevance

§Fallacy of Argumentation against the person

§Fallacy of Argument from Ignorance

§Fallacy of Appeal to Authority

§Fallacy of  Appeal to Pity

§Fallacy of Appeal to the people

§Fallacy of Appeal to Force

ü

ü

Types Continued……….

üFallacies of Ambiguity (Misuse of Language)

§Equivocation

§Amphiboly

§Accent

üFallacies of Composition and Division

§Composition

§Division

üFallacies of Neglected Aspect

Types continued…..

üFallacies Caused by Overlooking Facts

§Hasty Generalization

§Sweeping Generalization

§False Dilemma

üFallacies Caused by Distortion of Facts

üFallacies Caused by Evasion of Facts

üFallacies Caused by Inconsistency

Module 1: Conceptualizing Philosophy of Education

a)The Popular Conception of Philosophy

Comes from two Greek terms philia and sophia which means love of wisdom

It coincides with the beginning of the first human being Homo Sapiens a latin term to refer wisdom(a body of knowledge, a desire to know). It is connected with the English Term wisdom meaning exercising our intelligence in any field of knowledge or practical matter, an ardent desire to find out

Popular conception continues

It is the adventure of human reason through out history. It is the thinking activity characterizing the endless human quest for truth

In a broadest approach, it reveals the human attempts to explain and justify the phenomena of the universe, which impress and amaze human beings and raise the desire to know more

From world outlook (weltanschauung), every human being is born with the capacity to justify the way this  world affects him/her and his reaction to it. This is general philosophy characterized by a genuine human response to life and is taught in most cultures and societies

b. Professional sense of Philosophy

Here philosophy becomes a strict function of being the rational account of reality; it demands systematic, explicit, critical and open debates. It becomes methodical and rigorous study of reality. It becomes discursive in the sense that the mind distances itself from everyday life and returns to it in the form of reflection(structuring the reality)

It is the technical aspect of philosophy, a formal area of discipline which contains tested and verified beliefs, assumptions, principles or ideas and clearly identifiable and special form of experience.

It involves formalization, where various human activities are given a system or structure, and specialization where a person acquires exceptional knowledge or skills in a particular subject as a result of intensive and constant study of the subject

c. The branches of philosophy

There are four main branches of philosophy classified according to the main philosophical questions in life such as:

question related to being or existence (answered through metaphysics),

 questions related to knowledge (answered through Epistemology)

questions related to values (answered through –moral philosophy/ethics, social philosophy, political philosophy and aesthetics, all termed as Axiology,

Questions of logic, the theory of correct inference/reasoning

Branches continues

Metaphysics: refers to what goes beyond physics, beyond the study of corporeal nature

It deals with the facts that are supra sensible, existence of the facts that lie outside the range of human observation and experience

It is divided into cosmology: a study of the universe, interested in explaining rationally the origin and nature of universe

Description of meta..

It is closely related to theology dealing with religious matters, such as the nature of religious beliefs, the meaning of supernatural and the existence of God, it gives about the origin and end of life.

It deals with ontology, the philosophical study of being/whatever is.

It also deals with rational/philosophical psychology dealing mainly with the mind and the way it functions such as in perceiving, imagining, remembering, feeling, understanding and willing

epistemology

It is the study of knowledge; it is a systematic inquiry into the nature and ground of experience, belief and knowledge. It deals with how and why rather than on what

It is a systematic reflection on knowledge itself

It answers the following questions

-what are the sources of knowledge?-how do we come to true knowledge? –What can we know?. It aims at exploring scientifically what we can know, how we can know and how reliable that knowledge is.

Types of Knowledge

Revealed knowledge; knowledge accepted through faith and it cannot be proved or disapproved empirically. It is a knowledge inspired to special men by God regarding his divine will. It is God’s inspired knowledge to men about the truth of God.

It is the knowledge we get in the bible or Qur’an/diviners and traditional priests; it is unquestionable type of knowledge about the truth of religion; for empiricist it is the knowledge accepted through faith and it cannot be proved or disproved empirically.

It can be distorted/perfected/exaggerated through the process of human interpretation

Intuitive knowledge

It is a knowledge that a person acquires in the moment of insight; it is an immediate knowledge that one gets without formal process of reasoning or an intermediate stage of thinking or sensory perception

It is the sudden eruption into consciousness of an idea or conclusion produced without a long process of conscious work

It basis on the imaginative vision or private experience of the person, it helps one to go beyond the limits of experience.

Rational knowledge

It is the knowledge we obtain by the exercise of reason accompanied by observation of actual state of affairs; truth is deduced from a certain constructed principle; it involves abstraction; so it doesn’t rely only the sense experience

It is the type of knowledge used in mathematics and in formal logic, for example; if one gives a proposition that if “A” is grater than “B” and “B” is grater than “C” the one can conclude that “A” is grater than “C”. Rational truth are valid universally.

Empirical knowledge

It is the type of knowledge acquired through senses such as by seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, feeling  tasting etc. it is the knowledge composed of ideas formed in accordance with observed or sensed facts.

For empiricist it is the only reliable means of acquiring knowledge because it is both practical and verifiable.

It has been criticized on the ground that it is incomplete and undependable and deceptive due to physical conditions, weather changes (refraction and mirage), sickness, fatigue, and frustrations.

Authoritative Knowledge

It is the knowledge not subjected to questioning or criticism

It is made up of facts that have been accepted as true; eg the statement that light travels in a straight line; genes are the one’s that carry character traits from parents to offspring, the table of logarithms, published text books,

This source of knowledge is valid if the assumption  upon which it  stands is correct.

logic

Is a study of principles of correct reasoning.

It establishes the truth or falsehood of the statement

It justifies the validity and soundness of an argument

It aims at arriving at the truth and to understand reality.

Types of logic

There are three branches of logic which are

Deductive logic: is one  in which  the premise grantees  the conclusion; validity is applied to deductive argument.

An argument is deductively valid if and only if  it is not possible for the premises to be true and the conclusion false. Eg

  -All human beings die

-yet Juma is a human being

-therefore Juma will die

An argument is deductively invalid if and only If the premises may be true but the conclusion false; eg

    - All Africans are black

     - Yet all Tanzanians are  black

      -Therefore all Tanzanians are Africans

Types of logic cont.

Inductive Logic is the one whose truth is probable from the given premises or  it is the one in which the conclusion does not necessarily  follows from premises. It is mostly used in natural sciences

Eg Most  ladies decorate  themselves

Juma decorates himself

Juma is a lady

Most Briton Speak fluent English, Ngayakwe Speeks Fluent English, Ngayakwe is  a Briton

Types of logic cont..

Symbolic logic is purely mathematical, here symbols are used to represent figures or ideas, symbols represent words used in deductive and inductive logic , for example

Argument.  P: Mukama is a lecturer

                    - Q: Mukama has several publication

                    -R: Therefore,Mukama is industrious

This can be presented using symbols as follows

If P and Q, then R. or (P.Q)→R

Branches of philosophy cont.

Axiology. It is the study of the general theory of values, its main branches are ethics and aesthetics

Ethics is also called moral philosophy, it reflects on the nature and origin of moral values, i.e it addresses the questions about morality on what is right or wrong/good or bad, which ethical principles are correct ones, does good exist in action or in mind of an individual? What is good life for all people, what is the standard by which good act is judged etc

Types of axiology continued

Aesthetics it is the theory of beauty as applied in the field of art, architecture and music. It studies questions related to nature of beauty , it gives the criteria and standards of evaluating art. Something is beautiful if it fulfills its functions properly.

All in all, axiology ifs further concerned with social, cultural and political values, eg social philosophy, political philosophy, philosophy of culture etc

d. Functions of Philosophy

It is the exercise of our intelligence in any field of knowledge or practical matters, it is the ardent desire to find out./ it is a search for understanding

It is the thinking activity whereby it reveals human attempts to explain and justify the phenomena of the universe

It is the rational account of reality as it demands a systematic procedures,  explicitly, critical and open debates

It is discursive in the sense that it brings about reflection of the reality, it is an attempt to ask basic questions about basic concept such as freedom, love

Functions of philosophy continued.

It is the guide for living because it addresses basic and inclusive issues

It is concerned with ultimate meaning of our activities, it brings about testing critical discussion

It studies the fundamental nature of existence of man and the relationship of man to existence

It is the  comprehensive system of ideas and the nature of reality we live in

Integration of philosophy and education

This is taken as aspects in education that serve as the gateway to various aspects of life. It shows how philosophy can benefit in education i.e how we can use philosophy in finding a vision and principles of forming a person consciously.

Philosophy in education is meant to form clarity and consistence so as to specify the concepts expressed by the community.

It gives methods for viewing students as a whole so as to find the ways on how to develop a  complete human being (every part of the individual –mind, body, emotion and spirit should be developed at the same time and being integrated into the whole of human person

It also  involves making a person smart, intellectually, psychologically and spiritually (i.e to make one a good person)

It involves giving people knowledge and helping to translate knowledge into true wisdom

Integration cont.

Philosophy and education help to remove division between the school and the society, study and human life, knowledge and goodness. For Whitehead, we need to have relation of the whole to the parts as the central understanding of reality. Relatedness is fundamental, nothing is in isolation; all things depend upon each other; so we don’t need to separate the body and the mind. The body contains both the mental and physical attributes of unified experiences; in this sense teachers have to train the whole part of the students as integrated human  beings not as isolated persons.

Integration cont.

Philosophy and education help us to view the students holistically (as a whole),the teachers do not only confront a mind or body or cognition or affect but a totality; thus the learner bring their whole being to the situation

It helps the school system to teach students to know, understand, evaluate and appreciate their cultures and others cultures. Thus philosophy through education brings power to an individual(knowledge is power, ignorance is oppression, we are oppressed if we don’t know, understand, and appreciate our neighbors around the world, we need this knowledge to understand why they act the way they do.

It brings about conceptual clarity so as to understand claims put forth, for example we learn about good life, so one will learn to ask himself what is good life, also it brings  coherence- refers how various parts are interconnected, one learns how to fit facts together. For example one learns how to fit different beliefs about life together.

It brings consistency so as to eliminate contradiction; comprehensiveness so a s to  consider other range of phenomena- to understand the whole range of reality. Compatibility by unifying our knowledge

Integration cont

Philosophy and education persuade a person to adopt and use different methods in solving different problems; that is one is enabled to be creative

In modern educational system it focuses on giving students knowledge and equipping them to find jobs, development of human creativity and spirituality along with translating knowledge into wisdom has been ignored.

It helps to form specialization hence we get the purpose and process.

It helps to improve teaching practices by focusing on the whole realm of education

It prepares the environment for effective learning to happen by persuading the administrators and all stakeholders in education (for plato an educator is like a torch bearer who leads students from dark cave of ignorance into bright light of knowledge.

f. Approaches of studying philosophy in general

Philosophy is an activity with three modes or styles namely: speculative, prescriptive and analytic.

Speculative philosophy is the endeavor/attempt to frame a coherent, logical and necessary ideas in terms of which every element of our experience can be interpreted. It is a rational enterprise with a commitment to rationality. It is the way of thinking systematically about everything that exists.

It involves the search for  order and wholesomeness applied  to particular items or experience. It is an attempt to find coherence in the whole realm of thoughts and experience. It attempts to fill the gap. For example  in contemplating the metaphysical issues such as – what is the nature of human beings? What is our origin? What is good or bad?

 

Prescriptive philosophy

It also known as the normative function of philosophy. It seeks to establish norms and standards of performance and conduct.

It sets out the goals and ideals to guide practice and criteria for evaluating achievement of goals. It is found in the expressions of how people ought to act or react in a given situation

It involves defining  the concepts such as what is good or bad, what is beautiful or what is ugly, what is right and what is wrong. In education it sets standards, goals and criteria for evaluating performance such as setting objectives for learning, standards for passing or failing a  student.

It involves judging and appraising conduct and art

Analytic philosophy

It involves breaking something down into its parts. Thus it attempts to clarify and analyzing the meaning of concepts and statements.

It focuses on words and meaning in order to clarify what we say. Analytic philosophers affirm that the task of philosophy is to clarify the meaning of language. Philosophy operates on the assumption that human beings experience problems because of tendency of using notions which do not reflect the actual situation. Such notions include causes, mind, academic freedom, quality of opportunity, education for self reliance etc

MODULE 2:Philosophies of Education (schools of Thought in Education)

Introduction : philosophy of education is the study of the purpose, process, nature and ideals of education. The world education is derived from the Latin word “ Educare”-which means to draw out and realize potentials/(teach-nani atakutichi) and “Educere” meaning to bring up and to nurture that is one learns from a competent person or imitates from a formator

For Kant the purpose of education is to enable humanity to develop and to improve; “man can only become man by education.

Purposes/aims of the schools of thoughts in education

a) to determine the aims and dimensions of education such as –

-cognitive dimension where there is formation of concepts resulting into knowing, one learns to associate one idea and another

-The normative dimension where one learns the values and ideals, principles, norms and standards recommended by the society. Education is meant to show what ought to happen within the community.

dimensions continue

-creative dimension that involves divergent and convergent thinking, where one learns to be aware of his tasks as a creator, a producer and a creator of his tasks; education is meant for problem solving where divergent thinking is involved by finding new solutions, new possibilities and to produce original ideas.

-dialogical dimension where one learns to communicate one idea to another. Thus education becomes a tool for forming character, giving discipline, knowledge, growth, personal fulfillment and aesthetic refinement.

Aims of philosophies of education continue…….

b)Harmonizing old and new tradition s

   c)providing progressive visions to educational planners, administrators and educators so as to achieve educational development/or to attain educational goals efficiently

d) Providing strategies to the society members as a means to combat existing educational challenges facing the society.

-Generally philosophy of education influences what and how students are taught, it represents answers to questions about the purpose of schooling, a teacher’s role, and what should be taught and by what methods(refer Nyerere on Education)

Examples of the schools of thoughts

Naturalism (Epicurus, Herbert Spencer, J.A Comenius

For them educational system is meant for provision of knowledge and goodness. Here a leaner imitates from a teacher having competence and  efficiency. Therefore the role of the teacher is to raise up this desire for knowledge and goodness.

According to Amos comenius(1592-1670), children are born with a natural craving for knowledge and goodness and that schools diminish these desires

Naturalism cont..

For Epicurus, schools need to provide peace and tranquility (of the mind) to a person by eliminating threats such as fear of gods and fear of death, and one must be helped to restrict desires within the bounds in which one can satisfy them (issues of sexism)

Currently the Tanzanian society is imitating cultures threatening peace and tranquility of the mind discuss.

B. Metaphysics(idealism):Plato, Berkeley, Rene Descartes, Hegel

For them education is a moral enterprise whereby  children(learners) have to be helped to become super man (philosopher king)- so as to use reasons in leading their life; this becomes possible by appealing to the good examples of the teachers.

According to Plato education should be holistic including facts, skills, physical discipline and rigidly censored music and art

Plato thought that children must be removed from their mothers’ care and raised as wards of the state so as to raise up their talents.

Metaphysics cont..

Plato further pointed out that; from the group a great care has to be taken to differentiate children suitable to various activities of the state. For him, he believed that talents are distributed non-genetically, and thus it is found in children born in all classes. Thus the most suitable gifted children should be trained highly to qualify to assume the role of ruling class(leadership)-this would provide peace and tranquility in the society (philosopher king). Philosopher king who knows the truth-have seen the light and reality so has the duty to train others to become philosopher king

Plato cont. on metaphysics

For him education is a tool of the state not parents in raising up talents(philosopher king-highly disciplined who will also influence others positively. His education theory provided the following organization and curriculum:

i) Elementary School; co education at elementary level where children are taught mathematics, poetry, music, and literature till the age of 18years.

Plato’s curriculum cont.

ii) military training: after elementary education two years of physical education should be given and select the best of them for higher education to prepare for the future guardians of the state.

iii) higher education to be given from twenty to 35years of age, at this stage the student can study several subjects namely mathematics, literature and philosophy. These were prepared to be the future leaders of the state.

Empiricism/Realism(Aristotle, John Locke)

For them healthy education is the one that enables one to reason/ think that is the ability to form new truth from already known truth.

For them, goodness and wisdom are both grounded in reason. Thus the teachers’ role is to develop the rational capacity of the young to promote the mind (reason-reflection) and character (good-behavior)

For Aristotle, nurture, habit and reason are considered to be three equally forces for healthy education

Aristotle cont.

He considered repetition to be a key to develop good habits. The teacher has to lead the students systematically. Thus has to balance the theoretical and practical aspects of the subjects taught.

For him a learner has to be helped in reading, writing, mathematics, music, physical education, literature, history and wide range of sciences

John Locke on Empiricism

For him, education has to involve a common law (constitution) as a process to guide order and discipline in learning so as to develop reasoning since knowledge is based on perception of the connection and agreement or disagreement and repugnancy of any idea

Academic Rationalism(Rene Descartes, Jean Jacques Rousseau

For them the foundation of education is self-efficacy that is the use of curiosity in producing reasons.

For them the truth obtained by demonstrative knowledge will be necessary (self evident). The paradigm of this type of knowledge is pure mathematics where one starts from definition (from already known truth) to a certain knowledge

For them the knowledge of physical nature depends ultimately on the reliability of our everyday observations and judgments.

Thus the teacher’s role is to guide observations and judgments

Academic cont.

According to Rousseau, children are unable to reason until they grow older so they need to learn according to the natural phenomenon that is according to the needs of nature(environment).

Rousseau in his book Emile affirms that there is one development process common to all human, this is an intrinsic, natural process of which the primary manifestation is curiosity . For him all children are perfectly designed organisms, ready to learn from their surroundings so as to grow into virtuous adults, but due to malign(strong) influence of the corrupt society, they often fail to do so.

Rousseau cont.

For him the role of the teacher is to guide the children according to children’s nature and not according to impositions that do not conform to their nature.

Teachers  have to develop and teach children in accordance with the laws of nature that is according to children’s own environment.

The task of the teacher is to study the laws of nature, to guide children in their interests and instincts- the teacher is a guiding observer, spectator of the children’s own self directed actions.

e. Behaviorism-watson,skinner

For them schools had to train environmental control of external behavior through learning

And not unobservable inner consciousness.

For them human beings are products of their conditioning experiences, and their behavior can be controlled completely by manipulating their environment.

So the role of the teacher is to examine the behavior strictly from outside. for them we are because of what we learn. Thus the role of the teacher is to devote their efforts to discovering the laws that govern learning and performance

For them to change human beings, we must manipulate the environment that controls behavior through its pattern of rewards and punishment(behavior modification)

f. Social constructivism. Emmanuel Kant

Education is for making synthesis between the real and theories. Education should start from what is seen (experienced) phenomena to further association of ideas(noumena (what is inside beyond place of experience) to apriori synthesis the act of putting different representations together, and of grasping their multiplicity in one cognition.

So education has to propagate synthesis of the inner and outer sense, imagination, understanding, judgment and reasoning

Education has to concentrate on combining study and social actions, education should eliminate social problems

g. Dialectics-Karl max

Education is for building unity, as there is natural attraction of the opposites between male and female, but not for building classes of rich and poor. Education is a social faculty for transforming real relations into a unity of opposites so as to fit the social reality; so education has to promote positive thinking in the society

In reality the system of education brings about contradiction as it promotes social ranks or classes (workers alienated from their human essence), education is for realization of human essence, capitalism negates our human essence and so has to be abolished if human essence has to be realized, only then could humanity win control over its own destiny rather than being controlled by the system of production (education for employment, foreign languages etc). The unity could be possible by moving from abstract to concrete

h. existentialism, Jean Paul Sartre

Education is to develop consciousness- a characteristics of the being in which it depends. Consciousness reveals being (existence), it brings awareness of different objects(ability to make differentiation),  it induces significance, differentiation, forms meaning and our purposes. It is the source of all determination of everything that happens to being. Thus consciousness is awareness of objects and its own activity by its power of detachment.

For them, education is a tool for free will and the need for individual to shape their own futures, students have to control their education, students are encouraged to understand and appreciate their uniqueness and assume responsibility for their action

Existentialism cont.

For them students and teachers work together on determining what should be learned and how best to learn it.

Education centers on student needs, contemporary relevance and preparing students for changing the future. School is seen as an institution which works with the youth to improve society or help students to realize their individuality

Pragmatism-William James

Education has to develop introspection that is enabling one looking into one’s own mind and reporting what we have discovered (self empowerment). Introspection is a kind of inner observation that we recognize because we so often do it

If asked to introspect, we look inside and report what “we see ”what we typically see are  moods, feelings, impulses, thoughts and images.

Introspection involves a direct or a simultaneous observation based on one’s interest

Education has to develop observation and noticing as they occur simultaneously with the subject state that is noticed

Pragmatism cont.

Education has to involve experimentation by observing observation and practice, teachers have to use models in teaching and have to guide students in practical to enable learning and practice

Education has to involve learning and practice and should not be a teacher centered philosophy which tend to be more authoritative and conservative and emphasize values and knowledge which survived through out times such a school of though is essentialism focusing on teaching essential elements of academic and moral knowledge; it urge the school to get back to basics, and believe in a strong core curriculum and high academic standards.

Pragmatism cont.

Education has to be a key for liberation, liberation means to set free from some impediments or to throw off impediments to freedom that restrict man’s full physical and mental development (Nyerere, 1982). Liberation entails fundamental changes in both attitudes and skills towards a state of freedom(ability to choose)- to remove/going against habits and attitudes that limit one’s mind to mental liberation by raising one’s consciousness or awareness towards different issues that may lead one to submerge in ignorance to go against one’s humanity. Education is for growth and development(Freire), one becomes aware of one’s potentials, weakness, restrictions and gains evaluative attitudes

Education is for setting one free from all kinds of inhabitation and limitation(Nyerere- education for self reliance)

Module 3:Promotion of Creativity and Critical Thinking

a) definition of terms

-creativity involves problem solving or producing new ideas or knowledge ;/ new approach to reality ;where as critical thinking involves the use of reasons whereby new truth is formed from the already  known truth. It is different from mere thinking where thoughts simply come to us one after another without being organized.

We reason whenever we solve problems, make decisions, assess character, explain events, write poems and predict events, so we involve evaluative thinking. When we reason we actively link thoughts together in such a way that we believe one thought provides support for another

Education a tool for creativity and critical thinking

It is a knowledge based system that focuses on exploring ideas, generating possibilities and looking for many right answers rather than just one.

It involves the use of criteria to judge by making special relationship between different thoughts.

It involves promoting social, emotional and academic growth to students by allowing them not to concentrate on to create and follow logical arguments, figure out correct answers the answers, eliminate the incorrect path and focus on the correct one. Basically it involves using criteria to judge the quality of something. It involves the search of validity of something, statement, new story, arguments, research rather than claiming that base on bottle feeling basing on teaching students how to claim only. It involves taking a proper approach to things, how to react to a new circumstances, willingness to question, experiment and take chances.

The rationale for promoting Creativity and Critical Thinking

It involves the standing points or the ways necessary for enabling a person to involve in creativity and critical thinking. These are methods or guiding principles that can be followed a person towards self gratification; these ways include

-Evolution/imagination/ Idea generation: it involves coming up with new ideas or new alternatives to solving problems and new variations. It is the faculty or action of producing ideas especially mental images of what is not present or had not been experienced; it is the ability to consider alternative views, or new ways of life. it is the incremental improvement where new ideas stem from other ideas, new solutions from previous ones.

Rationale cont.

Synthesis; which involves combining ideas into a third; it involves connecting the dots, applying knowledge and techniques from one discipline to another so as to solve or consider a problem, it includes utilizing a knowledge in a new context.

Revolution which involves changing the direction to a new one so as to bring necessary changes, readiness to take action  for improvement

Reapplication which involves exercising what one has discovered as important for several times to bring perfection. Exercise or repetition  makes someone perfect; Aristotle Says habituation is a mother of all good behavior/virtues

Flexibility/entrepreneurship where the ability to cross conceptual bounderies

Rationale cont.

Persistence; involves the ability to pursue a solution  to a problem or etc, even when faced with difficulties, roadblocks, negative feedbacks or any other form of resistance, one has to have determination  and focused

Intrinsic motivation: which involves to have the desire to do something based on enjoyment of the behavior itself rather than relying on external reinforcement

Concentration: the ability to disregard peripheral materials and concepts in order to focus on the task or problem at hand

Risk Taking – the willingness to undertake a venture that may result in a loss or damage to oneself

Rationale Cont

Originality; creating something new and useful to a discipline, domain or community.

Divergent thinking: ability to go against the grain of the usual or expected.

Curiosity: wanting to know more about something, a desire to dig deeper into a subject; unwilling to settle for conventional explanations

Abstraction and simplification: the ability to formulate general concepts from common properties, the ability to set the big picture, identifying fundamentals, first principles and general structure

Features of Creative Individuals

Here we are referring the characteristics that make one person different  from others, one road block that prevents many people from boosting their creativity is the notion that creativity is linked to intelligence- other people say that creative people are born that way. But creativity is the matter of how you approach things, how you act or react to a new circumstances,  creativity is not what you are as much as what you do, these include:

Proclivity to look things in different ways, willingness to question, experiment and take chances

 Valuable intellectual traits such as humility, courage, empathy, integrity, perseverance, faith on reasoning, fair mindedness, clarity, accuracy, precision and relevance, depth, breadth and logic, fairness, caring, citizenship, cooperation, visionary and self respect.  use intuition and logic to make decisions and produce ideas

Have lighten up mind, humor and fun, expressive and willing to share what they feel and think

Features of Creative P cont.

Others are affective and cognitive strategies such as: -Creative people keep trying and work through failure.- More motivated by the task rather than the reward.- Tolerance for ambiguity, the ability to perceive value in high complexity.-Seek problems, enjoys challenges, able to suspend judgment, confortable with imagination, sees problems as opportunities, intervention and solution.

Features cont.

Self disciplined, independent, accountable and able to resist group pressure( Socrates Writes “a good person cannot be harmed by other, that is the real me is my most important part nor the outward physical part of me, no one can corrupt me or damage me from outside, an evil person can cause great pains or even kill me, but what makes me cannot be affected or harmed by others unless I allow my beliefs, values, emotions and directions in life to be influenced unthinkingly by those around me).

Always have a positive attitude towards reality, one eliminates the fear of failure that holds many people back. They have open to experience and new ideas, and curious and understanding that actions create a certain consequences. Wants to find order, solutions and new ideas.

Promoting Creativity and Critical thinking in education

The curriculum should include both practical and theoretical aspects i.e significant learning combining logical and the intuitive, the intellect and the feelings, the concepts and the experience, the idea and the meaning to enable the learners to exercise more what is taught, it should be more focused or forward looking through focusing on the changing society needs, thus it should base on verification and observations.

Use of familiar learners environment and experience in teaching and learning activities, the teacher has to learn to let them learn; i.e no place for authoritarian(Martin Heidegger 1951

use of experimentations by going direct to the phenomena outside class. intensive exercise that arose motivation and active participation in doing, a teacher has to repeat several times to question students to help them clarify their own deepest thoughts.

Personal involvement: the whole person in both his feeling and the cognitive aspects in the learning events; self initiated should come from within to grasp something; pervasive in making difference in terms of attitude  and behavior, The learner evaluates –knows whether it meets ones needs,  it leads towards what one wants to know, or it illuminates the dark area of ignorance one experiences (Carl Rogers  -freedom to learn.

The Socratic Method

Historical survey about Socrates

Socrates is the contemporary of the sophists and was called a sophist. The sophists were living in the 5th B.C in Athens. The sophists were the regular/itinerant teachers  who found their chief task in scientific and rhetorical instruction for public Greek Morality, the educators of the citizens in the political and social matters. Sophism put emphasis on the psychological aspect of man rather than on physis as the early philosophers did. In this anthropological interest both sophist and Socrates share a common ideal. The sophist instructions began with the study of language as an essential requirement for the art of speech.

The aim of learning was to speak well and convince others( they were receiving money for their teaching but Socrates free of charge. Sophists insisting on rhetoric and  the possibility of  ignoring different things about one and the same object. It lead the risk of losing all  faith in universally valid truth which lead to Skepticism which Socrates opposed.

History of Socrates Cont

Socrates is the central figure of Greek philosophy, with him does the inquiry of nature come to an end. Philosophy now turns to man, man is the object of reflection.  Socrates  asks  himself what is the nature of the  lost reality of man ? What is  the last essence of man? The  answer is that the  man is  his  soul.  The soul is the source of  thinking and   ethical activities. If the soul is the essence of the man, to take care means not only to take care of material things of the body but to deviate to the people and to the material things.

 Thus the supreme task of the education is to help the students to practice that; but for the sophists is to win in the public debates – valued the external aspect of man but Socrates valued internal aspect of man through self examination- interior examination –reflection- unexamined life is not worth living, know yourself’ self knowledge and self control; -to examine others. For him we can know ideas or concepts which are valid for all men

The method itself

It is a dialectic method which comes from a Greek word for conversation in search or understanding the truth.

Socratic method focuses on giving student questions rather than answers.

It involves an inquiry by probing the mind and continually probing into the subject with questions

It involves questioning in a logical manner where one has to keep the discussion focused, keeping the discussion intellectually responsible, stimulate the discussion with probing the questions, periodically summarize what has and what has not been dealt with or resolved. It draws many students possible into discussion.

How the method was done

Socrates did that by unpacking the philosophical issues in everyday conversation, isolating key philosophical terms that needed analysis.

He professed ignorance and requesting the help of his companion, proposing a definition of key terms from his companion, analyzing  the definition by asking questions that expose weakness(Tanzanian Proverb “Kuuliza si Ujinga’),examining a new definition through allowing one to admit his or her ignorance( allowing a learner to judge

Major characteristics of the Method

The method is midwifery: whereby he held familiar conversation and rhetoric with the person to discover the truth by himself or herself.

Ironic: whereby he pretended to be ignorant while being wise that is he was ready to learn from others.

Dialogical: whereby he disclaimed authority on his part pleading the searcher, he directed the argument which is a different from feeding information so a s to produce improved definition, realizing and by asking more questions.

Module 4: The Dynamic Side of Philosophy

This is the technical aspect of philosophy in which a person has to be able to form a coherent, valid and sound one against logical contradiction or illogical statements .

Here philosophy becomes a tool for correct reasoning

One is able to identify the logical statement against the illogical or fallacious one

It includes the following aspects bellow

a) Definition of logic

Logic is the science that studies the relationship between the premises and conclusion with a view to determining when and to what extent the premises support the conclusion

It was first recognized as a science in the 4th century B.C by Aristotle, who described what he believed were the basic principles of correct reasoning. Reasoning is different from mere thinking in the sense that mere thinking involves lack of organized thoughts-where thoughts come to us one after another; reasoning involves active link of thoughts together in such a way that we believe one thought provides support for another thought. Here education is not for mere learning

b). Logic and Argument

Logic involves truth preservation

eg all students are stubborn

   -yet John is a student, 

 - therefore John is stubborn

An argument is a set of statements called premises designed to support another called conclusion

A statement is a sentence/set of words that is used to make a claim that is capable of being true or false

Argument cont.

A statement that is true by definition is called an analytic statement e.g all bachelors are unmarried adult males

A statement that is false by definition is called a contradictory statement. E.g some bachelors are married.

A statement whose truth or falsity is not solely dependent upon the meaning of words in it is called a synthetic statement E.g every successful person is wealthy; or –you can’t fit a square peg into a round hole.

Structure of an argument

An argument may have a simple structure that is with one premise and a conclusion

E.g :P-When Jim quit playing the trumpet, he gave it to his young brother,

      C- Hence, John won’t be able to lend his trumpet to Andrew. That is P

                                                 ↓

                                                  C.

Complex structure

It consists two or more premises and a conclusion E.g

P1: Every medical doctor has to tell someone that a loved one has died

    P2: Yet Betha is a medical doctor

     C: Therefore, Betha has to tell someone that a loved one has died.

P _P2 :C; All in all logic is about the relations among sentences and group of sentences.

c. Some basic Notions (words, Terms and Concepts

i) Truth, Logical Strength and Soundness

Truth of logic depends on statement and never inference (inferences involve special relationship between different thoughts e.g when we infer B from A, we move from A to B because we believe that A supports or justifies or makes it reasonable to believe in the truth of B

Logical strength is a property of inferences and never of statements. When given A and if A then B, then “B” must be concluded from “A”. This common form of deductive argument/reasoning is syllogism

Some basic notion continues-

Syllogism(logical Strength) refers  inferential connection from the premises to the conclusion. We say an argument has logical strength when its premises actually provide support for its conclusion. Example:

-the population of Mtwara Mikindani 27,000˥p1

-while the population of Newala is 26’000˩p2

-therefore Mtwara mikindani has a large population than Newala) c

An argument is termed Valid if its conclusion does follow from its premises, whether the premises are true or not . For example

Valid argument continues

For example

All cows are pigs)p1

Yet all animals are cows)p2

Therefore All animals are pigs) c

An argument is sound if its conclusion follows from premises that are true in the sense that premises correspond with reality. For example

All living creatures  breath )p1

Yet John is a  living creature)p2

Therefore John breathes.)c

An argument is Invalid if the truth/falsity of the conclusion does not depend on the premises. For example

All animals are creature)p1

Yet All goats are creatures)p2

Therefore All goats are animals )c

Logical Consistent: a sentence is logically consistent if and  only if it is possible for all members of that set to be true. Eg Dar university is larger than Stella Maris;

The sun is  the hottest star

Syllogism and Forms of Arguments

Syllogism is a set of premises and conclusion. Premises are principles used to establish another truth; where as a conclusion is a proposition containing  truth drawn from the premises.

There are two forms of syllogism which are deductive reasoning/logic and inductive reasoning /logic

Deductive Reasoning is a process of reasoning in which truth is established from a well universally principle/a point of reference. This principle or point of reference is taken to be universally true and the truth drawn from it is granted to be true. In this type of reasoning if one accepts the general truth, one must accept the particular truths drawn from it;

For example if it is taken as the universal truth/principle that

-All Africans are creatures

-and that all Makonde people are Africans

-From this principle another truth is drawn that all Makonde are Creatures.

Forms of syllogism cont.

Inductive reasoning: is a process of reasoning starting with the truth of individual cases leading to a universal truth underlying them

In this type of reasoning one starts with the effects in order to trace their universal cases. It begins with what is subject to experience then proceeds to  discovery of the causes.

-it makes conclusions or generalizations based on probabilistic reasoning/hypothesis. For example

1 If 90% of humans are right-handed

Yet Joel is a human

Therefore Joel is probably right handed

-2 if 90% of the university girls are hard iron

Yet Janeth is a university girl on

Therefore Janeth is probably hard iron

Inductive reasoning cont

Inductive reasoning is extremely common both in science and in every day life

For  example a discovery made by walter reads that individuals stricken  with yellow fever have resent mosquito bites

Yet individuals not stricken with yellow fever tend to work in areas not infected with mosquitoes

-most individuals bitten by mosquitoes that have recently bitten yellow fever patients soon contract yellow fever.

Therefore mosquitoes transmit yellow fever

Illogical Argumentation(Fallacies)

A fallacy is an error in reasoning. It is an error/weakness that detracts from the soundness of an argument. It undermines the logical validity/soundness of an argument

For example:

-Janeth is a widow with two teenage children living in one room basement apartment(p)

-Therefore employer should promote her to supervisor(c)

-

Some Types of fallacies

Fallacy of relevance: base on given authorities or general accepted opinions to make conclusion. For example: a successful teacher is the one driving Prado cars

Fallacy of appeal to ignorance: one attempts to use an opponents inability to disprove the conclusion as a proof of the validity of the conclusion. It involves lack of evidence against a conclusion is used to prove the conclusion true/ in other words it includes lack of evidence for a conclusion is used to prove the conclusion true .e g:

 - you can’t prove I am wrong, so  I must be right.

-the president of this country is a spy for foreign powers

-God Knows

-There is intelligent life  elsewhere in the galaxy (no one has been able to prove that there is not)

. Fallacy of Appeal to Authority: one attempts to justify an argument by citing a highly admired or a well known(but not necessarily qualified)figure to support the conclusion being offered: eg

-Africa will never develop unless it adopts American style of life

-For further development of our university , the management should invite the prime minister at the graduation celemony

Examples of fallacy continues

Appeal to people/Crowd: one refers to popular opinion or majority sentiments/beliefs in order to provide support for a claim i.e you take something to be true because many people take it to be so. Common man or common sense provides the basis for a claim. For example: all I can say is that if living together is immoral, then  have plenty of company.

-Whoever has attended the university agrees that the university life is so tough .

-University tests are extremely unfair, just ask anyone who took it.

Fallacy cont

Appeal to pity/poverty: one  basis on one’s difficulties, problems or dangers to make a conclusion/it usually basis when one faced with difficulty financial situations. Eg

-teachers fall into unethical behaviors especially in exams because are lowly paid, so they do so to raise their income status, if one caught cheating should not be punished.

-Janet is a widow  with two children, she has no enough money for paying a monthly rent, so her boss has to promote her to supervisors so that she may be able to pay the monthly rent

Cont.

Appeal to Force: one makes a claim by basing on given authority or power to make conclusion. Eg

- All teachers in Tanzania should perform well their duties because their president does his work more seriously.

-All citizens should be ethical as their president is ethical

-Fallacy or Argument against the person: it consists rejecting one’s conclusion by attacking the personality of a person making a claim, that  is simply providing negative information about a person does not prove that his/her claims are false. Here one does not take into consideration of the opinion given by a person but on one’s personality/here one considers who is talking or pointing to a similar wrong or error committed by a person but not what is spoken by a person. Eg  you are told to stop drinking alcohol  but your answer is that how can you tell me such a thing while you a drunker.

-

Cont.

False dilemma: implies that one of the two outcome is inevitable and both have negative consequences. Eg

-you avoid buying an expensive car or a cheaper one to avoid being damaged or stolen.

Sweeping Generalization: where one assumes that what is true of the whole will be true of the part or what is true in most instances will be true in all instances. Eg - all white people are rich because they come from rich countries.

Hasty Generalization: one makes judgment basing on an inference or too small sample or single example. Eg -all cellular phones are really rude

cont

Inconsistency: it involves advancing an argument that is self contradictory, or that is based on mutually inconsistent premises. Eg

-You will see if you die.

-Even if you study hard you won’t pass your examination.

Fallacy of Equivocation: it occurs when a word or phrase changes its meaning in the course of argument. Eg  -My beloved friend, my sweet you deserve punishment(someone who is your friend does not deserve a punishment.

Fallacy of Composition: taking a part of a whole(a member of a group) taken individually and concludes that its property also may be attributed to the whole group. Eg - every citizen here in Tanzania weighs less than 50kg ; therefore a country has slim/thin people

- Or when one says, the bible is well written because every sentence in it is correct.