Philosophy of Knowledge and the Curriculum
Classical Rationalists
Socrates: emphasised the supremacy of the intellect, the importance of a continuous search for truth and wisdom through questioning
Plato: held that there is a world of real things, material objects which we experience in the world, and a world of perfect Forms or ideas
human beings have innate ideas which they hold from birth
however, these ideas are distorted and lost when the soul joins the material body which is imperfect
knowledge and learning involves making the soul remember the ideas that it had before it joined the body (the Doctrine of Reminiscence)
ideas are primary, while material objects are secondary; ideas are more important because they are more permanent and occur before the objects they refer to exist
therefore, ideas are more real than actual individual objects
the highest function a human being is to achieve Truth through reasoning, and not through the senses which are not very reliable
education must aim at training the mind, as only the mind can reach Truth
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
is one of the prominent founders of modern rationalism
for anything to qualify as knowledge, it should have some acceptable level of certainty
he tried to identify what he would call ‘certain knowledge’ in his time
decided to start by doubting all knowledge held, as he believed that doubt is the foundation of true, certain knowledge
he discovered that although he could doubt everything, he could not doubt the fact that he was thinking
concluded that the fact that he was thinking, means that he existed as expressed in his famous dictum:
Cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I exist.)
he started to build other knowledge from the premise that he existed since he was able to think and doubt.
he continued to distrust the knowledge gained through the senses
had great respect for mathematical truths, which he regarded as certain knowledge
he encouraged people to use the Mathematical procedure in finding truth i.
Always abstract information from rules. ii.
Start with the simple and move to the more complex. iii.
Proceed step by step towards the more complex truths. iv.
The mind should achieve final truth through intuition and deduction from what is obvious.
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urged people not to take things for granted and accept things at their face value
he believed that the mind and the body are separate and distinctly different (Cartesian Dualism)
even when the body sleeps, often the mind continues to work!
Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677)
an ambitious young philosopher: wanted to study for a doctorate in Philosophy at the age of 20!!
he questioned Rene Descartes’ dualism of body and mind
Spinoza saw perfection in the world, since most objects are perfect entities in themselves
he believed that things are unified through God since the whole universe can be identified with Him
led to a Monist philosophy (the belief that everything is united with everything else, that the world entities are universally interconnected)
there is God’s perfection in both the body and the soul or body and mind
thought that learning takes place at three different hierarchical levels: i.
Imagination (creating images of what a thing is) ii.
Reasoning, gaining scientific knowledge, which however can be proved wrong and is still open to challenge or falsifying evidence iii.
Intuition, where knowledge is deduced, relationships are established and the essence of things is understood with certainty
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716)
he denied Descartes dualism and Spinoza’s Monoism
believed in the philosophy of ‘pluralism’, meaning that all objects in the universe are separate and distinct
God is separate from human beings and is distinct from them
all things are separate and should be kept that way
each object is unique in its own way
even people are what they are because they different and separate
he therefore advocated for the freedom of the individual and freedom of thought
he believed that a person is made up of many entities called ‘monads’ or qualities, e.g. appearance, temperament, abilities etc.
the monads then combine to form a whole
argued that there are two types of truth: Truth of fact (factual truth) and Truth of reason (Rational truth)
Truth of fact can be acquired through the senses, but Truth of reason is achieved through Mathematics, logical reasoning and with the guidance of rules and principles
people should strive for Truth of reason
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