INTRODUCTION
In our Philosophy of Education class we were given two (2) surveys, the Gregoric Style Delineator Research Instrument and Finding Your Philosophy of Education in order to help us understand how we actually felt about education. After completing the surveys we were able to determine through our scores on both surveys what our styles of teaching would be and what our philosophy of education actually should reflect.
In this paper, I will compare and contrast the five (5) philosophies of education; Essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and existentialism and incorporate the top two (2) philosophies that I scored highest on into my own philosophy of education.
Exisentialism
Existentialism is a student-oriented philosophy. It began in the nineteenth century but developed more in the twentieth century with contributions from philosophers such as Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, and Jean Paul Sartre.
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Existentialists see the individual as lonely in a meaningless world. Furthermore, they believe that the more tragic side of life more clearly describes human existence and human existence is filled with anxiety.
Existentialists believe that humans have created harmful ideas, so they can also create ideas that can undo the harm that has been caused and create a better world. To achieve this goal it is felt that students should not have come out of the educational system with the same information, goals, and values.
A typical existentialist classroom setting would be one in which traditional learning does not occur. Subject matter is replaces by teachers helping students understand and appreciate themselves as individuals. Students are allowed to and even encouraged to assume primary responsibility for their own learning; choosing topics that they are interested in learning
Existentialism is a philosophy about man existence. It became very common during World War II concentration camp in Germany. As the result of the inhuman cruelty that the prisoners had to far go, they began to question their existence as well as the existence of their own god..
Existentialism is a philosophy about human existence, choice and freedom. It views humans as conscious beings with free will as opposed to objects without these qualities. As conscious beings, humans make decisions and define the meaning of their lives, despite living in an irrational and uncontrollable world.
Existentialism is a philosophical theory based on individuals creating their own way of life and determining their own fate within acts of free will. The existentialism theory started as a movement by Kierkegaard and Nietzche after World War II and was based on attitude. The attitude was developed as a specific view of the world unable to be acceped.
Existentialism is a philosophical way of thinking and it emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make rational existing in an irrational universe. The fact that humans are conscious of their mortality, and must make decisions about their life is basically what existentialism is all about. In the story “A clean, Well-lighted place” by Ernest Hemingway was about two waiters waiting to close up the restaurant/café for the night. They only had one customer left, an old man who was deaf and drunk. But he wasn’t causing any trouble, just keeping to himself. The two waiters apparently knew this old man because he was a regular at the café. Apparently the old man attempted to commit suicide but his niece stopped him from doing it. The two waiters had a discussion about the old man trying to commit suicide and both of them had very different opinions.
Existentialism is something that everybody thinks of sometimes in their life. Maybe they thought about it while on the toilet, or when they just achieved something they worked really hard at, or they thought about it while lying in bed at 3 am when they couldn’t sleep. Existentialism is based off of the questions “What is my purpose?” and “Why am I here?”. It basically answers these questions by saying that there is no meaning and that we can only assign meaning to our own lives by living authentically. Being “authentic” links to another pillar of Existentialism which is that existence precedes essence, meaning that we are defined by our actions, not our beliefs. I agree with a lot of the points of
Soren Kierkegaard was born lived from 1813 to 1855 and generally referred to as the father of existentialism, he was a radical Christian. Existentialism expresses the idea that any human being exists is free to act according to one’s will, and must find and choose their purpose in life. However Jean-Paul Sartre, born in 1905 and died in 1980, was also an existentialist but was known to be a radical atheist. Being an existentialist is possible no matter what a person believes.
In simpler terms, existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility. People search to find out who and what they are throughout life as they make choices based on their experiences, beliefs, and outlook. An existentialist believes that a person should be forced to choose and be responsible without the help of laws, ethnic rules, or traditions; individuals are entirely free
One concept of existentialism is the Absurd. French philosopher, Albert Camus, was concerned about the human condition. Individuals desire to have a life full of meaning, and for many people, they will devote their entire life trying to find it. However, there are downsides to the human condition, because humans seek rational answers to the philosophical questions they ask. It causes them to look at the universe and expect the universe to provide them with such answers. Even though they receive no response, they persist looking. Thus the Absurd arises. In Camus’s The Myth of Sisyphus, he uses the Absurd to describe the “...confrontation between the human need and the unreasonable silence of the world.” (Camus 28). It describes a vicious cycle where individuals fail to find answers in the universe, but still continue looking. What humans fail to understand is that life itself is meaningless, and so is the universe. Individuals will eventually die, so whatever gives them a purpose to live, will vanish when they cease to exist. In terms of the universe, it is meaningless in a sense that it provides no fixed guidelines for how an individual should live their life. Thus, it is absurd or irrational for people to keep searching for answers to questions that the universe could not possibly provide.
“Losing all hope was freedom.” One of the most powerful quotes in Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk that is a good summary of existentialism and the beliefs of the movement. Existentialism was a turning point for society and literature that advocated the expansion of the minds of authors and their readers so we could improve our thinking to be more enlightened and free. The movement sparked much alternative thinking to allow our society to grow into what it is today and without it people would most likely be more close minded and less free. Existentialism was a very influential movement with many impactful authors and will forever be remembered in history because of it’s unique ideas about the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will and how it shifted a culture.
First of all, I am a philosophy minor. On a personal level, existentialism is one of the isms that fascinates me the most, stemming from my studies of The Stranger. I read it once in high school, then again last semester in my post-colonial literature course. I have always found it to be an intriguing novel. Jean-Paul Sartre's Existentialism is a Humanism was an equally interesting read. Of course, I feel it is important to take note that Sartre himself later rejected some of his own views in Existentialism is a Humanism and even expressed regret with regards to its publication.
In any case, what can be said from the very beginning is that by existentialism we mean a doctrine which makes human life possible and, in addition, declares that every truth and every action implies a human setting and a human subjectivity.
Existentialism is a philosophy started in the 20th century, which playwright Jean-Paul Sartre let greatly influence his work, bringing existentialism to the educated world. This philosophy helps to guide society through the uncertainties in life. A concept that fills in the gaps between the meaning of one thing and the meaninglessness of another. Putting emphasis on the individual instead of society as a whole. We spend our lives striving towards a purpose in the world that we will never be able to achieve, as meaning is determined by the individual. Each person must wield their personal freedom to decide for themselves what is right or wrong, without the influence of society or religion.
Existentialism is the philosophical approach or theory that emphasizes an individual’s existence as a free and responsible being determining his own development through acts of the will (“Existentialism”). What does that mean exactly? To make it easier to understand, that means humans as people are shaping their own destinies with every choice they make. That seems quite obvious, but to further understand the meaning of existentialism, it must be analyzed through the impacts it has had on both literature and scientific theories alike.
Existentialism was another area that I related to within this class. It makes sense since this was the philosophy used in education during my school days. This is also the philosophy that we are gearing our education towards due to its focus on individualism. Knight writes, “This is undoubtedly due to the fact that it is deeply concerned with the emotions of individuals, rather than being primarily concerned with the intellect” (Knight, 2008, p. 75). I think this truly is the face of how education should be addressed, deal with the individual emotions and then work on the instruction.
Existential philosophy became prevalent in the twentieth century as a symbol of the destruction of culture and tradition following World War II, asserting the hopelessness of humanity and focusing on life in a more honest but pessimistic manner than other socialistic philosophies. The philosophy recognizes the fact that humankind is capable of great evil and has limitless possibilities, yet this is a curse rather than a blessing: we are condemned to be free and are thus held accountable for our actions. The ludicrousity, however, is found in the existentialist belief that life has no purpose, and while the choices that we make are irrelevant on grand scale, they ultimately influence our self-definition. Jean-Paul Sartre postulates that