Philosophy Assignment (Revised)

PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE
PRAG A!IS
A" R#tion#le o$ the Eme%gen&e Philosophy of Pragmatism is mainly an American Concept which came into prominence after 1850 but due to its impact on human life similar theories were developed by the philosophers of England and Germany Pragmatism as a philosophy of science in the very late nineteenth and the twentieth century was developed by Charles ! Peirce" #illiam $ames" and the man who combined the roles of educator and philosopher" $ohn %ewey &he word 'pragmatism' has been derived from the Gree( word Pragmati(os' which means practicability or utility" thus the philosophy of pragmatism is founded on the principle that first the activity or e)periment is done and then on the basis of results" principles or ideas are derived &herefore application of this philosophy in education aims at having an educational system which ma(es the individual perfect in practical life and hence it was widely accepted by the intellectuals without much hesitation *!hrivastava" +00,Pragmatism was developed in the effort of re.ecting metaphysics and Pragmatism was opposite with /dealism and 0aturalism thought" where ideals and values of life can be predetermined &he idealists believe that this creation in the world reflects the divine power of God's will &o the Pragmatists God is not infinite" absolute and immoral entity as the /dealists proclaim &o them" God and !oul are not immortal and infinite &hese entities as well as the religion are useful to human beings only when they serve usefully to develop human personalities" otherwise pragmatism shows an indifference towards moral and spiritual ideals and values 0aturalism" doubtless somewhat inconsistently" assumes the universality and ob.ective validity of scientific .udgments" while regarding moral and aesthetic values as relative to human ends Pragmatism applies the same criticism to 1the true1 that 0aturalism does to 1the good12 each of these values is regarded by the contestants of the opposite school as merely an evolutionary product" as relative and personal *Gute(" +0034inally" it was because of the re.ection of traditional philosophies which focus on ideas" definition" and notion" without emphasi5ing the significance value that can be obtained"

pragmatism emerged with its idea &he idea is about how thought should be tested by human perceptive" and it should have practical significance to the followers

'" '#si& #nd Essenti#l Con&ept(#l )nde%pinning 1 &ruth is 4ormed by its 6esult According to Pragmatists" truth is not a fi)ed and definite entity According to them truth is a relative term which changes according to the stages of development and situations which confront a person in his process of growth and progress + Changing 0ature of &ruth Pragmatists do not believe in predetermined truth According to them truth always changes according to time" place and situation &hey also believed that a thing which is true to an individual at a specific time" place and situation" need not be true to others or to any one else at some other place or time , 7pposition to !ocial Customs and &raditions Pragmatism is deadly against to old customs" traditions" restrictions and taboos /t believes in the realities of life 8ence" it does not concern itself with things which confuse and often mislead human intelligence /t gives great importance to human intelligence and mental capacity which brings about harmonious and progressive ad.ustment with environment which results in human welfare and happiness 3 7pposition to 4i)ed /deals and 9alues &o the Pragmatists God is not infinite" absolute and immoral entity as the /dealists proclaim &o them" God and !oul are not immortal and infinite &hese entities as well as the religion are useful to human beings only when they serve usefully to develop human personalities" otherwise pragmatism shows an indifference towards moral and spiritual ideals and values 5 /mportance of Activity

Pragmatism lays great emphasis on activity rather than on ideas Pragmatists hold the view that ideas are born out of activities :an is an active being 8e learns by his activities which he is always engaged in on his long path of life &hus" the greatest contribution of Pragmatism to education is this principle of learning by doing

C" S*O! An#lysis

No" 1

Philosophy o$ S&ien&e &ruth is 4ormed by its ; 6esult

S!RENG!HS &hought will be more better because it always renewed ;

*EA+NESSESS &here is no absolute thought

OPPOR!)NI!IES solved thought with a new

!HREA!S considered process rather than

; A new problem will be ; &he result will be more

Changing &ruth

0ature

of ; &he recent era will ; &here will be nobody who can ; &he new thought will ; &he unbalanced thought will always be followed predict the future always be created be happened in the society

7pposition

to

!ocial ;

8uman happiness achieved

welfare will

and be

&he materialistic people will ; &he intelligence will be appear easier to use

greater chance to material welfare of this world

Customs and &raditions

7pposition

to

4i)ed ;

Enabling

human

&he uncertain thought or ; A new problem will be ; &he new thought will not values will be not created solved thought with a new always be right for some people students will not

/deals and 9alues

became more fle)ible

/mportance of Activity

; :aintain the students< (nowledge through learning by doing

0o Pre;determined Aims of Education All educational plans and efforts may go astray and achieve nothing

&he more chances" the ; &he more information that will be gotten

implement their education output in proper time and proper way

," Ed(&#tion#l Impli&#tion o$ P%#gm#tism 1 Education should give the students various e)periences to facilitate them to learn &eaching and learning process should not only give theories" mind concepts" ideas" and wor( individually" but also it should give students e)periences of how the theories can be used in their daily life to solve their problems" how the concepts can be very usefull for them and other people" how they use the ideas to solve people<s or their problems and how they can wor( together with the others /n the teaching and learning process" the students should do something which has a beneficial to their life %oing something will give students e)perience in determining the truth According to %ewney *as cited in Gute(" +003=>,-" e)perience is the process of interaction between the human and the invironment /n here" education should facilitate the students in order to have interaction between them and the inviroment by giving more practices than theories + &eaching and learning process should give problems to the students to be solved %ewney in Gute( *+003- stated that growth is the goal of education 4uther he stated that to grow means to have more problems and more resolution to problems /n teaching and learning process" creating problem solving is a good method of teaching ?y giving a problem" students will try to find out how to solve the problem" what (ind of theories that can be used to solve the problem" and they can learn and solve the problem according to their past e)perience &he problems given should be the real problems of the students" not problems from te)t boo( !tudents should be given freedom to solve the problems based on their level of readiness , @earning is more focused by assigning the students doing something rather than only getting the information from the boo( ?y doing something" the students will be employed with practical s(ills which are needed in community Pragmatism uses the essence of the e)periences to determine the truth /n this case" Pro.ect ?ased @earning drives students to encounter the central concepts and principles of a sub.ect hands;on #ith Pro.ect ?ased @earning students learn from these e)periences and ta(e them into account and apply them to their lives in the real world

E" Ed(&#tion#l Appli&#tion o$ P%#gm#tism 1 Asing Problem !olving Problem solving is an effective method that can be used in the teaching and learning process /t caused all (inds of problems occur in this process %ewey as cited in Gute( *+003- believed that Bwe become intelligent as we developed an act on our ideas in a group-centered social setting C Problem solving will ma(e the students wor( collaboratively and cooperatively and share their e)perience to solve the problem /t will also ma(e the students become a democratic person when different solutions occur &he student will use discussion to resolve these different solutions /n order to determine the solution to a problem is effective" it should be tested ?y doing this" the students are able to determine the right solution" (now the conseDuences of their solution" and get e)periences + Asing variety of strategis Pragmatism believes that not all children learn the same way" so it is very important to conduct teaching and learning process with variety of strategies &eachers must capture the students< interest and vary their teaching strategies to accomodate each individual learning style 4or e)ample" if the students are passive in the classroom" role playing can be used as a teaching strategy in the teaching and learing process &his teaching strategy will ma(e students< interest in topic are raised 4ogg *+001-" states that his history classes were boring and not involving the students After applying out a role;playing type game in a semester" he noticed that students were much more interested in the material

REFERENCES

4ogg" P *+001- A history professor engages students by giving them a role in the action Chronicle of 8igher Education 38*1+- A1+;1, Gute(" G @ *+003- Philosophical and /deological 9oices in Education Anited !ates of America= Pearson Education" /nc !hrivastava" E E *+00,- Philosophical 4oundations of Education 6etrieved $anuary +>" +013" from" http=FFwww scribd comFdocumentGdownloadsFdirectF8035,+5+H e)tensionIpdfJftI1,K10L10L+JltI1,K10L3L>+JuserGidI+L5>3,1LJuah(Ii,CM8t+t/ !5m>GdN%9MCAyhdn#A