Four Western Thinkers' Philosophies Concerning Educational Reform-Broadening The Vision of Education In Taiwan

Author: Kuen-Ling Yeh (Department of Education, National Taiwan Normal University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 43, No. 2
Date：October 1998
Pages：1-20
DOI：10.3966/2073753X1998104302001

Abstract：

R. M. Hutchins (1899-1977), a contemporary American philosopher, argued that「 great books have endured because men in every era have been lifted beyond themselves by the inspiration of their examples.」At this moment, our government is putting enormous efforts in ameliorating the educational environment. Moreover, educational reform, which should be founded on the basis of sound theories, is essentially a piece-meal process and therefore takes time. Under such circumstances, one of the best ways to make the educational reform more efficient is to adopt the insights of educational philosophies from the great thinkers. These insights are embodied in their great books. This paper aims at discussing how to cope with some of the urgent educational problems in Taiwan in the light of the philosophies proposed by four great thinkers concerning educational reform: 1. Kant's doctrines of educational reform; 2. Whitehead's emphasis of「 the general specialist 」 as the aim of education; 3. Spencer's discussion on「 What knowledge is of most worth?」; 4. Quintillian's proposal on 「 the comparative merits of private and public instruction 」.

Keywords：Marcus Fabius Quintilian, Educational reform, Immanuel Kant, Herbert Spencer Alfred North Whitehead

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