Under the background of contemporary society, the responsibility, goal and mission of philosophy education are to help students master philosophical knowledge and have philosophical literacy and ability. The following is the relevant information I have carefully sorted out, hoping to help you!

Random talk on philosophy education

Abstract: Under the background of contemporary society, the responsibility, goal and mission of philosophy education are to help students master philosophical knowledge and have philosophical quality and ability. The latter means: to be able to critically reflect on others and their own words and deeds, to think, write and speak well, to communicate and talk with people effectively, to become smart, intelligent, rational, open-minded and open, and so on. Because of its portability, philosophical literacy can be used in many other fields, so it is helpful for students majoring in philosophy to succeed in their future careers and live a meaningful life. In this way, philosophy education can prove its legitimacy.

Keywords: philosophy education; Critical reflection; validity

In contemporary society, the number of students majoring in philosophy in universities is declining. Moreover, as R.M. Hale mentioned many years ago: "Most students are not prepared to become professional philosophers, they want to be businessmen, politicians, educators, priests, lawyers, journalists, civil servants, and almost any profession except philosophers; Many of these students are expected to reach the highest level of their careers. " [1] Therefore, the question we must seriously answer is: What can philosophy education bring to those students who are not prepared to become professional philosophers? What benefits can they get from philosophy education? Why do they need to spend three or four years studying philosophy instead of majoring in other more practical subjects, such as economics, finance, management and engineering? In other words, philosophy education must defend itself, make clear its goal and mission in contemporary society, and explain how it can help those students who are not prepared to take philosophy as a career to have a better life.

In my opinion, the goal and mission of philosophy education is to help students master philosophical knowledge and have philosophical literacy. Having philosophical literacy means being able to critically reflect on others and their own words and deeds, to think, write and speak well, to communicate and talk effectively with others, to become wise, intelligent, rational and open-minded, and so on. If explained in this way, having philosophical literacy will be of great help to students in their future career success and living a meaningful life. In this way, philosophy education can obviously prove its legitimacy.

First, impart philosophical knowledge.

Almost no one can do philosophical thinking well and show enough philosophical literacy without knowing philosophy at all. In order to have philosophical literacy, our students must acquire philosophical knowledge. They have to follow their teachers to study and think about the following topics: What types of philosophical problems are there? How do great philosophers think about these problems? What theories or doctrines have great philosophers put forward about these problems? How many branches of philosophy are there or two disciplines? Does philosophy have its own special methodology? Wait a minute. In my opinion, in order to lay a solid philosophical foundation, students majoring in philosophy had better take the following five courses.

1 Logic includes "formal logic", "informal logic" or "critical thinking". As we know, argument is the essence of philosophy, and logic is the science of reasoning and argument. Logic aims to provide various reliable methods to distinguish good from bad reasoning, so it is a necessary prerequisite for doing a good job in philosophy, at least for doing a good job in contemporary philosophy. Undergraduate students should take at least two logic courses: critical thinking and first-order logic. Critical thinking includes definition theory, argumentation theory and fallacy theory, covering the basic parts of propositional logic, syllogism logic and inductive logic. First-order logic focuses on the formal system of propositional logic and quantitative logic and their meta-logical results. In addition, students should be taught how to apply logic theory and technology to philosophical research through some examples, such as Russell's description theory, counterfactual conditional sentences, causal and quasi-regular sentences, possible world semantics and the explanation of modal concepts such as inevitability, possibility, impossibility and contingency. At present, some universities and even philosophy departments in China do not offer courses in logic or critical thinking. This situation should be changed as soon as possible.

2. Introduction to philosophy, including introduction to philosophy, philosophy of language, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and moral philosophy, aesthetics and Marxist philosophy. Through these courses, students can acquire basic knowledge of philosophy and get some basic philosophical training.

General history course of philosophy history. Western philosophy includes ancient Greek philosophy, medieval philosophy, modern philosophy,18-19th century philosophy, analytical philosophy, contemporary continental European philosophy, China philosophy and eastern philosophy, such as Indian philosophy and * * * philosophy. Through these courses, students can understand how philosophy developed from ancient times to contemporary forms, and how philosophy developed in western countries and eastern countries such as China.

Courses based on characters or classics. For example, we should teach students how to read the works of Plato, Aristotle, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Marx, Heidegger, Husserl, Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Quine and Kripke, and how to read the classics of some philosophers, such as Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Xunzi, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Zhu, Wang Yangming and Sun Yat-sen.

There are also some special branches of philosophy, such as philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, philosophy of logic, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of religion, philosophy of society, philosophy of politics, philosophy of history, philosophy of education, philosophy of feminism, philosophy of culture, philosophy of medicine and business ethics. Through these courses, students can understand the breadth and depth of philosophy.

Obviously, some of the courses listed above are compulsory and some are optional.

Second, cultivate the temperament and ability of philosophy.

According to my understanding, if someone wants to have philosophical literacy, especially to specialize in philosophy, they must follow some academic standards:

1 must speak in academic tradition.

You must speak in academia.

We must say something new, different and original.

We must demonstrate our views quite systematically.

We must respond to other people's different views as necessary.

1 and 2 can be abbreviated as evidence or dialogue, 3 can be abbreviated as independence or originality, and 4 and 5 can be abbreviated as argument and defense. If someone can do this kind of philosophical work, he already has philosophical accomplishment, although he may not be a professional philosopher.

I agree with the following statement: "Any student who studies philosophy can practice a set of rational skills in an autonomous way, thus achieving greater clarity on a large number of issues." [2] I will focus on the following philosophical abilities and skills: analysis, interpretation and understanding; Critical investigation of other philosophical theories and arguments; Form one's own philosophical thoughts and theories and demonstrate them; Have fruitful dialogues, discussions and exchanges with colleagues in written and oral forms. To this end, I will focus on the following three issues. 1. How to read philosophical words

First of all, we should distinguish three kinds of reading methods: reading for information, reading for enlightenment and reading for academics. If you read for information, you will read a philosophical article word by word until some information about the world sticks in your brain. If you read for enlightenment, you will see philosophical writing as an opportunity for you to reflect on yourself and your beliefs. As Emerson said, "if used well, books are the best thing;" If abused, it will become the worst thing. What is the correct usage? What is the only purpose of doing everything possible to promote it? They have no other use, just to enlighten the mind. " "We listen to others because we can speak for ourselves. "[3] If you are reading for academic purposes, you must be very serious, patient and master skills when reading philosophical texts. The last reading method is fundamentally different from the first two.

In my opinion, most people read philosophical texts not for academics, but for enlightening or obtaining information. If you read philosophical texts for enlightenment, I recommend Fu Weixun's Creative Hermeneutics, whose basic framework includes the following five dialectical steps:

1p [mentioned by the author], such as Lao Tzu, what did he say? ……

2p What was he trying to say in what he actually said? P is what is actually said. Is it clear enough in expression and meaning? If not, how to find out what P really wants to say?

According to what P actually said and what he wanted to say, what might he say? In order to clarify or find out what P wants to say, we try our best to find out all the possible meanings of P's original statement, and then screen out the most important meanings in hermeneutics.

Considering what P actually said, what he really wanted to say and what he might say, what should he say? ……

Suppose P is still alive. If P is fully aware of what he should have said after considering what he actually said, what he really wants to say and what he might say, what will he say now? ……[4]

Fu Weixun abbreviated these five steps or levels as "real predication", "meaning predication", "implied predication", "time predication" and "creation predication". Emerson said, "Not only creative writing, but also creative reading." [5] In my opinion, Fu Weixun's "creative hermeneutics" is obviously a creative reading method, especially an enlightening reading method. Practicing Fu Weixun's "creative hermeneutics" can make our philosophical reading activities reach a new level, thus approaching the door of philosophical creation.

2. How to critically think about the views and arguments of other philosophers?

When we read a philosophical text, we don't just want to know what the author said, but we need to further consider whether what he said is true or at least reasonable. Therefore, when reading, we must think and answer the following questions:

1 What are the philosophical issues discussed by the author? He may be discussing the so-called "big problem". For example, is there an external world that exists independently of our hearts? How do we know the world? What is truth? What is causality? Do we have free will? What kind of inequality is unfair? How is language possible? Perhaps it is a further question, for example, if you can't prove that there is something outside your own mind, can you continue to believe in an external world?

What is the author's view or theory on this issue? For example, the author may think that there is an external world outside our hearts; We have free will; We certainly know something about the outside world; Suspicion of the outside world is wrong; Computers can't think completely like people; Proper name is a strict demonstrative word, which has no meaning.

What are the reasons or premises used by the author to support his ideas or theories? Did he use other premises, assumptions or unspecified premises to support his argument besides those clearly stated reasons or premises? Are all these explicit or implicit reasons or premises true? Or at least reasonably acceptable? Why?

How does the author use his explicit or implicit reasons or assumptions to demonstrate his ideas or theories? In other words, what is the structure of his argument or theory? How to demonstrate his argument with the help of some kind of structural diagram? Is his argument reliable? Is there any invalid reasoning or fallacy in his argument? If so, what kind? What's the matter?

Are the core concepts used in his argument clear, precise and rigorous enough? Or, are they all vague, vague and ambiguous? What role did those concepts play in his argument? How to define them correctly?

Can the author's ideas or theories be strongly supported? Is it true in itself, or at least reasonable and acceptable?

If the author does not provide enough reliable arguments for his claim or theory, can we build other arguments for him to support his claim or theory?

This can go on. By thinking and answering all these questions, we may get two results: one is that we have improved and developed the author's ideas or theories and their arguments; The other is that we deny the author's ideas and arguments, and then put forward our own ideas and arguments.

I use two short examples to illustrate steps 3 and 4 mentioned above.

Argument 1: A particle physicist joked that since 1950, the United States has discovered all fermions and Europe has discovered all bosons. Unfortunately, Higgs particle belongs to boson, so it can't be found in America.

In the physicist's joke, he used a bad argument, because he quietly took a wrong presupposition as the premise of his argument, that is, if X has not succeeded in doing Y so far, then X will never succeed in doing Y again. From this, his argument can be expressed as follows:

If X has not succeeded in doing Y so far, it will never succeed in doing Y again.

American scientists have failed to discover bosons in the past 60 years.

Therefore, American scientists can no longer successfully discover any bosons, including Higgs particles.

Although the above reasoning is effective, its premise is that presupposition is not established, so the physicist's original argument cannot be established: he can't draw his conclusion from his clear premise, but the unspecified premise is wrong.

Argument 2: Last year, 6,000 people died of drinking and 4,000 people died of driving, but only 500 people died of drunk driving. So drunk driving is safer than simply drinking or driving.

Of course, this is a very bad argument: it judges whether a particular behavior is safer than other behaviors according to the actual number of deaths in different behaviors. This is ridiculous. When estimating the safety of these two behaviors, we should not only consider the absolute number of deaths caused by them, but also consider the proportion of deaths caused by them to the total population. There are many similar fallacies in philosophical works. When reading philosophical texts, we should be very careful about unspoken premises or assumptions, wrong premises, illogical reasoning steps, and so on. In a word, we should study philosophical writing critically.

3. How to form your own philosophical thoughts and demonstrate them?

To have philosophical literacy, we can't just repeat the theories and arguments of other philosophers, but must think critically and independently to form our own views, theories and arguments. How to accomplish such a philosophical task? Perhaps, we can try the following methods:

1 only focus on one philosophical question at a time: the more specific and limited the better.

Because there are too many philosophical questions, we must choose one of them, and then focus on the selected question and try to answer it in our own way.

Read the works published by other philosophers on this issue with a critical attitude: choose essential literature reading.

No one can do philosophy alone. It is necessary to engage in philosophy through dialogue. So after choosing a philosophical question, you must know what others have said to it. We must read relevant publications and think critically about them. More importantly, we should select the essence from a large number of relevant reading materials, which requires information and vision.

Gradually form your own views or theories on the selected issues. In order to achieve this, your thinking must be critical, independent and creative. If you want to succeed, you can only do this. There is no other way. Life is too short for anyone to listen to or read anything without new content and new ideas.

Build an argument for your idea or theory. You must find important reasons, premises and even reasonable assumptions to support your position or theory. You must also organize them into a certain logical structure. Then, you can make a reliable argument for your point.

To avoid wishful thinking, imagine what kind of objections your ideas and arguments may face, and reply to these objections in advance.

Listen to your classmates, teachers and other interlocutors' comments on your paper, think over their comments carefully, and revise your paper again and again.

Report your paper at seminars, workshops and seminars, and then submit it to professional magazines. If you are talented and lucky enough, your article will be accepted and finally published.

If you can read productively, think independently with a critical attitude, and write creatively with clear ideas, you will have philosophical literacy, that is, you have become a qualified and competent philosopher.

Generally speaking, a philosopher can think hard. He is good at doing the following things:

Rank his concerns in order of importance.

Select relevant basic documents from a large number of publications to read.

Summarize and logically sort out complex information.

Think critically about opposing views and your own views, be familiar with logic and fallacy knowledge, especially when you make fallacies.

Identify situations, behaviors and policies with moral factors.

Choose a path guided by principles to solve the problem.

Use written and oral forms for persuasive reasoning.

Write a paper or plan in a clear and focused way.

When you find that others have effectively criticized your own ideas, you can change your original ideas.

Admitting belief, even very strong belief, is very different from knowledge.

Keep an open mind and tolerate opposing opinions and different choices. [6]

And so on. Some people say that philosophy is not concerned with "what to think" but with "how to think". Dogmatists stick to their favorite beliefs or ideologies, and then seek evidence or deduction to prove it. In contrast, a qualified philosopher will follow his own thinking: he will go wherever rational thinking leads him. Different schools of philosophy should not be regarded as different belief systems, but as different methodologies. Philosophy is a means, not an end, unless the so-called purpose is to train our brains!

Thirdly, Socrates' question and answer method is an important way of philosophy education.

For senior students, problem-centered courses, such as seminars, should also be offered. The word "seminar" comes from Latin seminarium, which means "hotbed" seed plot: cultivate some excellent seeds and then make them grow into towering trees. Usually, a seminar has a tutor and less than 20 students, something like this:

Instruct the teacher to select one or more topics for the seminar.

Instructors assign students text reading tasks, usually chapters of newly published papers or important works.

Before the seminar, the students read the assigned text in advance.

A student gives a report on the selected text at the seminar: summarize the content of the text, make his own comments, ask some questions, and so on.

All the students took part in the discussion about this text.

The instructor controls the whole process of the seminar: sometimes asking questions, sometimes expressing opinions, and sometimes giving guidance, thus leading the discussion direction.

At the end of the seminar, all students were required to complete a certain length of papers that met academic standards.

As far as I know, the seminar met some serious problems in China University. Speaking of this, some people are embarrassed: except those students who are assigned to give lectures in class, other students, including graduate students, don't read the assigned words before class, and they come to the classroom unprepared; Most students don't say a word in class: they don't ask questions or participate in discussions. The root of this phenomenon has a far-reaching relationship with China's cultural tradition and ideology. But in any case, we must try to change this situation.

It can be said that the seminar is a modern version of Socrates' cross-examination method. The latter is "a problem-solving skill developed by Socrates, aiming at * * *, promoting and inspiring those who don't like to think, making them realize that there are contradictions or internal disharmonies between their various opinions or viewpoints, and they lack rational understanding of their respective thoughts and principles of action, so they need to look for philosophical wisdom. In Socrates, this method is used as a powerful weapon to overcome self-expansion. " [7] Socrates method includes the following steps:

1 question: Socrates first asked the interlocutor to elaborate an argument, which he would think was wrong, so he was the object of rebuttal. Deduction: Socrates deduces some further assertions from the interlocutor's argument, and then he goes on to demonstrate that these premises imply inferences that contradict the original argument, and the interlocutor will agree with these inferences.

3 Refutation: Socrates went on to say that he has made it clear that the interlocutor's argument is wrong and his negation is true; He will use both positive and negative examples to support his statement.

Induction: Socrates extracted general propositions from his own special cases.

5 Definition: Socrates made an accurate explanation of the general or * * * stage obtained from the above steps.

Therefore, Aristotle asserted: "In fact, Socrates really completed these two innovations: inductive argument and general definition, both of which are related to the basis of science." [8]

Obviously, the seminar and its prototype-Socrates method-reflect an essential feature of philosophy: it contains a question-and-answer process, which is a dialogue between two people. One is to seek rational insight and understanding, and the other is to gain some self-knowledge. He hopes to help novices. This dialogue begins with whatever beliefs the students seek. If he repeats the moral preaching in his society without thinking, the tutor will try his best to force him to question those preaching. If he thinks that everything is relative and nothing is true or valid for anyone, the lecturer will try different questioning routes. The end of this journey is always the same: wisdom, rational view of the principles of thought and action, and therefore a happier, more complete and more valuable life.

It can be said that learning philosophy through dialogue will promote students to think independently and find their own answers to philosophical questions, and then cultivate students' philosophical ability, skills and temperament, that is, wisdom.

Fourth, conclusion.

What did the students majoring in philosophy get from philosophy education when they graduated from university? Now we can answer. First of all, they have learned a lot of philosophical knowledge, in other words, they have mastered a lot of philosophical knowledge. Secondly, more importantly, they have acquired philosophical abilities and skills and formed a specific philosophical attitude and temperament. Different people will have different summaries of what philosophy students have learned from philosophy education. I like the following summary:

General problem solving ability. Learning philosophy can enhance people's ability to solve problems in a unique way. It helps people analyze concepts, definitions, arguments and problems. It helps people organize their thoughts and problems, deal with value issues and extract the essence from a large amount of information. It helps to distinguish the subtle differences between different viewpoints and find the same position between opposing viewpoints. It also helps people to integrate various viewpoints or perspectives into a unified whole.

Communication skills. Philosophy is especially helpful for people to develop their ability of expression and communication. It provides some basic tools about self-expression, for example, the skills of expressing ideas through careful construction and systematic argumentation; These tools are not available in other disciplines or are not widely used. It helps people to express the uniqueness of their views, explain difficult problems and eliminate ambiguity and ambiguity in writing and speech.

Persuasive ability. Philosophy trains people to construct clear statements, reasonable arguments and related examples. Therefore, it helps people to form the ability of persuasion. We can learn to build and defend our own opinions, appreciate those competitive positions, and convincingly show why we think our opinions are superior to others. These skills can be cultivated not only through philosophical reading and writing, but also through philosophical dialogue inside and outside the classroom, which is an important part of a complete philosophy education.

Writing skills. Many philosophy classes teach students how to write, and many usually arranged philosophy texts are unparalleled literary short stories. Philosophy teaches people to write in an explanatory way and investigate difficult words; Write in a comparative way, emphasizing the necessity of treating different positions fairly; Writing in the form of debate, cultivating students' ability to establish their own views; Write in a descriptive way and describe in detail the items on which philosophical generalization must depend. Therefore, philosophical writing will emphasize structure and technology. Originality will also be encouraged, so students usually want to use their imagination to develop their ideas. [9]

Obviously, all these abilities and skills are exactly what liberal arts education hopes to achieve: to cultivate people with corresponding abilities and temperament, so as to reach agreement on facts, theories, actions and other issues as much as possible through rational discussion. Obviously, these abilities and skills are portable, and they can be applied to any field and any industry. In Hale's words quoted earlier, students majoring in philosophy are not only suitable to be professional philosophers, but also suitable to be businessmen, politicians, educators, priests, lawyers, journalists and civil servants, which can be said to include almost any profession except philosophers. In addition, many of them are expected to reach the highest level of their careers. In other words, those philosophical abilities, skills and temperament gained from philosophy education are very helpful for students majoring in philosophy to have a successful career and a valuable life. This is the best defense of philosophy education.

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