Philosophy of Education EDU304 Spring 2003 Dr Christian Perring

Take home exam. Your answers should be written in grammatical sentences. The more complete your answers the better, but you will lose points for irrelevant digressions. The length of your answers should be guided by the number of points available. Total points available: 150. This will be converted to a percentage.

1. Plato. In The Republic, Socrates says, “our present argument show us that there is a faculty residing in the soul of each person, and an instrument enabling each of us to learn; and that, just as we might suppose it to be impossible to turn the eye round from darkness to light without turning the whole body, so this faculty, or this instrument, be wheeled round, in company with the entire soul, from the perishing world, until it be enabled to endure the contemplation of the real world and the brightest part thereof.”
1. Summarize the argument that shows this conclusion. 10 points.
2. What does Socrates mean by the term “a faculty residing in the soul”? (5 points)
3. What does Socrates mean by “the perishing world”? (5 points)
4. What according to Socrates is the nature of the “real world”? (5 points)
2. Aristotle. From the Nicomachean Ethics.
1. Explain what kind of precision we can reach in ethical enquiry according to Aristotle. (5 points).
2. Why does Aristotle recommend that people receive an all-round education? (5 points)
3. What according to Aristotle is the function of man? (5 points)
4. Explain the difference between the two kinds of virtue according to Aristotle. (5 points)
5. How does Aristotle say that we can become virtuous? (5 points).
3. Rousseau.
1. What is Rousseau’s view of the natural state of children and their innate goodness? (5 points)
2. Does Rousseau think that children should be protected from nature? Explain. (5 points)
3. Rousseau argued that children should be given more liberty. Explain his reasons. (5 points)
4. Why does Rousseau argue that children’s first education “ought to be purely negative”? (5 points)
5. Why does Rousseau recommend that at the age of twelve, Emile will hardly know what a book is? (5 points)
4. Jefferson.
1. In “A Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge,” Jefferson argued that children should be educated at the common expense. What kind of free education did he think children should receive? (5 points)
2. What justification did he say there is for providing a free education to children? (10 points)
3. What were Jefferson’s reasons for allowing people religious freedom? (10 points)
5. Wollstonecraft.
1. How does Wollstonecraft think that a “false system of education” contributed to women’s minds being in an unhealthy state? (10 points)
2. What would be a more rational way to educate women, in Wollstonecraft’s view? (10 points)
3. What is Wollstonecraft’s opinion on the question whether girl’s “feminine” interests and inclinations are innate or learned? (5 points)
6. Mill.
1. Why does Mill think it is essential to teach children skills of critical thinking from an early age? (10 points)
2. Does Mill think that it is important to make sure that students have high self-esteem? Explain. (5 points)
3. What role does Mill think appropriate in education for creating fear in students? (5 points)
4. Why does Mill think that it is important that education include both humanities and sciences? (5 points)