Educational Philosophy Existentialism (courtesy from AIOU)

1. Educational Philosophy
Dr. Hina Jalal
hinansari23@gmail.com

2. EXISTENTIALISM
• The notion is that humans exist first and then each individual spends a
lifetime changing their essence or nature.
• In simpler terms, existentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding
self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal
responsibility.
• It is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of
human existence and centres on the experience of thinking, feeling, and
acting.

3. The Chief Characteristics of Existentialism
1. Criticism of Idealism. Existentialism has emerged and developed as a reaction against idealism.
2. Criticism of naturalism. The existentialist philosophers are also critical of the philosophy of Naturalism.
3. Criticism of the scientific philosophy. Science abstracts from the immediate data and brings them under some
universal law or general rule, whereas, according to existentialists, all abstraction is false, reality is in the
immediate data only.
4. Born of despair. As has been indicated above, on account of an unparalleled progress of science and technology,
huge, industrial complexes and townships have sprung. Everywhere man is losing touch of nature.
5. Value of human personality: As a matter of fact, for an existentialist "man" is the centre of the universe and
nothing else is equal to it.
6. Importance of subjectivity: The Danish philosopher S. Kierkegaard has said that truth is subjective, truth is
subjectivity: objectivity and abstraction are hallucinations.
7. No construction of philosophical system: the existentialists distrust system making and theorization.
8. Emphasis on the problem of the relation of individual and world: The existentialist's account of man is
neither mystical nor philosophical. Man and world both are unbound and free. The existentialists consider man to
be the centre of all value and activity. That is why their view is also called anthropocentrism.
9. Emphasis on the problem of inner conflict. The central problem of the modern highly complex world is not
ideological but practical.

4. The Aim of Education
• The aim of education, according to existentialism, is the realisation of
inner truth. Contemporary mechanical and industrial life has alienated
modern man. He is full of anxieties, frustrations, fears and guilts. He is
lonely though in the crowd. His individuality is being corrupt. The
education should make him realise his subjective consciousness. The
existential aim of education is humanitarian and humanist. It aims at
self-realisation. It provides knowledge of self- existence.

5. Child-Centred Education
• Existential education is child-centred. It gives full freedom to the child.
The teacher should help the child to know himself and recognise his
being. Freedom is required for natural development. Education should
convert imperfection into perfection. Education should be according
to the individual's needs and abilities of the child. The relation of the
child to himself should be strengthened by education.

6. Curriculum
• Existentialist's approach to education is almost an inversion of the realist
approach. In the field of curriculum while the realists exclusively emphasise
science, the existentialists find out that science and objective education
serves our relation with ourselves. Science cannot help in inner realisation
and achievement of peace. This, however, does not mean that science
education should be ignored. It only means that besides science the
curriculum must include humanities, ethics and religion. In keeping with
this viewpoint contemporary engineering colleges have included some
philosophy, ethics and social studies, in their curriculum. Without this
synthetic approach to curriculum the aim of character formation and
personality development will be defeated.

7. Contribution to Education
1. Total development. The existentialists have aimed at total development of personality
through education. Education should aim at the whole man. It should aim at character
formation and self-realisation.
2. Subjective knowledge. The present age of science has made too much of objective
knowledge, so much so that the term subjective has come to mean unreal, non-sense,
ignorant and irrelevant. The existentialists rightly point out that subjective knowledge is
even more important than objective knowledge.
3. Importance of environment. The present industrial, economic, political and social
environment is valueless. Therefore, it helps confusion and corruption, tensions and
conflicts. The existentialists seek to provide an environment proper to self- development
and self-consciousness. This environment in the school requires contribution from
humanities, arts and literature.

8. Dr. Hina Jalal (hinansari23@gmail.com)