Chrisalina's Blog

Philosophy, Ideology, and Theory in Education

Chris Lewis

EDU 570

January 20, 2008

Philosophy is one's own set of basic truths about life, the world, and one's place in it. Philosophy, as it relates to education, is described in terms of metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic. These four areas outline the philosophies and what they mean for education. "Metaphysics, the study of the nature of ultimate reality, involves speculation about the nature of existence" (Gutek, 1997, p. 2). In asking the questions about what is reality, educators develop the base from which their philosophy is derived. A teacher's beliefs about whether there is a spiritual realm to the universe, or whether there is a purpose and order to humanity will shape their overall philosophy. G. Gutek (1997) states that epistemology is the study of knowledge and knowing, and that it is very important to educators (p. 2). Epistemology asks the question, “How do we know what we know?”, and examines where we base our claims to that knowledge. Such claims could be based on physical evidence, experience, or even divine revelation (p. 2). A teacher's beliefs concerning the source of knowledge will impact the way a teacher approaches sharing that knowledge with students. Axiology, the study of values, has two divisions which are closely related--aesthetics, the study of beauty, and ethics, the study of moral values and conduct (p. 3). Axiology leads educators to make judgments about what students should and should not do or be taught to do. Combined, ethics and aesthetics make up the statements a teacher makes about what is beautiful and good. For example, if a person describes someone performing an act of kindness as beautiful, then there is a value statement made which includes both the aesthetic aspect of what is pleasing to the eye and an ethical statement about what is good conduct. Separated, one could describe aesthetic statements as ones that outline good taste in arts and music as they relate to a particular culture, and ethics statements describe what is considered right and wrong behavior in that culture. Axiology brings up larger questions like “Which morals should teachers try to instruct their students about? Is teaching moral behavior an imposition on the students that goes beyond a teacher's duties?” Teachers have to decide on a daily basis which morals and behaviors to emphasize while simply teaching the subject matter. Logic refers to the "rules or patterns of correct and valid thinking" (p. 4). It describes the thought processes that one goes through to arrive at a conclusion about a problem or understanding a concept. Logic is divided into two major categories, deductive and inductive reasoning. Deductive reasoning begins with general statements, and moves to more specific explanations. Inductive reasoning begins with a specific fact and moves toward general statements that can be made based on that fact (Ornstein & Levine, 2008, p. 162).

A teacher combines their philosophy with the ideology of the society in which they live and/or the school system in which they work. Ideology refers to the desires and needs of a group. An ideology, like theories, can be derived from several philosophies. According to G. Gutek, ideology "is used to create a sense of shared ideas, goals and commitments (1997, p.150). He goes to say how ideology is reinforced primarily by two divisions in society, the informal and formal educational agencies. Informal agencies include the media, whereas formal agencies, schools and universities, build a "sense of group identification". Ideology goes beyond philosophy in that it puts philosophical beliefs into action. This shaping of the public mind through schools is further enacted by the use of theories. Gutek contrasts ideologies to philosophies by explaining that ideologies "are distinguished by their contextual and action-oriented nature" (p. 154).

Theory has several definitions. Visual Thesaurus defines theory as “a well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of excepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena" (2005). As it relates to education, G. Gutek describes very as related clusters of educational ideas, and puts them into three categories, those "(1) that are derived or deduced from some other bodies of knowledge or thoughts such as philosophies or ideologies, (2) those that emerge as reactions against other bodies of thought, and (3) those that arise from practice (1997, p 259). Some theories are in more than one category.

Philosophy, ideology, and theory combine to play an important role in the classroom. Once teachers have adopted an ideology, they develop a theory which carries out the goals that have been outlined by that ideology. As teachers gain more experience, their personal theories change. Teachers revise their methods to accommodate changes in the students, and improve their teaching ability.