Educational Studies UNIT-1-post 06
FULL STUDY MATERIALS FOR UGC NET EDUCATION
Prepared by
Sabarish P
(MSc Physics, MEd, NET)
Precise notes.
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IDEALISM
Basically idealism is a philosophical doctrine but since philosophy and education are two sides of the same coin therefore, while philosophical idealism is the contemplative side of life, education is its active side. In considering Naturalism we contrasted it with Idealism, and by implication partly defined the latter. Idealism, as we have already suggested, contends that the material and physical universe known to science is an incomplete expression of reality, that it exists but to sub serve, and requires to complement it, a higher type of reality, a spiritual universe. Idealism also emphasizes the distinctiveness of man's nature. It attributes to him the possession of powers which issue in the form of intellectual culture, art, morality and religion. These powers and their products are peculiar to man, and differentiate him from other animals; they lie beyond the range of the positive sciences—biological and even psychological; they raise problems which only philosophy can hope to solve, and
make the only satisfactory basis of Education a philosophical one. This chapter is devoted to discuss
idealism as a philosophical doctrine and impact of
philosophical idealism on education.
WHAT IDEALISM IS ?
Idealism emphasizes mind as in some sense "prior to"
matter. Whereas materialism says that matter is real and mind is an accompanying phenomenon, idealism contends that mind is real and matter is in a sense a by product.
Idealism thus implies a denial that the world is basically a great machine to be interpreted as matter, mechanism, or energy alone. Idealism is a world view or a metaphysics which holds that the basic reality consists of or is closely related to mind, ideas, thoughts, or selves. The world has a meaning apart from its surface appearance. The world understood and interpreted by a study of the laws of thought and of consciousness, and not exclusively by the methods of the objective sciences. Since the universe has a
meaning and purpose of which the development of people is an aspect, the idealist believes that there is a kind of inner harmony between the rest of the world and man.
What is "highest in spirit" is also "deepest in nature," Man is "at home" in the universe and is not an alien or a mere creature of chance, since the universe is in some sense a logical and a spiritual system that is reflected in man's search for the true, the good, and the beautiful. The self is not an isolated or unreal entity; it is a genuine part of the world process. This process at its high levels manifests itself an creativity, mind, selves, or persons. Man, as a part of the cosmos, expresses its structure in his own life. Nature, or the objective world, is real in the sense that it exists and
demands our attention and adjustment to it. Nature,
however, is not sufficient in and of itself, since the
objective world depends to a certain degree upon mind.
Idealists believe that the later and higher manifestations of nature are more significant in disclosing the characteristics of the process than are its earlier and lower ones. Idealists are willing to let the physical scientists tell us what matter is provided they do not attempt to reduce everything in the world to that category. The idealists are willing to let the biological scientists describe life and its processes, provided they do not attempt to reduce all other 'levels' to the biological or the physiological. Idealists stress the organic unity of the world process. Whole and parts cannot be separated except by a dangerous abstraction that centres attention on single aspects of things to the exclusion of other, equally important aspects. According to some idealists, there is an inner unity, an unfolding series of levels from matter through vegetable forms through animals to man, mind, and spirit. Thus a central principle of idealism is organic wholeness. Idealism tend to emphasize the coherence or consistency theory of the test of truth a
judgement is believed to be true if it is in agreement with other judgement that are accepted as true. Idealism is born out of Plato's "Theory of Ideas." According to this doctrine, the ultimate supremacy is of ideas. In this way, the real word is 'idealism' but adding the letter "I" of pronunciation facility it is known as Idealism. As a philosophical doctrine, idealism recognizes ideas, feelings and ideals more important than material objects and at the same time emphasizes that human development should be according to moral, ethical and spiritual values so that he acquires knowledge of unity in diversity. Idealism holds that spiritual world is more important than material world.
The chief reason is that material world is destructible and mortal. Hence, it is untrue and myth. On the contrary, the spiritual world is a world of ideas, feelings and ideals the knowledge of which reveals the reality of mind and soul. In this way according to Idealism only spiritual world is the essence of reality which is undying, immortal and true.
Nothing beyond the spiritual world or spiritual values is immortal and true. In this way, Idealism, recognizing human ideas, feelings and ideals more important than natural and scientific phenomena, emphasizes on the study of man and his mind.
According to Idealism, the essential nature of man is
spiritual which is revealed in mental, religious and aesthetic areas. Animals are incapable of these multifarious expressions. Hence, human life is far superior to animal life. Idealism emphasizes the study of man more and more because man is endowed with higher intellectual powers and shows greater levels of intelligence and discrimination.
Unlike animals who are slaves of situations and
circumstances, man can mould and modify his surroundings and circumstances, according to his needs and requirements. He can rise higher and higher and can attain divinity by his own virtuous life dedicated to higher spiritual values of human life. By his own mental, moral and artistic activities man has created the modern cultural, artistic and religious environment for his own good and good of the whole humanity. In short, Idealism identifies itself with spiritualism, with the ultimate soul force which pervades the whole, and keeps the flame of virtue,
goodness and greatness burning of all times to come. Home has rightly remarked— "An Idealistic philosophy of education, then, is an account of man finding himself as an integral part of a universe of mind."
Protagonists of Idealism are—Socrates, Plato, Descartes, Spinoza, Burkley, Kant, Fitche, Schelling, Hegel, Green, Schophenhaur, Gentile the Western and from Vedas and Upnishads to Aurobindo Ghosh, the Eastern philosophers.
Definition of Idealism
To make the meaning of Idealism more clear i give below some important definitions as given by eminent scholars—
(1) "Idealism holds that ultimate reality is spiritualism." — DM. Dutta
(2) "Idealistic philosophy takes many and varied forms, but the postulate underlying all this is that mind or spirit is the essential world stuff, that the true reality is of a mental character." — J.S. Ross.
(3) "Idealists point out that it is mind that is central in
understanding the world. To them nothing gives a greater sense of reality than the activity of mind engaged in trying to comprehend its world. For anything to give a greater sense of reality world be a contradiction in terms because to know anything more real than mind would itself be a conception of mind." —Brubacher
TYPES OF IDEALISM
The history of idealism is complicated, since the term is broad enough to include a number of different though related theories. There are some students of philosophy who use the term in a broad sense to include all the philosophies than maintain that spiritual (nonmaterial) forces determine the processes of the universe. Idealistic philosophies thus oppose naturalistic philosophies that view these forces as emerging at some late stage in the development of the universe. In a narrower sense, the term idealism is used for those philosophies which view the universe as, in some crucial sense, dependent on mind. We need to keep in mind, however, that there are significant idealistic systems and movements in Asia, especially in India, with in the Hindu tradition. While there are differences in outlook and emphasis between Western and Eastern idealism, P.T. Raju tells us that "the idealistic systems of the West and of India seem to be complementary to each other," and that "the orthodox Indian thought and Buddhist philosophy became idealistic when they reached their highest developments." There are many classifications of the types of idealism/ yet no one classification seems to be entirely satisfactory, and there is much overlapping. We may classify the different types of idealism by the names of their representatives—Plato, Descartes, Leibniz, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Lotze, and Royce, to mention only a few. Each of these men contributed
something distinctive. We shall briefly consider subjective idealism, objective idealism, and personalism.
Subjective Idealism
This type of idealism is sometimes called mentalism, sometimes phenomenalism. It is the least defensible and least prevalent, and the one most frequently attacked by opponents of idealism. The subjective idealist holds that minds, or spirits, and their perceptions, or ideas, are all that exist. The 'objects' of
experience are merely perceptions and not maternal things. Subjective idealism is probably best represented by George Berkeley (1685-1753), an Irish philosopher who preferred the term immaterialism to describe his philosophy.
Berkeley accepted the psychology of John Locke (1632-1704), who said that our knowledge deals only with ideas. Locke accepted the existence of spiritual substance, ideas, and material substance. He distinguished between the primary qualities of matter (form, extension, solidity, figure, motion, number, and so on) and secondary qualities (colours, sounds, tastes, odors, and the like). The secondary qualities, according to Locke, are not in the material substance; they are in the mind or they are the way in which the primary qualities affect the mind or knower, and they vary from person to person. Berkeley went further than Locke and attempted to show that the primary
qualities, as well as the secondary qualities, do not exist apart from minds. Berkeley, therefore, called both primary and secondary qualities 'ideas' and concluded that what we refer to as a material object is simply a collection of ideas.
Berkeley insisted that the arguments used by Locke to
probe the subjectivity of secondary qualities also
demonstrate the subjectivity of the primary qualities. For Berkeley, nothing but minds and their ideas exist. To say that an idea exists means, according to him, that it is being perceived by some mind. "To be is to be perceived." Minds themselves however, are not similarly dependent for their existence on being perceived. Minds are perceivers. To give Berkeley's full view, we must say: To be is to be perceived (ideas) or to be a perceiver (mind). All that is real is a conscious mind or some perception or idea held by such a mind. How, Berkeley asks could we speak of anything that was other than an idea or a mind?
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) is a phenomenologist who
stands about midway between the subjective and the
objective idealists. Since the world as described by Kant is some sense a mind made world, we will make the transition from subjective to objective idealism through his philosophy. For Kant there are three realms. There is the inner realm of subjective states, which is purely personal and not the realm of knowledge. There is the outer world of ultimate reality, the phenomenon, which by its very nature
is unknown and unknowable. Man's contact with realm is achieved through the sense of duty or the moral law. There is also the world of nature, or the phenomenal world, which is the realm of human knowledge. According to Kant, the mind has certain innate ways of working (as opposed to Locke's notion of the mind as a tabula rasa). Form and order are thrust on nature by the mind. Sensory experience
merely furnishes mind its content. The mind is active; it forms into a system of knowledge the raw material brought in by the senses. Just as the potter takes the formless clay and fashions it into one form or another, so the mind forms or organises the material of the senses. Thus our thoughts regarding the world are determined in large part by the structure of the mind. The understanding prescribes its laws to nature.
Objective Idealism
Many idealists, from Plato through Hegel to contemporary philosophers, reject both extreme subjectivism, or mentalism, and the view that the external world is in any real sense man-made. They regard the organisation and form of the world, and hence knowledge, as determined by the nature of the world itself. The mind discovers what there is in the order of the world. They are idealists in that they interpret the universe as an intelligible realm, whose systematic structure expresses rational order and value. When they say that the ultimate nature of the universe is mental, they mean that the universe is one all embracing order, that its basic nature is mind, and that it is an organic whole. Modern objective idealists typically maintain that all parts of the world are included in one all embracing order, and they attribute this unity to the idea and purposes of an Absolute Mind. Hegel (1770-1831) propounded one of the best-known systems of absolute or monistic idealism. His system is sometimes called evolutionary, logical idealism. Thought is the essence of the universe, and nature is the whole of mind objectified. The universe is an unfolding process of thought. Nature is the Absolute Reason expressing itself in outward form. Consequently, the laws of thought are also the laws
of reality. History is the way the Absolute appears in nature and human experience. Since the world is One and since it is propulsive and intelligent it must be of the nature of thought. The world expresses itself in our thinking, our thinking does not determine the nature of the world. When we think of the total world order as embracing the inorganic, the organic, and the spiritual levels of existence in one all-inclusive order, we speak of the Absolute, or the Absolute Spirit, or God. The objective idealists do not deny the existence of an external or objective reality. In fact, they believe that their position is the only one that does justice to the objective side of experience, since they find in nature the same principles of order, reason, and purpose that men find within themselves. There is purposive intelligence at the heart of nature. This is discovered, they believe, and not "read into" the world. Nature existed before me, the individual self, and will exist after me; nature also existed before the present community of selves. The existence of meaning in the world, however implies something akin to mind or thought at the core of reality. Such a significant order of reality is given man to comprehend and to participate in. This belief in meaning and intelligence in the structure of the world is a basic intuition underlying idealism.
Personal Idealism
Personalism emerged as a protest against both mechanistic materialism and monistic idealism. For
the personalist the basic reality is neither abstract thought nor a particular thought process, but a person, a self, or a thinker. Reality is of the nature of conscious personality.
The self is an irreducible living unit, which can be divided only by a false abstraction. The personalists believe that recent developments in modern science, including the formulation of the theory of relativity and the growing recognition of the importance of the "standpoint of the observer," have added support to their position. Reality is a system of personal selves; hence it is pluralistic. Personalists emphasize the reality and the worth of individual people, moral values, and human freedom.
Nature, for the personalists, is an objective order; however, it does not exist in and of itself. People transcend or rise above nature when they interpret it. Science transcends its material through its theories, and the world of meaning and of values surpasses the world of nature as final explanation. Rudolf Hermann Lotze (1817-1881), Borden P.
Bowne (1847-1910), and contemporary personalists have emphasized this point of view. Lotze attempted to reconcile the mechanical view of nature set forth by the sciences with the idealistic interpretation of a spiritual unity. For Bowne, self conscious mind realises itself through the order of nature as its vehicle of expression yet transcends it.
Nature was created by God, who is the Supreme Self in a society of persons. The Supreme Spirit has expressed Himself in the material world of atoms and in conscious selves which emerge at particular stages in the world process. There is a society of persons, or selves, related to the Supreme personality. Ethical and spiritual values are reinforced by and gain their meaning from the Personal Creative Spirit, to whom all men are related. Personalism, is theistic; it furnishes both religion and ethics with metaphysical foundations. God may be thought of as finite, as a struggling hero, working for lofty moral and religious
ends. The goodness of God is retained, even though there is some limitation placed on his power. The proper goal of life is a perfect society of selves who have achieved perfect personalities through struggle. As a group, the personal idealists have shown more interest in ethics and less interest in logic than have absolute idealists. The personal idealists hold that the process of life is more important than any verbal forms of expression or fixed meanings, and they stress the realisation of the capacities and powers of the person through freedom and self-control. Since
personality has greater value than anything else, society must be so organised as to give each person fullness of life and of opportunity.
FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF IDEALISM
The fundamental principles of Idealism are as under:
(1) Two Forms of the Whole World. Idealism believes in two forms of the world—(1) Spiritual world and (2) Material world, idealists give more importance to spiritual world in comparison to the material world. They believe that spiritual world is real and the ultimate truth whereas the material world is transitory and mortal. To know the reality of the spiritual world is to know the reality of mind and soul. It is sort of self realisation—the main aim of human life. According to Home—"idealism holds that the order of the world is due to the manifestation in space and time of an eternal and spiritual reality."
(2) Ideas are More Important than Objects. According to idealists, knowledge of mind and soul can be obtained through ideas only. Hence, they have given more importance to ideas over the objects and material things. To them, ideas are the ultimate Reality whereas objects die out sooner or later. In the ideas are embedded all the realities and ultimate entities of the material world. In the words of Plato—"Ideas are of the ultimate cosmic significance. They are rather the essence or archetypes which give form to cosmos. These ideas are eternal and unchanging."
(3) Importance of Man Over Nature. To Idealists, man is more important than material nature. It is because man can think and experience about material objects and material phenomena. Hence, the thinker or the one who experiences is more important than the object or the phenomena experienced. Man is endowed with intelligence and a sense of discrimination. Thus, he is not a slave of the environment as animals are, but he moulds and transforms the environment for his own good and welfare of the society. In short, he creates his own world of virtue and his creativity achieves higher and higher levels of art in many areas. The following words speak this truth—"The spiritual or cultural environment is an environment of man's own making, it is a product of man's creative activity." —R.R. Rusk
(4) Faith in Spiritual Values. According to Idealists, the
prime aim of life is to achieve spiritual values. They are— Truth, Beauty and Goodness. These spiritual values are undying and permanent. The realisation of these values is the realization of God. In the pursuit of these absolute values man rises higher and higher in the moral plane till he attains Divinity. For the achievement of these spiritual values all the capacities of man are to be harnessed to the full. These capacities are: knowing, feeling and willing. By the fullest use of these capacities man can achieve the
highest spiritual values and thus realise his true and
ultimate self. J.S. Ross also opines—"Goodness, truth and beauty are seen to be absolutes each existing in its own right and entirely desirable in itself."
(5) Importance of Personality Development. Idealists give much importance to the "Self of the individual". Hence, they insist upon the fullest development of the personality of an individual. According to them the development of personality mean achievement of 'perfection'. Plato rightly speaks that each individual has an ideal Self. He tries to develop that ideal "Self more and more". This is self-realisation in the true sense of the term. It may be noted that self-realisation means knowledge of the 'Self or soul. This self-realisation can only be achieved in society. Hence, development of social qualities is very essential for
selfrealisation as it expresses itself in the form of love,
sympathy, fellow feeling and co- operation for the good of all and no discrimination among human beings on any basis of caste, creed, sex, race or status etc. It clears the fact that Idealism advocates the concept of universal education. In short, Idealism believes in the welfare of whole human community.
J.S. Ross is right when he says —"Thus, the grandeur and worth of human life at its best are emphasized by Idealism. Human personality is of supreme value and constitutes the noblest work of God."
(6) Full Support to the Principle of Unity in Diversity.
Idealists give full support to the principle of Unity in
Diversity. They believe that implicit in all the diversities is an essential unity. This implicit unifying factor is of spiritual nature. This may be called Universal Consciousness or Divinity. This underlying divine force maintains the existence and working of all entities. Idealists call this power as God, the Supreme Force which is omnipotent and omnipresent. Realisation of this Supreme Force in one's 'Self is to attain divinity and fullest development of personality which may be called spiritual fulfilment. Prof. H.N. Home has rightly remarked—"An Idealistic Philosophy
of education, then, is an account of man finding himself as an integral part of universe mind."
IMPLICATIONS OF IDEALISM
Man Lives in a Friendly Universe For the idealist there is a purposeful universe, the real nature of which is spiritual. While he accepts the interpretations of the modern empirical sciences, he points out that they are limited by the nature of the methods used and the fields investigated.
The sciences tend to eliminate all mental aspects of the world and to construct a world that is "closed to mind". The laws of the universe, according to the idealist, are in harmony with the demands of man's intellectual and moral nature. Though man is a part of the world process and in that sense 'natural,' he is a spiritual being in the sense that there is in him something not reducible to bare 'matter.'
Doctrines of total depravity, as well as all interpretations of human nature as evil, are out of place in the idealist's system. Equally inadequate are all interpretations of man that would make him a mere animal or place him in the control of purely physiological or mechanical processes.
Man has only begun to realise his possibilities. Moreover, it is through man and his aspirations that we find the best clue to the nature of God. For the idealists, God is not apart from the world, but is the indwelling life principle. Though God may transcend the world process, He is also immanent in it. He is found in the processes of nature, in history, in the social order, and preeminently in the human heart.
Consequently, the older distinction between the natural and the supernatural tends to break down. In monistic idealism, God is the immanent logic and purpose or the creative spirit of the cosmic process. The absolute idealist thinks of God as infinite and as the ground of all existence. The personalist, who is pluralist, may think of God as finite.
He will be a struggling hero, the Supreme Self or Person in a society of persons. In any case God's administration is no longer external, and men do not have to look to some outside agent or event for divine revelation; it is to be found in all of life.
