The relationship between education and philosophy has been a relatively complicated topic. The purpose of this write-up is to simplify both terms for you and see what exactly the two words in question have to do with each other.
So if you ever wonder the relationship of education and philosophy, kindly stay on this page and concentrate on getting the meaning of everything written herein word for word – it has been made for you.
Philosophy has been described to be a form of learning that is based on personal experiences and education. Since anyone can develop philosophies by observing and studying specific areas of life, it can be done anywhere.
While education is acquiring or imparting institutionalized instructions, teaching is especially done at the school (restricted learning environment).
Both education and philosophy are similar because they entail learning, and value-adding is their principal objective. In Philosophy, you learn by yourself, through observation.
Meanwhile, when we talk of education, it is the learning of other people’s philosophies and discoveries – though they are often systematic and institutionalized. Otherwise, they may not be welcome as formal.
The fact that philosophy cannot be separated from education and vice versa may not be apparent to many. Still, as we go on in this article, you will learn everything you need to know about both words we compare.
You may not get it if we go by the idea for an article like this. Hence there will be a change in the supposed pattern. I will ensure I simplify the topic to the best of my might.
I think it will be wise for us to begin with a brief history of philosophy and education. How did they start? This will help us know very much about the topic at hand.
The Concept of Education
Let us start with education. Education, a planned activity involving the transmission of skills, knowledge, and sometimes character traits, has long existed.Unlike Philosophy (somewhat), no one can come out to validate the year education started.
In this part of the article, we are supposed to examine the year education started, but because no valid source has confirmed this, we will assume it is as old as man.
Right from the outset – the origin of man, man has always been said to be a social and interdependent being.
This and a few other studies about humanity prove that man had started educating themselves right from time.
Note that there are three forms of education: Formal, Informal, and Non-formal.
Oh! Education only occurs when you dress up in the morning, take your breakfast, and dash to school. If you are of this mentality because it is what some people think, you get it all wrong.
Since the transfer of knowledge here is done in a restricted environment, we say it is formal education. This form of education is often guided by the curriculum, a topic guide for teachers built by advanced educators.
Non-Formal Education
The standard form of education may be a little bit more advanced than this in most cases. This form of education is usually more flexible than the first.
Non-formal education is majorly based on the transmission of skills.
Informal Education
As the name suggests, this form of schooling occurs at home. You learn from people around you and life experiences.
With this, you should have learned about the purpose and forms of education. One thing that unites these three forms of education is the transfer of what has already been discovered.
And that would be all on education in this section of the article. Let us do the same thing to philosophy, and the relationship between the two will follow.
The Concept of Philosophy
Even though Plato invented the term, philosophy is believed to have also begun ‘before man thought of having calendars.’ This means that it could probably be as old as education in history.
Plato only helped to classify the act he practiced with his master, Socrates, back in the day, introducing the word “philosophy.” The term was coined from a Greek word, Philosophia, meaning “love of wisdom.”
Thus, philosophy entails seeking to know more. Not only do philosophers study widely, they work on answering some commonly asked but tactical questions.
Closely examining the relationship between education and philosophy, you would agree that Plato perhaps only meant to introduce philosophy as a term to tell “advanced education” – since philosophy deals with seeking to know more. This tentative statement is most likely true. We need to admit this because both terms are very closely related.
Philosophy, in another view, could be referred to as a person’s ideology. A practitioner is known as a philosopher.
Many of the courses taught in schools today, such as Psychology, sociology, etc., used to be part of philosophy, according to history.
That is why most people struggle to see the differences between these courses. When you talk of sociology, philosophy, and psychology, you are referring to the study of humans in a way that may be straightforward or not. In the sense that one of these courses may claim to be studying how humankind relates in groups.
Another may claim to explore the human mind, while you may also get the entirety of the study of humans in one of them.
In a nutshell, all of these courses, and a few others, including social sciences, are introduced to teach learners about humans – which is the significant concentration of philosophy.
I had recently heard people saying Psychology is fast going out of its aim to pick ideas from other close branches of study. That seems so because it is initially not supposed to be psychology.
In the first place, when philosophers like Plato and Socrates were still in the field, they were majorly concerned about the study of humanity – some of their developed theories can underscore this point.
Socrates, for instance, developed questioning, argumentative, and other theories. He noted that people do not just act as they do; certain things must have caused them to do.
So the point is the early philosophers meant to make Philosophy a course that contains the complete study of humanity. However, the invention of several universities as time passed got modern scholars coming up with new ideas.
After being educated, Auguste Comte introduced to the world’ sociology,’ which he referred to as the science of society. Ideally, Emile Durkheim (who also built on Auguste’s idea) is supposed to be a philosopher, not a sociologist. Moreover, Auguste Comte was a philosopher who categorized his study at some point as sociology.
With this, the point is that philosophy has resulted in the expansion of formal education. It is a necessity if education must remain. Perhaps, philosophy would have been a more challenging course if all courses made to stand separately had stood as one.
Those philosophers are also called great thinkers means education must have come before philosophy, regardless of its form. The human brain must have had some things it is keeping to be able to build any philosophy. In this case, education can be seen as a foundation for creating philosophy.
Realationship between Education and Philosophy
1. Learning
Whether you are being educated or developing a philosophy, what is certain is that you will be learning. This makes one of the most apparent similarities between both terms.
Philosophers are always very interested in getting educated. The love of this is why a philosopher can afford to teach/learn new things on his own.
2. Both old
Since nobody has the history of how education began (although some said it started when man needed to teach/learn how to survive under unconducive weather).
We want to come to a term that philosophy and education are as old as man.
3. Mindset development
Some scholars attested that many advanced educators have several philosophies and a specific view of the universe that is different from others.
This makes most learners that are already addicted to learning develop perspectives.
Conclusion
In some cases, learners are imparted with the philosophies of some great thinkers – education.
And on other occasions, the education a person receives may prompt them to observe, study, and come up with their ideologies – philosophy.
As a result, some scholars claim that the relationship between education and philosophy are like that of “twins.” I guess people who do not support this have not gotten any point to reveal that, if any. Therefore, I will end by saying that education and philosophy are inseparable, making it very logical to differentiate and compare them.
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