Pragmatism

Pragmatic philosophy started by the Greek philosopher Heraclius, but the spread of this philosophy was coupled with name of the American philosopher John Dewey. It considers that everything must be experimented in order to prove it, therefore it represents a new progressive trend in philosophical thoughts.

Basic principles of pragmatic philosophy

Among the basic principles of pragmatic philosophy are those which emphasize that the individual is part of society and has a certain role in it. Adding to that, man has a neutral nature, since he is neither good nor bad but he has the willingness to be this or that, depending on the type of education reveived. Other principle is that knowing the divine self and how the universe exists is impossible.

Role of students

Regarding the role of student, pragmatist sees that students should collaborate with others, able to solve problem by self, and producing new methods for solving them. Pragmatists prefer students to have a well developed personality with the ability to communicate socially and self proof.

Role of teachers

Pragmatists ensure that teachers should suggest problems and lead students to find ways to solve them,  also teach them how to think and work. What is important that building educational attitudes on problems to better understand the surrounding.

Methods and curriculum

Pragmatists do not advocate a fixed curriculum in advance, yet it should be evolved according the requirement of situations. Thus pragmatists claim to flexible curriculum so that the nature of the learner has to be taken into consideration. Pragmatists try to include activities from daily life into the curriculum. It emphasizes only utilitarian aspect therefore, neglect subjects like poetry and art. Learning by doing is one of the basic methods of teaching in pragmatism. It is applied by encouraging students to learn through self-effort , not by reading books, but by actual doing things. Also including real life situations with topics learned in class. The learner is given a real and purposeful activity to carry out, by doing so he acquires principles, skills, and methods. Thus the learner obtain knowledge by experiences gained from tasks and activities.

Al FARABI EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

 Al farabi is considered one of the largest Muslim philosophers, and his contemporaries called him “ the second teacher ’’ because of his great interest in work of Aristotle “ the first teacher ’’ , and its interpretation. One of his characteristics is that he tried to reconcile between the philosophy of Aristotle and that of Plato from one hand, and between religion and philosophy from the other hand. (http://www.mawhopon.net/?p=4333). Regarding education, he considered it as one of the most important  social phenomena. The aim of this education to prepare individuals into perfection since they are prepared to this. He combined learning with practical action and he considered that applications are important to understand ideas. Al farabi considered that the teacher should have a good character and seeks truth in all conditions. For educating the people, virtuous people shall be employed and trained in the logical arts. In his opinion. The teaching profession should be adopted voluntarily without any obligation and should be able to demonstrate.  (Rauf, Ahmad, & Iqbal, 2013)

Al farabi was the first Muslim philosopher who classified the sciences and learning. For al farabi, learning must start with the languages and its structures. The foundation for all other kinds of knowledge is because of mastery of common language. Al farabi was well aware of importance of language. Next to language comes logic, which is the instrument of sciences and their methodology. It gives sound reflection to science. It is also closely related to language. The Arabic word for” logic’’ is mantiq which include the verbal expression of intellectual process. This is why, in al- Farabi’s opinion, language comes before rules to enrich the mind. (Rauf, Ahmad, & Iqbal, 2013)