Locke: Education

Abstract:One of the themes that runs through Dewey’s Experience and Education is an argument to the effect that education aims at self-control. The details of this argument reveal close affinity between Dewey’s philosophy of education and the ideals of the Enlightenment. They are also strikingly similar to John Locke’s thoughts about freedom and education published in the seventeenth century. Comparison of their texts shows that Dewey and Locke worked with similar distinctions between positive and negative freedom. They both saw freedom (...) and guidance as compatible, and conceived of self-control as dependent on autonomy-friendly habits instilled through education. (shrink)

John Locke verfasst seine Gedanken über Erziehung(Some Thoughts Concerning Education) in den 1680er Jahren, während er sich im niederländischen Exil befindet. Mit Locke haben wir den nicht seltenen Fall eines frühmodernen Intellektuellen, der in einem hohen Ausmaß persönlich in die politischen Ereignisse seiner Zeit verwickelt ist. Dies ist auch der Grund, warum er 1683 aus England fliehen muss, da er zu den Verschwörern gezählt wird, die im Rye House Plot den Stuart-König Charles II.

The present text has as its main objective to analyze the impact of the educational method in obtaining knowledge, using as theoretical reference the philosophical thoughts of John Locke. The reflection developed by the autour is based, initially, on the criticism developed in the teaching of Logic and it ends in the moral reflection that runs through his whole work. The author of the Essay on Human Understanding realized that the teaching of the syllogism did not guarantee the production of (...) knowledge. He understood that the education based on the teaching of logic and rhetoric formed pedantic children with encyclopedic knowledge with no use to their practical life.This matter, according to Locke, was related to the discussion about the most appropriate method for obtaining knowledge and the consequences that this new method of education propitiates. What this research seeks to develop is the relationship between epistemology and morality, with education as the fundamental link. This concern arises when is observed the relevance that the teaching method has had in contemporary educational processes, much of it with an end in itself. In selecting Locke as a theoretical reference, what it seeks is to give a moral sense to educational in concerns of methodological order, although the solution presented by the English philosopher requires a proper contextualization. Because it is an eminently qualitative research, the data analysis was done from the reading and summaring of the selected reference, having part of the work of Locke as primary source and those of the chosen commentators as secondary. (shrink)

Settler colonialism is structured in part according to the principle of civilizational progress yet the roots of this doctrine are not well understood. Disparate ideas of progress and practices related to colonial dispossession and domination can be traced back to the Enlightenment, and as far back as ancient Greece, but there remain unexplored logics and continuities. I argue that civilizational progress and settler colonialism are structured according to the opposition between politics governed by reason or faith and the figure of (...) the child as sinful or bestial. Thus, it is not contingent, but rather necessary that justificatory frameworks of European empire and colonialism depict Indigenous peoples as children. To illustrate how the theoretical link between Indigenous peoples and children emerges not as a simple analogy, but rather, as the source of the premodern/modern and savage/civilized binaries, I trace the various historical iterations of the political/childhood opposition through the classical, medieval, enlightenment, and modern eras. I show how the model of civilizational progress from a premodern and savage state of childhood continues to serve as the model for settler colonial exclusion and domination of Indigenous peoples. (shrink)

El presente trabajo aborda el pensamiento educativo de John Locke desde una perspectiva poco frecuentada: sus vínculos con la teoría lockeana de la propiedad. Como se pone de relieve, Locke discrimina entre la educación de los hijos de propietarios y la de los hijos de no propietarios. La finalidad primaria de la primera es cultivar una serie de valores morales estrechamente vinculados con la propiedad –como la liberalidad y la justicia. La educación de los pobres, en cambio, queda reducida al (...) cultivo de la virtud que en el futuro permitirá a los niños convertirse en propietarios: la laboriosidad. (shrink)

John Locke is widely regarded as one of the most influential of the Enlightenment philosophers. This volume, edited by J. W. Adamson and published as a second edition in 1922, contains two of John Locke's essays concerning education; Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Of the Conduct of the Understanding. Some Thoughts Concerning Education expands on Locke's pioneering theory of mind by explaining how to educate a child using three complementary methods: the development of a healthy body; the formation of a (...) virtuous mind; and the pursuit of an academic curriculum including the emerging sciences, mathematics and languages. Of the Conduct of the Understanding continues the theme of the earlier essay by describing how to develop rational thought. For over a century after the publication of these essays, John Locke's views on education were considered authoritative, and his work was translated into almost all major European languages. (shrink)

This paper is a section that is included in a philosophy of education doctoral thesis on John Locke’s educational epistemology. In this part, I argue that Locke’s conception of liberty as limited based on the natural law and later the civil laws can shed a light on our understanding of freedom in our educational practice. Lockean call for the balance between limited freedom of individual and limited governance of political authority is theoretically translated at the end of this paper into (...) the call for the practical balance between limited freedom of students and limited governance of teachers. Then this paper will offer logical ground for Locke’s understanding of freedom and its limitation, and suggest a theoretical connection to an argument on epistemic liberty in education. (shrink)

Philosophy of Education: An Anthology brings together the essential historical and contemporary readings in the philosophy of education. The readings have been selected for their philosophical merit, their focus on important aspects of educational practice and their readability. Includes classic pieces by Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Locke, Rousseau, Mill, and Dewey. Addresses topical issues such as teacher professionalism and accountability, the commercialization of schooling, multicultural education, and parental choice.

John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education emphasizes the need to develop the habit of rationally judging which desires should be fulfilled. While nurture plays an essential role in this development, nature provides the fundamental desire for self-preservation, the end in light of which reason makes its judgments. The significance of this natural element in Lockean virtue has generally been overlooked, but it becomes clear through a comparison to Aristotelian virtue. Locke rejects any virtue that would require changing our most basic (...) desires, and he does so as part of his rejection of a political order designed for such education. Locke’s account of education is not purely transformative; rather, it is intended to prevent the transformation that would be part of an Aristotelian moral education. (shrink)

The point of departure in this article is the Danish debate about democracyin schools. This article presents a first step in a study of how the relationshipbetween democracy and education can be understood. A juxtaposition of thetwo concepts requires, first of all, an analysis of how the concept of democracyis used in the educational debate. In this article three models of democracy areapplied as an analytical framework: a liberal model (Hobbes, Locke, Kant, Rawls,Dworkin), a communitarian model (MacIntyre, Sandel, Nussbaum) and (...) a communicative/deliberativemodel (Walzer, Benhabib, Taylor, Habermas). Numerous contradictions and tensionsbetween concepts of democracy and education can be found in such a juxtaposition,depending on which conception of democracy one chooses to apply. In this articleI discuss which conception affords us the most meaningful concept of democraticteaching. As an introduction, a brief historical overview of the interplay betweendemocracy and education in Danish school is provided. (shrink)

Locke's Education for Liberty presents an analysis of the crucial but often underestimated place of education and the family within Lockean liberalism. Nathan Tarcov shows that Locke's neglected work Some Thoughts Concerning Education compares with Plato's Republic and Rousseau's Emile as a treatise on education embodying a comprehensive vision of moral and social life. Locke believed that the family can be the agency, not the enemy, of individual liberty and equality. Tarcov's superb reevaluation reveals to the modern reader a breadth (...) and unity heretofore unrecognized in Locke's thought. (shrink)

The article discusses two basic paradigms of western educational theory, namely the concept of “influence” and the concept of “development”. Two historical contextes are analyzed, John Locke's theory of human learning and Jean-Jacques Rousseau's theory of natural development. Both theories are rejected in favour of a position beyond “influence” and “development”. This position of a theory of education ( Erziehung ) is marked with the term “moral communication”.

The "fundamental human desire for liberty is also primordially a desire for mastery, not only over oneself but also over others". Compound for John Locke the problems that follow from this connection between liberty and mastery of others by adding to it the idea central to Locke's liberal politics, that government has "nothing to do with moral virtues and vices", but only with making men free and secure, and you have the basis for the dilemma addressed in this book. A (...) liberal political doctrine of rights must be accompanied by an account of the art of governing men, one which educates men for liberty. (shrink)

What type of civic education is most conducive to the preservation of democracy, specifically in its American form? Aristotle, Locke and Rousseau present major and distinct approaches to civic education that offer fruitful opportunities for thinking through and answering this question. ;The dissertation first analyzes several principles of American constitutional democracy. It then examines at length the approach to education taken by each of the three philosophers, comparing and contrasting them on the merits of their respective ideas for sustaining the (...) American form of government. Aristotle represents the classical tradition in education. He stresses the development of moral habit and self-restraint based on a universal standard of good. The self-restraint of the individual manifests itself in political life as respect for law and a check on partisan desires. It instills in the citizen a sense of the common good beyond and above competing interests. Locke, a representative of modern liberalism, does not entirely eliminate a concern for society as a whole, but he exhibits strong tendencies toward basing social and political order on the individual's concern for his private well-being. Locke's educational ideas serve largely utilitarian objectives and tend to an atomistic social order. Rousseau affirms the natural goodness of man. His educational philosophy breaks sharply with the classical and Christian view of human nature and society and rejects restraint and habituation as means to moral advancement. True civic virtue is rooted in natural freedom. Constitutional restraints are incompatible with freedom and popular sovereignty. Laws must reflect the citizens' wishes of the moment and thus be subject to instantaneous change. ;The dissertation concludes that American constitutional democracy would be poorly served by a Rousseauistic civic education. Locke's educational ideas are compatible in part with traditional American constitutional and social structures but also undermine them in important respects. Aristotle comes closest to meeting the central needs of American civic education. Neo-Humanist critics of American education in this century have refined and supplemented Aristotle's ideas, adjusting them to modern American circumstances. (shrink)

Edited versions of Second Treatise on Civil Government, Letter Concerning Toleration, Note on Happiness, The Sound Mind in the Sound Body, Reasonableness of Christianity, Conduct of the Understanding, which omit repetitious elements. The editor indicates all omissions. In his introduction he combats the text-book interpretation of Locke's Treatises by arguing that it was not intended to justify the Glorious Revolution. Rather it was a seditious document written ten years before for a projected plot by Shaftesbury against the Catholic king, Charles (...) II.—P. S. (shrink)

According to one of the greatest Greek philosophers in history, Aristotle, all men by nature desire to know. Human beings are in the pursuit for knowledge and truth. Across the history of philosophy, many thinkers provided various views in understanding the human cognition. In man’s search for knowledge, it is inevitable to resort to language in the sense that it is the principal method of human communication. In this paper, the researcher will try to investigate the relation of language in (...) human’s acquisition of knowledge in the perspective of John Locke. John Locke was widely regarded as one of the most notable and influential thinkers during the Enlightenment period. Locke was famous for his work “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding” which was one of the first great defenses of modern empiricism. He stressed that the human mind is basically a “tabula rasa” or a blank tablet and only through experience that knowledge can be written down. In Book II, it was stressed that language plays an important role in human cognition. Locke believes that language is a tool for communication; that humans want to communicate their ideas, the contents of their minds. It is by the use of words that people convey their necessarily private thoughts to each other. Accordingly, words signify or indicate ideas; words are sensible marks of ideas. However, Locke asserted that there is a misuse or abuse of language. He believes that improper use of language is one of the greatest obstacles in human cognition. The main question of this paper is: Based on Locke’s philosophical perspective, what is the relationship of language in man’s acquisition of knowledge? This paper only limits to the book of Locke entitled, “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”, which is also supplemented by various secondary sources. The first part of this paper is all about Locke’s philosophical understanding on human understanding. The second part is about the relationship between knowledge and language as discussed particularly on the Book III of his book. The third part is all about the abuses of language and their remedies. (shrink)