1.0 Introduction
2.0Objectives
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3.0 Main Body 3.1 Realism
3.2 Scientific Realism
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
3.3 Educational Implication of Realism 3.4 Realist Aims of Education
3.5 Realist Curriculum
3.6 Realist Method of Education
3.7 Realist Influence on Nigerian Education 3.8 Naturalism
4.0 Conclusion 5.0 Summary
6.0 Tutor Marked Assignment 7.0 References / Further Readings
1.0 INTRODUCTION
In the last unit, you studied about the definition of metaphysics, the
postulations of the idealists and how knowledge is acquired. You also studied the idealists’ aim of education and what their curriculum is, youalso looked in their method of education and how it has influenced
Nigerian education. In this unit we shall move another step further to
look at the realists and their postulations. You will also study their
curriculum, their method of education and how they have influenced
Nigerian educational system.
2.0 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this unit, you will be able to:
Explain realism
Say the educational implication of realism Enumerate realists aims of education Explain realists curriculum
Explain realists influence on Nigerian education.
3.0 MAIN BODY 3.1 Realism
Aristotle is an exponent of realism. He asserts that matter has an
objective reality and that matter is the underlying principle of all things.
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He said that for matter to become a reality, it must acquire a form. That
it is only when matter acquires a form that it becomes a reality. He said that matter is the principle of potentiality. This means that matter is always in the process of becoming something. This form he said is the principle of actuality, that is, it is this form that makes matter a reality.Matter is actualised when it becomes a form. Looking at the above, you may ask, how he can explain the varieties of objects we have which he claimed where all matter. For instance, you actualise the form of a man,
why does not matter actualise into one form since the principle
underlying everything is matter? Aristotle postulated the pure form in order to escape the above problem. This pure form is the prime mover, the first cause or the unmoved mover. Do you think that the principle of the pure form can explain the various forms we have in the world? What
is your opinion?
In rejecting the theory of Plato, Aristotle formulated the theory of
Hylomorphism that is the theory of matter and form.
In conjunction with Scholastic, Aristotle postulated four causes which must come into play before an object will change into a form. These
causes are material cause, formal cause, efficient cause and final cause.
Other realists differ from Aristotle in some ways. Philosophers like Herbert Spencer and John Locke postulated that matter is the ultimate reality. They say that things we experience with our senses such as hills, trees, animals, sand, water and man are simply not ideas in the mind of the observing individuals or even in the mind of an external
observer. Rather they exist in themselves independent of the mind.
Other realists called religious realists represented by Thomas Aquinas assert that mind and matter form the composite. Man is a composite of body and soul. The spirit is more important and higher than the body.
They argue that this is proved through revelation and reasoning.
3.2 Scientific Realism
Scientific realism came in the wake of the scientific revolution of
eighteen century. These scientific realists postulated that reality is
limited to observable phenomena. Things do not exist apart from the
ones we can see, knowledge is also limited to only what we can
perceive. Scientific realists eliminate suprasensible realities from the
domain of what exists.
Scientific realism entered into education thought and practices through
the theories of such eminent scholars as Francis Bacon (1561 – 1626).
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i.
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iii.
John Locke, one of the scientific realists propounded the theory of
Tabula Raza - literally it means clean slate. John Locke maintained that at birth, a child’s mind is completely devoid of any knowledge. That
what happens is that as the child develops by contact with his
environment this originally empty mind is now filled with experiences gained from the surrounding. From the above you can conclude that a child may be good or bad depending on the type of ideas that the child got from his environment. If the above is true, do you think that a child can be blamed for any type of behaviour the child displays? Think
about it, since it is the environment that is responsible for his behaviour.
This theory of tabula raza is opposed to the theory of innate idea, the theory which says that when a child is born, he is born with some ideas which he collected from the world of ideas; the teacher helps the student to discover this knowledge. This is why Socrates who propounded this theory sees himself as playing the role of the midwife who helps the