1. Foundation of educatio(Ed 511)
1ST SEMESTER
SUBJECT TEACHER
Dr.TOLANATH KAFLE
Associate professor
janta m. campus
2. Foundations of Education
Course No. : Ed 511
Nature of Course: Theoretical
Level: M.Ed.
Credit Hours: 3
Semester: First
Total teaching time: 48 hours
3. Course introduction
This is a core and compulsory course designed for
the students of the Master Degree in education.
It enables students to develop a
comprehensive theoretical knowledge and
profound understanding related to different
philosophical approaches.
It also orients students about the social
foundation and different power perspectives in
education, role of state in education, and
educational development in Nepal at various
historical times
4. General objectives of the course
To assist the students to analyze the
philosophical base of education within different
schools of philosophy.
To analyze the sociological basis of knowledge
and identify its possible use in education.
To explore the role of state in education.
To link power perspectives in relation to
political,, ceconomicultural and global context
To review the politics of education in Nepal at
various historical periods and draw implications for
future.
5. Unit one
Introduction to Eastern Philosophies of education (12
hours )
– Fields of philosophy (Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology, and Logic)
– Linking above fields of philosophy with indigenous knowledge.
– Introduction to Vedic Philosophy and its educational implications
• Sankhya,
• Yoga,
• Vaishesika,
• Nyaya,
• Mimamsa,
• Vedanta
• Gurukul education system
– Introduction to Buddhist philosophy and its educational implication
• Monastic education system
– Introduction to Islam and its educational implications
• Madarsa education system
• The critique of eastern philosophies
6. Basic concept of philosophy
• Philosophers always ask these questions:
• Who we are?
• Is there a higher existence that determines our existence?
• What is the relationship between nature and human beings?
• What isthe meaning of life?
• Are our senses reliable in telling us about the truth of the universe?
• How do we get to know about the world?
• What is the relationship between the mind and the body?
They further ask these questions:
• What is happiness?
• What is virtue?
• What is the relationship between individuals and the collective?
• How can we organize a society and an economy that promote the
common good?
What methods should we employ to find out truth from false statements?
Can we ever hope to find out the truth of our existence?
7. Meaning of philosophy
Oxford Collins Cobuild Dictionary (2006) –
Philosophy is the study or creation of theories
about basic things such as the nature of existence,
knowledge, thought, or about how people should
live. Philosophy is a particular theory that someone
has about how to live or how to deal with a particular
situation.
Babylon English Dictionary:
Study the principle of existence behavior and
knowledge;study the nature of human thought & of
the world.
8. cont
• The word philosophy literally means love of
wisdom; It is derived from two Greek words
i.e. 'phileo' (love) and 'Sophia' (wisdom).
9. Cont
• Philosophy is a search for a general
understanding of values and reality by chiefly
speculative rather than observational means. It
signifies a natural and necessary urge in human
beings to know themselves and the world in
which they live and move and have their being.
दर्शन भनेको अवलोकनको माध्यमको अपेक्षा
मात्र नभई मुख्य रूपमा मूल्य र वास्तववकताको
सामान्य समझनाको खोजी हो। यसले
माननसहरुमा एक प्राकृ नतक र आवश्यक
चाहनालाई दर्ाशउँछ जस्ले बाँचचरहेको संसार
चचन्छन ् र आफ्नो अस्स्तत्व राख्छन ्।
10. दार्शनिकहरू जहहले पनि यी प्रश्िहरू सोध्छि्:
• हामी को हौं?
• के त्यहााँ उच्च अस्तित्व रहेको छ जसले हाम्रो अस्तित्व निर्ाशरण गदशछ?
• प्रकृ नि र मानिस बीचको सम्बन्र् के हो?
• जीविको अर्श के हो?
• के हाम्रो इस्न्ियहरु ब्रह्माण्डको सत्यको बारेमा बिाउि भरपदो छ?
• हामी कसरी संसारको बारेमा जान्ि सक्छौं?
• हदमाग र र्रीरको बीचमा के सम्बन्र् छ?
• खुर्ी भिेको के हो?
• सद्गुण भिेको के हो?
• व्यस्क्ि र सामूहहक बीचको सम्बन्र् के हो?
• हामी कसरी एउटा समाज र अर्शव्यवतर्ा व्यवस्तर्ि गिश सक्छौं जसले यस
संतर्ालाई बढावा हदन्छ
• सार्ारण राम्रो?
• झूटा कर्िबाट सत्य पत्ता लगाउि हामीले कु ि िररकाहरू अपिाउिु पछश?
• के हामी कहहल्यै आफ्िो अस्तित्वको सत्यिा पत्ता लगाउि आर्ा गिश सक्छौं?
11. Definitions of philosophy
• Aristotle - "Philosophy is a science which discovers the real
nature of supernatural elements".
• "दर्शनर्ास्त्र एक ववज्ञान हो जसले अलौककक तत्वहरूको
वास्तववक प्रकृ नत पत्ता लगाउँदछ"।
Levison - "Philosophy is mental activity". "दर्शन मानससक
गनतववचि हो "।
• Karl Marks - "Philosophy is the interpretation of the world
in order to change it". - "दर्शन संसारको पररवतशनका
व्याख्या सग सम्वस्न्ित छ"।
• Hegel - "Philosophy is that which grasps its won era in
thought.""दर्शन त्यो हो जसले ववगतको युगलाई सोच्दछ।"
• Kant Immanuel Regards philosophy as "the science and
criticism of cognition.""अनुभूनत र आलोचनाको ववज्ञानका
रूपमा दर्शनलाइ माननन्छ
12. Cont…
Henderson - "Philosophy is a rigorous, disciplined, guarded
analysis of some of the most difficult problems which men
have ever faced."
• "दर्शन एउटा कठोर, अनुर्ाससत, संरक्षक्षत ववश्लेषण हो
जुन माननसले अहहलेसम्म भोगेका िेरै समस्याहरू
मध्येको एक हो।"
John Dewey - "Philosophy is not a panacea (remedy for all
kinds of diseases/troubles) for the problems of men, but is
that which emerges out of the methods employed by
them to solve their problem
• "दर्शन माननसहरूका समस्याहरूको लाचग राम्रा औषचि (सबै
प्रकारका रोग / समस्याहरूको उपचार) होइन, तर उनीहरूको
समस्या समािान गनशका लाचग प्रयोग गररएका ववचिहरू
बाहहर ल्याउने पद्नत हो ।
13. cont
• Aristippus thinks that philosophy is "the ability to feel at ease in any society
• Socrates - "Philosophy is a daily activity".
• Phenix - "Science attempts only at the discovery of facts. Philosophy is not
interested in the discovery of facts. Rather, it is interested in facts insofar as
to provide an attitude towards them. It tries to organize, interpret, clarify and
criticize the already discovered facts of science."
• D.J. Connar philosophy "as an activity of criticism or clarification."
• Plato "He who has a taste for every sort of knowledge and who is curious to
learn and is never satisfied may be justly termed as a philosopher."
• G.T.W Patreck - "Between science and philosophy the very closest
relationship exists. They spring from the same root, the love of knowledge
and they aspire to the same end, the knowledge of reality. While science
describes the facts, philosophy interprets them."
• Brubacher - "Science is interested in the proximate or efficient causes of the
facts, while philosophy is concerned with its ultimate or final causes."
14. cont
• Carlies Lamont - "philosophy is the tenacious attempts of reasoning men
to think through the most fundamental issues of life, to reach reasonable
conclusions on first and last things to suggest worthwhile goals that can
command the loyalty of individuals and groups."
According to
• Kilpatric - "Philosophy is a point of view, outlook on life."
• Dr.Radhakrishnan - "Philosophy is a view of life. It gives a direction to
life, offers a design for living."
• Existentialists - "Philosophy is not a search for truth, but a trail of truth".
According to
• Hiryana - "Philosophy is a emerged as a result of reflection over the
experiences and problems of everyday living."
• Cicero, Marcus Tullius - "Philosophy is the mother of all arts and "the
true medicine of the mind."
• George Berkeley - "Philosophy, being nothing but the study of wisdom
and truth..."
15. • Joseph A. Leighton - "Philosophy like science, consist of theories of
insights arrived at as a result of systematic reflection."
• Simon Blackburn - "[Philosophy is] a process of reflection on the deepest
concepts, that isstructures of thought, that make up the way in which we
think about the world. So it’s concepts like reason, causation, matter,
space, time, mind, consciousness, free will, all those big abstract words and
they make up topics, and people have been thinking about them for two
and a half thousand years and I expect they’ll think about them for
another two and a half thousand years if there are any of us left."
• R.W. Sellers - "Philosophy is a persistent attempt to gain insight into the
nature of the world and ourselves by systematic reflection."
According to C. J. Ducasse - "Were I limited to one line for my answer to it, I
should say that philosophy is a general theory of criticism."
• Humayun Kabir - philosophy "seeks to give knowledge of the whole."
• Anthony Kenny - "Philosophy is thinking as clearly as possible about the
most fundamental concepts that reach through all the disciplines."
16. • Henderson thinks that philosophy is a research for "a comprehensive view
of nature, an attempt at a universal explanation of the nature of things."
Millard and Bectrocci defined philosophy as the presistent, critical and
systematic attempt to discover and consistently formulate in relation to
each other the basic characteristics, meanings and values of our
experience in its widest perspectives."
According to Ludwig Wittgenstein - "The object of philosophy is the
logical clarification of thoughts. Philosophy is not a theory, but an activity.
A philosophical work consists essentially of elucidations. The result of
philosophy is not a number of ‘philosophical propositions’, but to make
propositions clear. Philosophy should make clear and delimit sharply the
thoughts which otherwise are, as it were, opaque and blurred."
According to Raymont - "Philosophy is an unceasing effort to discover the
general truth that lies behind the particular fact, to discover also the
realities that lies behind appearance."
17. • According to Brightman - "Philosophy may be defined as an attempt to
think truly about human experience or a whole or to make out whole
experience intelligible."
Kant regards philosophy as - "the science and criticism of cognition."
According to Fichte - "Philosophy is the science of knowledge."
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor defined it as the "Science of science."
According to John Armstrong - "Philosophy is the successful love of
thinking."
According to Marilyn Adams - "Philosophy is thinking really hard about
the most important questions and trying to bring analytic clarity both to
the questions and the answers."
According to Edger S. Brightman - "Philosophy is essentially a spirit or
method of approaching experiential rather than a body of conclusions
about the experience."
According to Richard Bradley - "Philosophy is 99 per cent about critical
reflection on anything you care to be interested in.”
18. • Huxley, Aldous observes "Men live in accordance with their Philosophy of
life."
H. Dumery defines philosophy as a "critical reflection on concrete action."
According to Plato - "Philosophy is the acquisition of knowledge."
According to Clifford Barrat - "It is not the specific content of these
conclusions, but the spirit and the method by which they are reached, which
entitles them to be described as philosophical..."
Curtis, George William states "During the course of centuries, the meaning
attached to philosophy has undergone many changes, and even in the present
day, thinkers, are not in complete agreement about the aims and subject-
matter of this branch of knowledge."
According to Michael S. Russo - PHILOSOPHY = "A critical examination of
reality characterized by rational inquiry that aims at the Truth for the sake of
attaining wisdom."
Milton K. Munitz suggests that "philosophy is a quest for a view of the world
and of man's place in it, which is arrived at and supported in a critical and
logical way."
Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines philosophy as "Love of exercising one’s
curiosity and intelligence" rather than the love of wisdom.
19. • According to Bramold - "Philosophy is a persistent
effort of both ordinary and persistent people to make
life as intelligible and meaningful as possible."
According to Herbert Spencer - "Philosophy is
concerned with everything as a universal science."
According to Don Cupitt - "Philosophy is critical
thinking: trying to become aware of how one’s own
thinking works, of all the things one takes for granted,
of the way in which one’s own thinking shapes the
things one’s thinking about."
22. Metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy
responsible for the study of existence. It is the
foundation of a worldview. It answers the
question "What is?" It is the study of nature of
man,nature of univers, nature of truth,nature of
existence.
23.
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26.
27. Epistomology
• Epistemology is the study of our method of
acquiring knowledge. It answers the question,
"How do we know?" It encompasses the
nature of concepts, the constructing of
concepts, the validity of the senses, logical
reasoning, as well as thoughts, ideas,
memories, emotions, and all things mental. It
is concerned with how our minds are related
to reality, and whether these relationships are
valid or invalid.
28. Epistemology is the explanation of how we think. It is required
in order to be able to determine the true from the false, by
determining a proper method of evaluation. It is needed in
order to use and obtain knowledge of the world around us.
Without epistemology, we could not think. More specifically,
we would have no reason to believe our thinking was
productive or correct, as opposed to random images flashing
before our mind. With an incorrect epistemology, we would
not be able to distinguish truth from error. The consequences
are obvious. The degree to which our epistemology is correct is
the degree to which we could understand reality, and the
degree to which we could use that knowledge to promote our
lives and goals.
31. AXIOLOGY
Axiology, which stems from two Grrek words-
“Axios” means “value, worth” and “logos”means
“reason/ theory/ symbol / science/study of”.
Hence, Axiology is the philosophical studyof value
and “value” originally meant the worth of
something. Axiology asks the questions: Whatis a
value? Where do values come from? How do we
justify our values? How do we know what is
valuable? What is the relationship between values
and knowledge? What kinds of values exist?Can it
be demonstrated that one value is better than
another? Who benefits from values?
32. Axiology has two main branches-
ethics and aesthetics
Ethics is the study of moral values and conduct.
“How should I behave?” is an ethical question.
Ethical theory seeks to provide right values as the
foundation for right actions. What is good and evil,
right and wrong? Is it ever right to take something
that does not belong to you? In many ways, ethics
is the crucial issue of our times. World societies
have made unprecedented technological advances,
but have not advanced significantly, if at all, in their
ethical and moral conceptions.
33. Aesthetics
Aesthetics asks such questions as “What is
beautiful?” and “What should I like?” How do we
recognize a great piece of music? Art? Can there be
beauty in destruction? Aesthetics is the realm of
value that searches for the principlesgoverning the
c reation and appreciation of beauty and art in both
“the higher arts” and the things of daily life, such as
school architecture, television programs, and
billboards. Evaluations of beauty and ugliness fall
into the aesthetic realm.
35. Introduction to Vedic Philosophy and its
educational implications
• The Indian schools of philosophy may be
classified broadly into two Asthika (orthodox)
and Nastika ( heterodox). The first group
believed in the Vedas and the second school
rejected the Vedas. The first one‘s are called the
Asthika systems which have the schools of
Mimansa, Vedanta, Sankhya, Yoga, Nyaya and
Vaisesika. The latter schools are Charvaka,
Buddha and Jaina.
36. Concept of veda
• The vedas, upanishads, puranas and epics are the sources
oto know the ancient Indian philosophy and education.
With a view to understand the philosophy of vedas, it is
very necessary to understand the meaning of the word
‗veda‘. Veda is derived from the root of sanskrit word
‗Vid‘.
Vid means to :
• To know {God, soul, nature & mind}
• To be {one with God}
• To obtain {salvation}
• To consider {various relationships}
• To feel {oneness with God}
• To tell {glories of God}
• To dwell {into the mysteries of universe}
37. Vedas believe
• The concept of one God and one world
• God is one & only one (omniscient, omnipotent and ever present)
• There are three entities in this universe – God, Soul and Matter.
• Ultimate aim of life is to obtain salvation (moksha) in union with god
• Actions are followed by their results. The ‗Law of Karma‘ is an important teaching of
Vedas.
• This universe is formed by god.
• The theory of rebirth and immortality of soul
• Universe is real, universal fraternity should be promoted
• Knowledge of truth should be acquired and dissipated
• Justice should be done to all creatures and we should live in peace & harmony.
• Vedas was the basic education during those days.
• Each Veda was divided into further three broad sections :
Mantras
Brahmans
Aryanakas
38. • The Vedas are a collection of hymns and other
religious texts composed in India between about
1500 and 1000 BCE. It includes elements such as
liturgical material as well as mythological accounts,
poems, prayers, and formulas considered to be
sacred by the Vedic religion.
• (इ पू १५०० र १००० बीचमा रचना गररएको भजन
र अन्य िासमशक ग्रन्थहरूको संग्रह वेद हो। यसमा
मन्त्र र उपासनाका सामग्री साथै पौराणणक
वववरणहरू, कववताहरू, प्राथशनाहरू र वैहदक िमशले
पववत्र माननने सूत्रहरू समावेर् छन ्।
39. VEDIC RELIGION
• Vedism is the oldest stratum of religious
activity in India for which there exist written
materials. It was one of the major traditions
that shaped Hinduism
• भारतीय दर्शनमा िासमशक कियाकलापको
सबैभन्दा पुरानो र्ाखा वेदवाद हो । जसमा
लेणखएका सामग्रीहरू हहन्दू िमशलाई आकार
हदने प्रमुख परम्परा माननन्छन् ।
40. Four Vedas
• Rig-Veda “Knowledge of the Hymns of
Praise”(भस्ततज्ञान)
• Sama-Veda “Knowledge of the Melodies”
(सङ्चगत)
• Yajur-Veda “Knowledge of the Sacrificial
formulas” (सािना र्ुत्र)
• Atharva-Veda “Knowledge of the Magic
formulas” (जादु टुना)
41. RIG-VEDA
• RIG-VEDA “Wisdom of the Verses” Rig Veda consists of
10,552 verses (collected into 10 books) of hymns and
mantras used by the hotri priests. The hymns of the Rig
Veda focus on pleasing the principal gods Indra (war,
wind and rain), Agni (the sacrificial fire), Surga (the sun)
and Varuna (the cosmic order) through ritual sacrifices.
the Vedic gods also forgive wrongdoing and mete out
justice in the afterlife. (त्रृग्वेद “पदको ज्ञान” यसमा
१०५५२ पदहरू छन् (१० वटा पुस्तकमा संकलन
गररएको) होत्रत्र पुजारीहरूले प्रयोग गरेको भजन र
मन्त्रको सङ्ग्रह रहेके त्रृग्वेदमा िासमशक देवता इन्र
अस्ग्न,सूयश र वरुण देवताहरूलाई िासमशक मन्त्रका
माध्यमबाट खुर्ी पाने कु रामा के स्न्रत गररएकाछन्।)
42. SAMA-VEDA
• SAMA-VEDA "Wisdom of the Chants” liturgical
works consisting primarily of selections from
the Rig Veda. Sama Veda was chanted in fixed
melodies by the adhvaryu priests. Each
contain about 2,000 verses.
43. YAJUR-VEDA
• YAJUR-VEDA “Wisdom of the Sacrifical
Formulas" liturgical works consisting primarily
of selections from the Rig Veda. The Yajur
Veda was used by udgatri priests and contains
brief prose to accompany ritual acts, many of
which are addressed to the ritual instruments
and offerings. Slideshare.net
44. The ATHARVA-VEDA
• The ATHARVA-VEDA “Wisdom of the Sacrifical
Formulas" Was added significantly later than the
first three Samhitas, perhaps as late as 500 BC. It
consists of 20 books of hymns and prose, many of
which reflect the religious concerns of everyday
life. This sets the Arharva Veda apart from the
other Vedas, which focus on adoring the gods and
performing the liturgy of sacrifice, and makes it
an important source of information on the
practical religion and magic of the time.