Webb Ch 3 - Shaub 1 Christie Shaub ED 110.B Webb Chapter 3...

Shaub 1
Christie Shaub
January 22, 2008
ED 110.B
Webb Chapter 3
1. What are the elements of a life philosophy? What is meant by:
a. Metaphysics
• Metaphysics attempts to answer the question, what is the nature of reality?
o It is concerned with the nature of the person or the self.
o It addresses whether or not human nature is basically good, evil, spiritual, mental or
physical.
• It can be divided into the areas of ontology and cosmology.
o Ontology raises questions about what we mean by the nature of existence.
o Cosmology raises questions about the origin and organization of the universe.
b. Epistemology
• This branch of philosophy is concerned with investigating the nature of knowledge.
• Raises questions about limits, sources and validity of knowledge, the cognitive process
and “how we know”.
• There are many ways of knowing including: scientific inquiry, intuition, experience,
sensing, feeling, trial, error and logic.
• Logic is a key dimension in philosophy and is primarily concerned with making
inferences, reasoning or arguing in a rational matter.
o Deductive logic is reasoning from a general statement or principle to a specific point
or example.
o Inductive logic is reasoning from a specific fact or facts to generalization.
c. Axiology/Ethics & Aesthetics
• Seeks to determine nature of values. What is of value?

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• To evaluate, to make a judgment, to value means applying a set of norms to human
conduct or beauty.
• Divided into two spheres:
o Ethics – concerned with study of human conduct, examines moral values including
right, wrong, good or bad.
o Aesthetics- concerned with values in beauty, nature and the “aesthetic experience”

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2. What are the major schools of philosophical thought?
a. What are the characteristics and implications for education of each school?
• Idealism- oldest philosophy of Western culture, dating back to ancient Greece and Plato.
o The world of the mind, ideas and reason is primary.
o Mind over matter – nothing exists or is real except for an idea in the mind of the
person or in the mind of God, the Universal mind.
o Reality is the mind and eternal ideas that represent perfect order.
o Knowledge is a rational, orderly body of truth.
o Values are absolute, eternal and universal; they are a reflection of the ideal
o A learner is a mind, soul and spirit capable of emulating the absolute mind.
o The purpose of schooling is to stress eternal ideas of the past and promote spiritual
and intellectual development
o School should focus on the liberal arts and Great books taught by lecture, discussion
and Socratic dialogue.