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Concept
Philosophy of education
Summary
The philosophy of education is the branch of applied philosophy that investigates the nature of education as well as its aims and problems. It includes the examination of educational theories, the presuppositions present in them, and the arguments for and against them. It is an interdisciplinary field that draws inspiration from various disciplines both within and outside philosophy, like ethics, political philosophy, psychology, and sociology. These connections are also reflected in the significant and wide-ranging influence the philosophy of education has had on other disciplines. Many of its theories focus specifically on education in schools but it also encompasses other forms of education. Its theories are often divided into descriptive and normative theories. Descriptive theories provide a value-neutral account of what education is and how to understand its fundamental concepts, in contrast to normative theories, which investigate how education should be practiced or what is the right form of education.
One of the difficulties in giving a more precise definition is the great variety of topics that are being discussed in the philosophy of education. Some studies focus on its fundamental concepts, like the concepts of education, teaching, learning, and student. Such studies often take the form of conceptual analysis, which aims to clarify concepts by discovering their fundamental constituents. Many discussions center around the aims of education, i.e. issues like why individuals should be educated and what purposes should be pursued in the process. There is wide agreement that these aims include passing on knowledge as well as the development of the abilities of good reasoning, judging, and acting. But theories describing more specific goals and their relative importance are usually controversial. Prominent suggestions include curiosity, creativity, rationality, morality, freedom, autonomy, and open-mindedness.
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