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Educational Theorists

Along with the development of educational institutions, there have appeared from time to time educational philosophers and theorists who have had an influence upon the course of education, through their criticisms of existing practices and their suggestions of new types of organization which should be set up. Different philosophies predispose educational theorists to structure or restructure education in specific directions, and the ebb and flow of educational philosophy continues. A discussion of the underpinnings of modern educational thinking in relation to philosophies such as idealism, realism, Thomism, and pragmatism will be discussed, beginning with Aristotle's (384-322 B.C.) and Plato's (429-347 B.C.) views on the educated citizen, and ending with John Dewey's (1859-1952) progressive reforms of the late 19th and early to mid-20th centuries.

Plato wrote on philosophy, on social subjects, and on government, developing a general theory of the state. This theory distinguished between the different classes of society, and defended the general position, borrowed from Socrates (469-399 B.C.), that knowledge and clear thinking are the only possible bases of good conduct (essential to the state). The fact that an individual might think clearly about social matters and yet still remain unjust provides a flaw in Plato's system. Even so, Plato emphasized very explicitly the relation between logic (gained by studying four essential subjects) and action (being a good citizen of sound moral fiber), and devoted his writings and teachings to the development of this theory.

Plato divided higher education into four main branches--arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music--to be developed in the individual in full measure. A "complete course" of these subjects, so to speak, would develop a unity and symmetry of thought essential to the well-being of both citizen and state. It is not a stretch to see that teachers of the later medieva...

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Educational Theorists. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:37, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1692458.html