1、IntroductIon to PhIlosoPhy,IntroductIon to PhIlosoPhy,Psychology and socIology Psychology and socIology of EducatIonof EducatIonCreated by Jeff StraussMA Educational Foundations Philosophical Theories of Human Existence:Pre-Socratic,Medieval,Modern,19th and 20th Century Theories of Human Behavior an
2、d Development:Biological,Religious,Psychological,Behavioral,Socio-cultural Historical Eras:Ancient,Dark Ages,Enlightenment,Age of Reason,Modernism,Industrial,Information Sociological Theories of Society and Cultures:Structuralism,Conflict Theory,Marxism,Critical Theory,Post-ModernismPhilosophyFrom t
3、he earliest beginnings of recorded history it has involved discussions and debates not just about truth,but what are our methods of inquiry into truth.So one of the differences between philosophy and straightforward scientific inquiry is that in philosophy the issue isnt merely about what the truth
4、is,but how we can know what the truth is.A physicist and biologist know things,but the philosopher asks,How do they know?It is for that reason that philosophy is often described as a second-order activity:thinking about thinking,knowing about knowing.Thales(624-546 B.C.E)“Everything is made of water
5、”There is an underlying reality beyond appearances that is radically different from things as they appear to us through our senses 25 Centuries Since Philosophy and Science Have altered only 1 word Everything is made of water Everything is made of air Everything is made of the indeterminate boundles
6、s Everything is made of fire Everything is made of numbers Everything is made of atoms Everything is made of quarksAristotlePlatoSocratesThe ancient Greeks as a starting point for western civilizations philosophical traditionsLos Tres AmigosSocrates(470 to 399 B.C.E)“The unexamined life is not worth
7、 living”This statement sets the stage for a revolutionary progression of Western thinking.That the individual is responsible to answer questions such as What meaning do I want to give my life?How should I live?What really matters?What is truth and how can I know it.Intrinsic ValuePlato(428-348 B.C.E
8、)Plato and the Allegory of the Cave Plato viewed the world of appearances as an illusion True knowledge (ideas)could not be sought through the senses Wisdom requires us to see beyond sense experience and to learn about the underlying first principles and causes of things.Aristotle(384-322 B.C.E.)Ari
9、stotle collapsed the physical world of matter(the realm of appearances)and the world of ideas to explain change.He saw the soul as not independent of the physical body He invented the syllogism(deductive logic)as well as inductive logicTHE DARK AGESTHE DARK AGESDecent into The Darkness Marcus Aureli
10、us(121-180)14th Emperor of Rome.He regarded Christians as the most subversive and dangerous element within the Roman Empire and warned that if Christians were allowed to corrupt the intellect and souls of the citizens of Rome,the Empire would fall They would have been wise to heed his warningsThe Ri
11、se of ChristianityIn the third century the philosophical traditions from Thales to Aurelius ground to a screeching halt.To the enlightened citizens at the height of the Roman Empire,with the Hellenic philosophical genius behind them and the emerging political,social and cultural advances before them
12、,it must have seemed as if some great,cosmic awakening was about to happen,as if the next level of enlightenment within human consciousness was just around the corner.What they got instead was the Dark Ages:the burning of books,the closing of the philosophy schools,the collapse of the Roman Empire.-
13、Daniel Kolack“From the Pre-Socratic to the Present”Medieval PhilosophyMedieval Philosophy By 3rd century C.E.,Roman Empire is unwinding Because they were no longer persecuted the Christians were now winning more converts Catholic philosophy developed from the view of Plato,the Stoics and Neo-Platoni
14、sts dominated Western thought for a 1000 years Augustine,Averroes,Maimonides,Aquinas Ockham,Bacon,Martin Luther,Copernicus How Ancient People Envisioned the UniverseMartin Luther&The Reformation Martin Luther dealt the symbolic blow that began the Reformation when he nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to
15、 the door of the Wittenberg Church.That document contained an attack on papal abuses and the sale of indulgences by church officials.Translation of the Bible into German from the Latin broke Romes stranglehold on the“Word”The Renaissance The Age of Modern PhilosophyEmpiricism Descartes:“I think ther
16、efore I am”Kant:The Transcendental Idealist Hegel:The Absolute IdealistRene Descartes Cogito Ergo Sum Cartesian geometry Methodological Skepticism Differentiated the“handing down of knowledge”with“truth”Immanuel Kant Not“how does an object affect the mind”but“how does the mind affect an object?”Tran
17、scendentalism:Space and time are not part of the noumenal world,but constructs of the mindHegel Much as Aristotle collapsed the physical world of matter(the realm of appearances)and the world of ideas to explain change.Hegel paved the way for not transcending beyond the phenomenal world or inwardly
18、to the mental faculties(empirical and the rational)but to break through logical categories themselves.The Implications From Kant to Hegel there was an enlightenment This paved the way for existentialism in which the individual is primary and existence is understood in individualistic terms So now Co
19、mtes positivism is based in part on the notion that“social”verification is a necessary condition for truth and meaning.Auguste Comte The birth of Positivism The 3 conditions of intellectual developmentPrimitive stage:human beings rely on the power of supernatural beings existing beyond the natural w
20、orld.So explanations are given in supernatural termsMetaphysical stage:explanation is ultimately theological and supernatural entities are replaced with abstract notions.Positive stage:the mind is freed by reason and observation from its vain egotistical search for“Absolute Notions”SociologyThe Play
21、ers and Theories Functionalism:Weber,Durkheim Conflict Theory:Marx,Engle Critical Theory:Frankfurt School Semiotics:Pierce,Saussure Pragmatism:William James,John Dewey Post Modernism:Foucault,Lyotard Functionalism In explaining the basis of social order in societies the starting point for Functional
22、ists is to look at whole societies and not the individual The starting point of all Functionalism is that all societies have certain basic needs Emile Durkheim draws an analogy between the way a biological organism works and society.The various organs of a living thing work together in order to main
23、tain a healthy whole in much the same way that various institutions in society work together to produce social order.Functionalists believe that the basis of an orderly society is the existence of a central value system that imposes common values on all its members.MAX WEBERBureaucratic coordination
24、 of human action,Weber believed,is the distinctive mark of modern social structures.Hierarchy of authority Impersonality Written rules of conduct Promotion based on achievement Specialized division of labor Efficiency Conflict Theory&Karl Marx The following are four primary assumptions of modern con
25、flict theory Competition Structural inequality Revolution War.Frankfurt School They were concerned to develop critical theory from the works of Karl Marx,whilst radically revising many Marxian ideas.They greatly developed the critique of the mass media in mass society(what they referred to as the cu
26、lture industry)and their work is therefore at the root of much Marxian criticism of the mass media.As they saw it,the culture industry played a highly manipulative role in modern society and served to control or subvert oppositional consciousness,thus removing any threat to the dominant capitalist c
27、lass.The possibility of revolutionary transformation of society was seen by them as being effectively excluded by a dominant bureaucracy which was supported by the culture industry.critical theory Developing from the work of the Frankfurt School theorists,critical theory has always been multidiscipl
28、inary(perhaps more accurately supradisciplinary),drawing on sociology,literary criticism,philosophy,psychology,art criticism,political science and many other fields.Central to critical theory is an emancipatory imperative directed towards the abolition of social injustice and focused principally on
29、a critique of ideology,showing how repressive interests underlie the ostensibly neutral formulations of science,politics,economics,culture in general In philosophy,where the term is extensively used,it applies to movements that include post-structuralism,deconstruction,multiculturalism,gender studie
30、s and literary theory,sometimes called simply theory.It emerged beginning in the 1950s as a critique of doctrines such as positivism and emphasizes the importance of power relationships,personalization and discourse in the construction of truth and world views.POSTMMO OD DE ER RN NI IS SMM3 Major Th
31、eories of Development Psychoanalytic Theories:Stress the importance of childrens unconscious thoughts.It is heavily colored by emotion and influenced by parents as to the childs development Cognitive Theories:Stress childrens conscious thoughts.Behavioral Theories:Stress the effects of the environme
32、nt on the organism to adapt,learn and changeBehaviorism DefinitionBehaviorism is a theory of animal and human learning that only focuses on objectively observable behaviors and discounts mental activities.Behavior theorists define learning as nothing more than the acquisition of new behavior.Constru
33、ctivism DefinitionConstructivism is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that,by reflecting on our experiences,we construct our own understanding of the world we live in.Each of us generates our own rules and mental models,which we use to make sense of our experiences.Learning,therefore,i
34、s simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences.Freud,Sigmund-(1856-1939)Responsible for developing theories central to psychoanalysis,the psychology of human sexuality,and dream interpretation.His major contribution was in pointing to connections between aberrant
35、behavior and the unconscious.The Id,Ego and SuperegoLev Vygotsky:Social Development Theory The major theme of Vygotskys theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition.Vygotsky(1978)states:Every function in the childs cultural development app
36、ears twice:first,on the social level,and later,on the individual level;first,between people(interpsychological)and then inside the child(intrapsychological).This applies equally to voluntary attention,to logical memory,and to the formation of concepts.All the higher functions originate as actual rel
37、ationships between individuals.Howard Gardner:Multiple Intelligences DefinitionThis theory of human intelligence,developed by psychologist,suggests there are at least seven ways that people have of perceiving and understanding the world.Gardner labels each of these ways a distinct intelligence-in ot
38、her words,a set of skills allowing individuals to find and resolve genuine problems they face.Jean Piaget:Genetic Epistemology The concept of cognitive structure is central to his theory(Schemas).There are four primary cognitive structures(i.e.,development stages)according to Piaget:sensorimotor,pre
39、operations,concrete operations,and formal operations.In the sensorimotor stage(0-2 years),intelligence takes the form of motor actions.Intelligence in the preoperational period(3-7 years)is intuitive in nature.The cognitive structure during the concrete operational stage(8-11 years)is logical but depends upon concrete referents.In the final stage of formal operations(12-15 years),thinking involves abstractions.THE END
