PHILOSOPHY

EDUC 602 - PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION
The General Aims of Education

-Fallacies/Misconceptions
GLADYS T. DIMATACOT
EdMA - Student
THELMA Q. MEER,
PhD
Professor
The Fallacy of Sociologism
It is the absolutisation of the society. It is a
model of education in which social determination
is considered the highest rule and the only
criterion of education.
The fallacy of Sociologism
The only concern lies in the social conditioning
of the student, growth, and continues growth.
What is being taught is to keep growing, not
what the student should aim for as a goal.
Jacques Maritain For Maritain, the essence of education, however,

does not lie in the preparation of a future citizen
for conditions and interactions of social life, but
in the first place, in the formation of a man, thus,
a citizen, too.
Education for life in a community implies
foremost the education of a person and this
education is practically impossible without being
carried out in the centre of
community life, where civic wisdom is awakened
in a pupil and social virtues are developed.
Jacques Maritain
The content of education, set through a social
reconstruction of aims, will eventually be
subject to precarious factors of the environment
that need to be controlled by political power.
Teachers have neither to make the school into a
stronghold of the established order nor to make
Jacques Maritain
it into a weapon to change society.
The final aim of education is the development of

man as a human person, then the creative and
innovative power of education must not be
supressed by the preordained social norm.
Jacques Maritain
The Fallacy of Extreme
Intellectualism
Intellectualism
Intellectualism identifies the peak of
knowledge perfection with dialectic, rhetoric,
or scientific-technological skill.
The fallacy of Extreme Intellectualism
It is a misconception that stems from an

exaggerated emphasising of the partial
spiritual mightiness of man – his intellect.
Jacques Maritain
Maritain identifies two kinds of intellectualism:
the classical rhetoric (eristic, in the manner of
the Greek Sophists, or snobbery) and modern
technological (which we might call
‘professionalism’ or ‘technocratism’). Both forms
of intellectualism abandon universal values and
prefer practical and operative functions of
reason.
Maritain’s critique of intellectualism focuses

mainly on the problem of specialisation in
education. The specialisation is increasingly
emphasised at the expense of general education
Jacques Maritain and moral cultivation of man.
Maritain speaks of the cult of specialisation that
dehumanises human life, because it orients it exclusively on
efficiency and material values (a specialist or expert who is
commercially wanted). Man is thus likened to an animal,
since an animal is specialised in application of its knowledge
exclusively in fulfilment of particular tasks that enable it to
survive
Maritain: the preparation of school teachers

must consider the implications of the error of
extreme intellectualism.
Jacques Maritain
The Fallacy of Voluntarism
The Fallacy of Belief that

Everything can be Taught
The Educational System in

Relation to the Formation of the
Will and Dignity of the Intellect
Definition of voluntarism
1: the principle or system
of doing something by or
relying on voluntary action Voluntarism, any metaphysical or
psychological system that assigns to the
or volunteers
will (Latin: voluntas) a more
2: a theory that conceives predominant role than that attributed to
will to be the dominant the intellect.
factor in experience or in
the world
Voluntarism
-The will is superior to the
intellect when it comes to
belief in God
-Faith is voluntary, a free
choice or decision
-Faith must be a deliberate act
of will rather than a position
we take because reason says
we must
We believe that intelligence is in and by itself nobler

than the will of man, for its activity is more immaterial
and universal. But we believe also that, in regard to the
things or the very objects on which this activity bears,
it is better to will and love the good than simply to
know it. (Maritain, 1943, p.22)
References
Rajský, Andrej (2018). “What's wrong in modern education?

Maritain's warning is valid today more than ever,”ResearchGate.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333037194

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EDUC 602 - PHILOSOPHICAL ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY EDUCATION

The General Aims of Education

Jacques Maritain For Maritain, the essence of education, however,

The final aim of education is the development of

It is a misconception that stems from an

Maritain’s critique of intellectualism focuses

Maritain: the preparation of school teachers

The Fallacy of Belief that

The Educational System in

We believe that intelligence is in and by itself nobler

Rajský, Andrej (2018). “What's wrong in modern education?

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