Analytic philosophy
Background
Meaning
Function
In Education
Analytic philosophy
• A 20th century philosophy which flourished
in Britain and USA.
• It is a rejection of traditional philosophy
which is too speculative, idealistic and
abstract as exemplified by the common
early metaphysical question;
What is the nature of being?
What is real, mind or matter?
• Analytic philosophy, according to
Thompson;(1995:182), is ‘concerned with
the meaning of statements and the way in
which their truth can be verified, and with
using philosophy as analytic tool to
examine and show the presuppositions of
our language and thought.’
Example of statements:
The standard of education has fallen down
Ineffectiveness of schools lowers the
standard of education
• Analytic philosophy is an activity itself not
a system of thought like other philosophies
as emphasized by Vennagum in (Popkin
and Stroll:1981) that ‘it is not a theory but
an activity’.
• A good example of philosophy as an
activity rather than a theory is through
Socratic method; which tries to clarify
people’s ideas by seeking clarification of
questions which ultimately leads to
agreed, precise and adequate definitions.
This begins with:
• posing a question focusing on concepts or
terms; freedom, courage, fear, discipline,
beauty, performance;
• define the term in relation to people’s
experiences;
• consider their opposites;
• clarify the meaning;
• consensus
In education we have many concepts that
need to be analyzed and verified like:
• Child-centered teaching/learning
• Aims, purpose and goals of education
• Integrated curriculum
• Free education
• Subject advisers
• Inspectors, supervisors
• Gender sensitive
Moore and Bruder (1990) give the ideas of
some philosophers on Philosophical
Analysis:
• Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951): ‘the
goal of analysis was to reduce all complex
descriptive propositions to their ultimately
simple constituent propositions’.
Complex descriptive proposition
Square circles are nonexistent things
Simple proposition
No squares are circular
Russell (1872-1970) in) contends that
analysis is the proper method of
philosophy.
• Ryle: Analysis is a linguistic therapy to the
confusion of traditional philosophy.
• Logical positivists who proclaimed the
verifiability criterion of meaning
contends that philosophy is not a theory
but an activity whose business is the
logical clarification of thought.
So, analytic philosophy:
• does not deal with building systems of
thought;
• deals with clarification of language that we
use to explain phenomenon;
• does not prescribe goals in education but
enable us to understand better those goals
and aims prescribed;
• simplifies communication to facilitate
understanding of meaning by checking the
clarity of language.
Functions
It has no specific content it deals with
logical analysis of language; concepts and
statements in order to:
• examine clarity of statements and
concepts and remove ambiguity and
confusion;
• express ideas and meanings precisely and
accurately;
• solve the problem of meaning by testing it
through experience;
• distinguish meaningful and meaningless
statements. Statements without any factual or
objective meaning must be rejected.
• Values and morals are just seen as emotive
statements, without any factual or objective
meaning. So statements that are meaningful are
only those that can be empirically verified
It is virtuous to help others
Corruption is an enemy of the people
Corruption is evil
• classify statements: analytical and synthetic;
 Analytical propositions depends on the terms
they contain, meaning is intrinsic.
 Synthetic statements can only be verified
empirically, they do not contain truth in
themselves.
• remove internal contradictions of statements
when analyzing interpretation of issues and
problems;
• precise formulation and expression of ideas for
easy communication;
In education
• More concerned with formulation of education ideas and
clear expression of those ideas for easy understanding;
– A university that tries to put its professors and its students as blinkers
will neither serve the cause of knowledge, nor the interest of the society
in which it exists (Nyerere in Lema et al; 2006:29)
• Analysis of other people’s ideas on education to avoid
misunderstanding
• Discuss the concepts that are commonly used in
education, teaching, learning, knowledge and curriculum
to check their clarity.
• Discuss issues and problems that arise in the conduct of
education, analyze them and put them in clear
perspective; method, technique, strategy
In the process of analysis, check:
• normal use of the concept;
• find distinctive meanings;
• find common criteria of the usage;
• discover various possible meanings;
• how the meanings relate to one another;
• how the meaning is related to other concepts;
• what is the most adequate or appropriate
meaning;
• precision in the expression of one’s ideas
There is need for careful attention and sensibility
to the use of the concepts
Relevance
• Teaching sound reasoning
• Avoid contradictions in statements
• Making use of all available evidence and facts
when putting forward an argument
• Teachers learn to accept or reject arguments on
the basis of their soundness and clarity not on
emotional basis or who is making an argument.
• Through clarification and precise analysis a
teacher can understand personal prejudices and
expose what are the real issues
In school teachers can:
• avoid unnecessary disagreements,
contradictions, inconsistencies and dogmatic
decisions. trains high sense of imagination and
reasoning;
• Justify and weigh opinions of different groups in
the school or in the community and analyze what
is right, wrong or rational;
• express concepts clearly in classroom;
• Critically analyze issues for comprehensive
decisions
• Analyze language as symbolic meaning of
communication
References
• Akinpelu, J (1981): An Introduction to Philosophy of Education.
McMillan: Oxford
• Halverson, W (1981): Concise Readings in Philosophy. Random
House: New York.
• Moore & Bruder (1990): Philosophy: The Power of Ideas. Mayfield
Publishing Com.
• Nyirenda, S & Ishumi (2000): Introduction to Philosophical
Concepts, Principles and Practice. Dar-es-Salaam University Press:
Dar-es-Salaam.
• Thompson, M (): Philosophy. Hodder Headline: London
• Lema, E (2006): Nyerere on Education -Volume II: Selected Essays
and Speeches 1961-1967.Haki Elimu & E & D Limited: Dar-esSalaa.