Pedagogic Theories

Author(s):  
Juha Hämäläinen

“Pedagogue” (παιδαγογος) was originally a term for a slave who was responsible for the care of children in the household. Later the meaning of the word expanded to mean educator and teacher. A pedagogic theory deals with the nature and structure of educational action, teaching, and upbringing. Pedagogic theories are connected with belief and value systems, concepts of man and society, and philosophies of knowledge and political interests. Thus, it is rather difficult to define a pedagogic theory exactly. In general, the concept of pedagogy refers to a systematic view of organizing education. It discusses the issues of how to educate and what it means to be educated. In this sense, a pedagogic theory is a theory of educational action, or a systematic view and reflection of pedagogic practice. Pedagogic theory is a systematic conceptualization of the process of education and conditions of human development in both the individual and the societal life sphere. It deals with processes of upbringing, teaching, learning, and social and cultural development. Aims and means, values and norms, and objectives and methods of education are systematically reflected therein. Pedagogic theory building starts with two fundamental anthropologic questions: What is a human being, and what should he or she be? Combining these questions, pedagogic theory examines educational aims and means of helping human beings to develop toward what they should be. Pedagogic reflection and theory building are based on the idea that—in the words of Immanuel Kant—a human being can become human only through education. Studying childhood from the vantage point of pedagogic theories focuses on the development of a pedagogic way of thinking over the course of time.

Author(s):  
Jon Stewart

This work represents a combination of different genres: cultural history, philosophical anthropology, and textbook. It follows a handful of different but interrelated themes through more than a dozen texts that were written over a period of several millennia. By means of an analysis of these texts, this work presents a theory about the development of Western Civilization from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The main line of argument traces the various self-conceptions of the different cultures as they developed historically. These self-conceptions reflect different views of what it is to be human. The thesis is that in these we can discern the gradual emergence of what we today call inwardness, subjectivity and individual freedom. As human civilization took its first tenuous steps, it had a very limited conception of the individual. Instead, the dominant principle was that of the wider group: the family, clan or people. Only in the course of history did the idea of what we know as individuality begin to emerge. It took millennia for this idea to be fully recognized and developed. The conception of human beings as having a sphere of inwardness and subjectivity subsequently had a sweeping impact on all aspects of culture, such as philosophy, religion, law, and art. Indeed, this conception largely constitutes what is today referred to as modernity. It is easy to lose sight of the fact that this modern conception of human subjectivity was not simply something given but rather the result of a long process of historical and cultural development.


1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 98-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki L. Lee

This paper considers the question “What is a psychological unit?”. The ubiquity of units in daily life and in science is considered. The assumption that the individual human being or animal is the psychological unit is examined and rejected. The units represented by the data collected in operant laboratories are interpreted as a subset of the well-defined changes that individual human beings or animals can bring about. The departure of this interpretation from the traditional interpretation in terms of the behaviour of the organism is acknowledged. The paper concludes by noting the relation of the present interpretation of operant research to the problem of identifying psychological units.


1985 ◽  
Vol 20 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 206-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoram Dinstein

The individual human being is manifestly the object of every legal system on this planet, and consequently also of international law. The ordinary subject of international law is the international corporate entity: first and foremost (though not exclusively) the State. Yet, the corporate entity is not a tangible res that exists in reality, but an abstract notion, moulded through legal manipulation by and within the ambit of a superior legal system. When the veil is pierced, one can see that behind the legal personality of the State (or any other international corporate entity) there are natural persons: flesh-and-blood human beings. In the final analysis, Westlake was indubitably right when he stated: The duties and rights of States are only the duties and rights of the men who compose them.That is to say, in actuality, the international rights and duties of States devolve on human beings, albeit indirectly and collectively. In other words, the individual human being is not merely the object of international law, but indirectly also its subject, notwithstanding the fact that, ostensibly, the subject is the international corporate entity.


Author(s):  
Kristin Gjesdal

It is difficult to accept that Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803), an influential philosopher of history, language, and culture, was a prolific preacher and clergyman. His apparent Spinoza connection, his agreement with the pre-critical Kant, and his alleged naturalism seem to contradict his unquestioning acceptance of God. But when the human being is considered as the middle point a reconstruction of Herder devoid of this dichotomy is possible. Herder’s religious anthropology understands human beings both as historical and religious beings, which gives rise to his rejection of Christianity in its actuality as the sole future religion. The church raised itself above the individual and destroyed religions, cultures, and languages, whereas Herder’s notion of human religion—for him a universal concept—allows individual nations, cultures, languages, and religions to remain particular. Central for the argument are Herder’s Christliche Schriften (1793–8), the Ideen (1801–4), and the Adrastea (1801–4).


2017 ◽  
pp. 117-129
Author(s):  
Milena Letícia Pfister

O objeto de estudo do presente artigo é analisar a possibilidade da construção de uma educação para a cidadania com inspiração na HlosoHa de Pascal. JustiHca-se a importância da pesquisa na medida em que a lei maior do pais, a Constituição Federal Brasileira, estabelece que a educação tenha por Em a preparação do indivíduo para o exercício da cidadania. A análise do pensamento de Pascal, em contraposição a Descartes, constata que, para o primeiro, o ser humano tem um conhecimento existencial cuja consideração se mostra imprescindível no processo de ensino-aprendizagem, razão pela qual não pode ser desprezado. Intenciona-se aproximar os ensinamentos de Pascal ao desenvolvimento da educação, uma vez que, apenas se as dúvidas existenciais que formam o conhecimento humano forem levadas em conta no desenvolvimento educacional, os indivíduos poderão ser formados como cidadãos. A pesquisa caracteriza-se como bibliogrcha, baseada, sobretudo, em obras especíHcas de ElosoHa e educação.Palavras-chave: Educação. Cidadania. Descartes. Pascal.Education for citizenship: a comparative reading between Descartes and PascalAbstractThe object of this paper is analyzing the possibility of building an education for citizenship inspired by the Pascan philosophy. The importance of this research is justiHed insofar as the Brazilian Federal Law, the Brazilian Federal Constitution, establishes that education focus on preparing the individual for the citizenship exercise. The analysis of Pascalis thought as opposed to Descartes Ends that for the Hrst, the human being has an existential knowledge whose consideration is essential in the teaching-learning process, reason why such knowledge cannot be despised. We intended to bring Pascalis teachings closer to the development of education, as long as existential doubts forming human knowledge are taken into account in the educational development, then individuals can be educated as citizens. The research is characterized as bibliographical, based mainly on speciHc works of philosophy and education.Keywords: Education. Citizenship. Descartes. Pascal.Educación para la Ciudadanía: una lectura comparativa entre Descartes y PascalResumenEl objeto de estudio del presente artículo es analizar la posibilidad de la construcción de una educación para la ciudadanía con inspiración en la Blosofía de Pascal. Se justifica la importancia de la investigación en la medida en que la Ley Mayor del país, la Constitución Federal Brasileria, establece que la educación tenga por En la preparación del individuo para el ejercicio de la ciudadanía. El análisis del pensamiento de Pascal en contraposición a Descartes constata que para el primero el ser humano tiene un conocimiento existencial cuya consideración se muestra imprescindible en el proceso de ensenanza-aprendizaje, por lo que no puede ser despreciado. El principal objetivo es aproximar las ensenanzas de Pascal al desarrollo de la educación, ya que sólo si las dudas existenciales que forman el conocimiento humano se tienen en cuenta en el desarrollo educativo, los individuos podran ser formados como ciudadanos. La investigación se caracteriza como bibliogrcha, basada sobre todo en obras especíHcas de Blosofía y educación.Palabras-clave: Educación. Ciudadanía. Descartes. Pascal.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 81-90
Author(s):  
Vyacheslav A. Averin

Various approaches and models of the concept of mental health norm are analysed: medical (biological), psychological, social normative, based on the principles of mechanistic determinism. As opposed to them, A.B. Cholmogorova advocates biopsychosocial models, which are based on a systemic approach. B.S. Bratus singles out the statistical adaptation approach and the adoption of negative criteria of the norm opposing it, as well as the cultural relativistic and existential approaches and the descriptive criteria of mental health opposing them. Searching for optimal criteria for the norms of mental development the HUMAN BEING is found to be in the centre of consideration as a result of cultural development in all its diversity: as an individual, personality, subject of activity, the integration of the variety of properties of which is expressed in individuality. The development of a human being within culture leads to the formation of a cultural consciousness, the main criteria of which are freedom, independence, creativity, self sufficiency and conscience. They can be considered as criteria for the normal course of a persons mental development. An attempt to formulate psychological tools to achieve aims of the mental development of a human being has been made. At the level of individual-personality this role belongs to the directedness of the personality, expressing the relation of an individual to the aims of the activity. At the level of the subject of activity to the individual style of activity. The interaction of these key factors of the development of a human being ensures the internal unity of all levels of the organization of a human being, resulting in the concept of the integrity of human being, which fully expresses the psychological content of individuality the bearer of cultural consciousness.


Via Latgalica ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 78
Author(s):  
Māra Kiope

The famous Latvian born Brasilian philosopher Staņislavs Ladusāns (1913-1993) due to the Soviet occupation could not return to Latvia any more, – as it had been envisaged – to take up a post in the Catholic Faculty of Theology at the University of Latvia. Thus he started his mission in Brazil (1946), where he became a Christian philosopher, known all over the world, especially because of his work “Many-sided gnoseology”, in which he synthesizes phenomenology and Thomism. Specialists in the history of philosophy of Brazil point out that activities initiated by S. Ladusāns brought a profound change in the development of the intellectual culture in Brazil. During the seventies of the 20th century Ladusāns was tackling the philosophical problematics of many-sided humanism. This notion clearly indicates that human understanding is based on a plurality of principles. Thus, in order to describe a human being, one has to illuminate several dimensions, or to perform various types of measurements. Father Ladusāns distinguishes the following dimensions that are of importance for the investigation of the human being: first of all it is gnoseology or the theory of the human capacity for cognition. Above that a human being is to be considered as possessing of immortal soul that determines personal self-esteem. A human being obtains intrinsic value amidst all the other values of economic or technological character. A human being exists in the community; a human being is to be viewed through a vertical dimension revealing the existence of God as the highest being, and through a supra-natural dimension that connects philosophical humanism with the Christian faith, thus providing for spiritual renewal of people. Human beings obtain wishes that go beyond the possibilities offered by the material world; these may be realized only through intensive spiritual life. Such life praxes are accessible only in Christianity; these correspond to the existence of the soul as an immortal spiritual substance encompassed by space and time. The starting point of metaphysics is the thirst of the human being for happiness. The further argumentation of Ladusāns, based on the openness of reason towards Revelation, postulates that God as the Highest Good reveals Himself as love, thus providing our need for inner peace, as it is testified by our inner experience. A person reaches out for infinite Goodness, for the Highest Good, which is the Reality, transcending all other realities. The result of the question of happiness is a practical one – by following the voice of conscience the human being performs choices and acts to deepen the unity with the Highest Good. In doing good things a human being acquires peace. Ladusāns points out that the notion of culture is analogical – that “culture” is equivocally formed and subjectively experienced act of the inner spiritual culture of the person. Equivocal designation means that the inner culture, the spiritual life is attributively used with reference to various manifestations of spirit, forms of artistic expression, etc. – which bear the name of “culture”. By cultivating one’s inner life and the immortal life of the soul, a person reaches such a level of critical competency, which allows to evaluate and to produce new forms of culture. The many-sided spiritual culture provides for personal and national elevation to a much higher level of fullness – reaching the status of love. However, a person is incapable of reaching such a task on his own; one needs cooperation with God. The individual person and a nation has to open up within the spiritual self-identity in the culture of love, so as to reach an increasing pulsation of culture, in order to take a stand against the inhuman ideology – saturated philosophy of modernity and post-modernity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ingrid C Bernard

This article explicates Spinoza’s terms of self-preservation1 as his philosophical view in his book “Ethics”2 (published in 1677), written in a geometrical method. Generally, self-preservation refers to attention on the needs or desires of an individual self. The term self-preservation is often used simply to denote the attitude of caring about one’s own good. It is a view that human beings are always motivated by self-preservation, which is a necessity view of life. Spinoza has a broader view of the term. He identified self-preservation as the ultimate aim and proper motive of morality. His philosophical view of self-preservation is a more enlightened self-preservation, which shows that acting for one's own self-preservation can also serve others. Spinoza emphasized that the concepts of good, virtue, into perfection, have a ground in every human being, whilst evil is a condition in which virtue in ordinary people is still in its early unfoldment. Ordinary individuals tend not to undergo rigorous life and therefore they become preys for their passive emotions. According to Spinoza: evil actions are the result of ignorance. Therefore, he emphasized that individuals good potentials must be developed. The higher the individual understanding is, the more the individual has the power to propel himself from within, to enlighten himself, but also to help and bring happiness to others. He argued that an individual’s goodness will inspire others to achieve contenment. The difference of self-preservation term with other philosophical views of it can be observed through his propositions in his “Ethics”. Spinoza’s understanding of the importance of self-preservation, by improving one’s rational ability, is an exclusive view in his era, and can still be an inspiration to individuals today.


Artificial Intelligence (AI) is designing machines which can act like human beings. The machines are designed in such a way that can perform all functions which a human being can perform. The machines are characterized by all cognitive and affective functions possessed by human beings. AI finds extensive application in diverse fields and education is not an exception. With the rapid advancement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), AI based tools can be adopted in education system. The present paper explores and explicates the application of AI based tools in education particularly focusing on teaching, learning, pedagogy and learning assessment.


2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Teresa Iannone

La Bioetica ci insegna quanto sia importante che la Medicina sia disposta a guardare e a trattare l’uomo che soffre nella sua interezza spirituale e corporea, opponendosi a quella cultura scientifica che ha perso il senso della unità dell’individuo, curando la patologia e non il malato. La prospettiva olistica è quella che meglio comprende il concetto di salute, in quanto definisce la salute come abilità di conseguire gli scopi vitali riferendosi all’uomo nella sua interezza. In questa modalità di affrontare l’uomo nella sua globalità, entra in gioco la corporeità, base necessaria per la relazione con i propri simili. La Medicina estetica si basa sull’intuizione che individua come il malessere del corpo possa andare ben oltre il corpo; ricorrervi deve significare rispettare l’umanità che è in ognuno di noi nella ricerca di un equilibrio psico-fisico che richiama ad una duplice moralità: quella del medico che deve prestare la sua opera senza tradire gli scopi dell’arte medica e quella dell’utente che deve rispettare la sacralità della sua persona. Affrontare una diagnosi di malattia è difficile; il malato vaga in una condizione di incredulità e sgomento che possono far dimenticare che c’è un viso che “chiede” e un corpo che “parla”; l’attenzione alla componente estetica della nostra persona nei percorsi di malattia può aiutare a riportare l’attenzione e assumere la corporeità al centro dell’interesse del paziente. Ciò non comporta alcun riduzionismo soggettivista, tutt’altro: permette di non mistificare l’esperienza soggettiva mettendo in luce il ruolo della dimensione della malattia nella definizione delle nostre più intime esperienze. In questa particolare situazione, in un contesto condiviso e supportato dall’intero staff sanitario, la Medicina estetica può portare un contributo per interagire con un corpo che può desiderare di essere riscoperto: il suo apporto, in un approccio integrato al paziente, tende a far sì che la cura del paziente possa operare su tutte le quattro dimensioni della salute, organica, psichica, socio-ambientale, etico-spirituale, ognuna delle quali investe tutta la sua persona: per far sì che, se esistono malattie inguaribili, non debbano mai esistere malattie incurabili. ---------- Bioethics teaches us the importance of Medicine being open to consider and treat suffering people in their spiritual and corporeal wholeness, thus opposing a scientific culture which has lost the sense of unity of the individual, as it deals with the treatment of organs or pathologies rather than of patients. The holistic perspective interprets the concept of health in the best way, in that it defines health as the ability of achieving vital goals, and refers to the human being as a whole. This way of dealing with the total human being implies a role for corporeity, intended as a necessary basis for inter-individual relationships. Aesthetic Medicine is based on the intuition according to which it is possible to identify how physical discomfort may extend well beyond the body itself; therefore, resort to it must mean respect for the human beings we all are, and continuous search for psychic and physical equilibrium, which implies two aspects of morality, i.e., ethical practice by physicians, who must dispense their services without failing in the aims of the art of medicine, and ethical behaviour by users, who must respect the holiness of their own persons. It is difficult to face a diagnosis of disease; sick persons fall a prey to feelings of disbelief and dismay such that they may be induced to neglect their own “asking” faces, and their own “talking” bodies. So, the attention to the aesthetic component of our persons during the course of the illness may help to focus again both the attention and the interest of patients on corporeity. This does not imply any sort of subjectivist reductionism, quite the contrary. Rather, it allows to not mystify the subjective experience, by emphasizing the role played by the importance of the disease within the definition of our most intimate experiences. Then, in the particular situation herein referred to, that is, within a context which is shared and supported by all the health staff, Aesthetic Medicine can make its contribution to interact with a body which it is really possible to rediscover. The contribution of Aesthetic Medicine – within a patient- focused approach – is intended to allow that patients’ care may act for all four aspects of health, i.e., organic, psychical, socio-environmental, and ethical-spiritual ones, each of which concerns their whole persons. And this, so that – even if non-healing diseases exist – “not curable” diseases shall never exist.


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