The Idealist Philosophy of Education

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

 Idealists believed that ideas
are the only true reality.
Everything is of mental
nature.

IDEALISM
We can never directly know or
experience an external object
itself. Only minds and the
objects of the mind exist.
Because the material world is
characterized by change and
instability, truth can never be found in
this material world because truth
should be absolute and changeless.
The Idealist Philosophers

Dr. Lionel E. Buenaflor

Knowledge is a form of To know the good is to do
intellectual midwifery. the good. Knowledge is a
virtue and ignorance is a
vice.

Socrates
As a person, we have the Knowledge is inborn. Hence, virtue
responsibility to make is also a natural endowment and
our soul as good as not an artificial convention or a
possible. habit of action acquired through
education.
 There is the pre-
pre-existence of the person.
Because we are imprisoned in our body, it is important that we
reminisce our knowledge of the real world.

People need as much as People should concern

possible to free themselves
from a concern with
matter so that they can
advance towards the
Good.
themselves primarily with the
search for truth. Truth
cannot be found in the world
of matter which is imperfect
Plato and constantly changing.

As for people, he held that people do not

create knowledge; rather, they discover it.
The purpose of teaching was to lead people back to an awareness of a union
with the source from which all things come.
People should look within their souls for the true knowledge that exists
there.

St. Augustine
of Hippo
One should release himself from the CIVITAS MUNDI and enter into the
CIVITAS DEI.

People do not create knowledge because God has already created it. People
can discover knowledge if they attempt to find God.
 He attempted to search for the idea that is true and indubitable, which will
also serve as the foundation of all knowledge.
He thought that if he could discover ideas that are clear and distinct,
then he would have a solid foundation upon which to build other ideas.

Rene Descartes

He used the method of UNIVERSAL SKEPTICISM in order to search for the

true and indubitable truth.

Through this, he was able to arrive at the idea “Cogito, ergo sum.”
 He was famous for his idea “ESSE EST PERCIPI, i.e., “to be is to
be perceived.”

There is no existence All existence depend on some

without perception. mind to know it. If there are
However, things may exist no minds, then nothing
in the sense that they are would exist unless they are
perceived by God. perceived by God.

George Berkeley

He was actually attacking the idea of MATERIAL

REALISM, which contend that a material world exists
independent of the mind.
 Real knowledge is possible.

Nature, the objective

reality is a causal
continuum, a world What the human mind can
connected in space and perceive is the phenomenon
time with its own internal but not the NOUMENON.
order. The subjective mind
cannot perceive this order
in itself or in totality.
Immanuel Kant
Education should consist of discipline, culture, discretion and moral
training. The essence of education should not simply be training but
enlightenment.

Education should lead us to the understanding of the Categorical Imperative,

which is the voice of duty.
 Nature is the “otherness” of idea, its opposite, or we may say, the
difference between value and fact.

Idea and Nature are not

finally separate (a He was not denying the
dualism at which ordinary facts, stones, and
Descartes arrived). sticks of everyday life..
Dualisms are intolerable These are a lower order of
as any final stage. reality, and not the final
synthesis.

Friedrich Hegel
The final stage of synthesis of idea and nature is spirit, and this is where the
Final Absolute is encountered.

There is a final end toward which we move—

move —the search for the
final Absolute Spirit.
 The external meaning of a thing depends entirely on its internal
meaning, i.e., its “embodiment of purpose.”

The embodiment of purpose Purposes are incomplete

is the criterion of without an external world in
mentality and thus, the which they are idealized,
internal essence of and the external world is
anything is mental. meaningless unless it is the
fulfillment of such purpose.

Josiah Royce

One of the most important things to develop is a sense of loyalty to

moral principles and causes. This implies spiritual overtone.
 Education should not only
stress development of the
mind but should also
encourage students to focus
on all things that are of
lasting value.
The aim of education should be
directed towards the search for
true ideas that are to be found
only in the spiritual world.

Aim of Education
Education should focus on the SEARCH FOR TRUTH, SELF-
SELF -
REALIZATION and CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT.

Truth can never be found in this world of matter. True education is one that
is concerned with ideas rather than matter.
 Because of the learners’
immaturity, it is the role of
the teacher to guide them
along the correct path
towards the Infinite.
One of the primary functions
of education is to open the soul
to God.

Aim of Education
It is the duty of the teacher to encourage students to ask questions and to
provide a suitable environment for learning.

For the religious idealists, the student is important as creation of God and
carries within some godliness that the school should seek to develop.

For Augustine, truth is inherent in the soul of the individual. Education is

the process of bringing these truths to the surface.
 They gave stress on the
importance of self-
self-activity
in education. True
education occurs only
within the individual self.
Education is self-
self-education.
Learning continues even when the
teacher is not present.
The teacher should be the kind of person
we want our children to become.

Methods and Curriculum

Idealists stress classical studies.
William Harris developed a curriculum centered around Five Studies:
mathematics and physics, literature and art, biology, grammar, and history.
Herman Horne suggested the Seven Major Studies: physics, biology,
psychology, mathematics, grammar, literature, and history.

The most important factor in education is TO TEACH THE STUDENTS TO

THINK. The most important part of one’s being is one’s mind. Hence, it should
be nourished and developed.
The high cognitive level of education that the idealists promote.

Their concern for safeguarding and promoting cultural change.

Their concern for morality and character development.

STRENGTHS OF IDEALISM
Teacher as a revered person central to the educational process.

Stress on the importance of self-

self-realization.

Stress upon the human and personal side of life.

Comprehensive, systematic, and holistic approach.

Idealist education tended toward intellectualism to the detriment of
the affective and physical side of life.

They concentrated on education for upper classes of

society which leads to elitism.

WEAKNESSES OF IDEALISM

Curriculum is overly bookish, which makes recognizing

the emotional and social needs a failure.

Curriculum deals too much of the past and very little about the
present.
 Assignment:
Trace the influence of the eastern philosophy in the philosophy of Idealism.

Is the Idealist philosophy still relevant in today’s educational system in the

Philippines? Why or why not?

Should idealism be made the tool and the model in reconstructing the
society? Why or why not?