Dolskaya, O. O.

Dolska, Olga

eNTUKhPIIR Electronic National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute"; Institutional Repository

The Problem of Understanding the Rationality and the Reason in Modern Education Education in modern society is considered to be a strategically important cultural phenomenon; it will be realized in social and cultural practice. From these positions, education is understood as a mean by which society determines the future, manages itself and defines the direction of its development. At the same time education is under the press of society and «must» be oriented on its necessities, to be oriented on the development of science, culture, etc. In other words both society and education must be in one mode of development, thus education must come forward as the locomotive of society development. The situation is completely ambiguous.  Growth of attention to education is conditioned by more and more noticeable school, both middle and higher, estrangement from life. Nobody denies the fact, that young people take have special place in society and are considered as a force that is able to be beyond our usual life and move social reality towards the calls of the future. There are different methodological criteria of the analysis of educational results. For example, the criterion, based on the analysis of progress, and criterion based on estimation of preparedness of students to make independent decisions in different professional situations. The question is that education, as a rule, is considered to be a «resource», taking it mainly to the socio-economic indexes of efficiency, or a «potential», leaning on an intellectual constituent. But in modern education an intellectual constituent is examined out of understanding  on what reason modern education and society is oriented upon the whole. There are almost no works (after small exception) that examine the problem of reason in education in the way of social and cultural potential of the society development. The main points are: in the first place, in a great deal the development of education is determined by the reason it is oriented on. In the second place, it is possible to define the types of rationality in education and build their model.  Therefore there is a task: to find out, what reason education is oriented on today and to consider social and cultural potential of transformations of rationality in education. The concept «reason» constantly is always in focus of philosophical reflections. All «large philosophical systems lined up its positions exactly with the basis on this phenomenon», – wrote М. Horkhaymer [1, p. 25]. The question  about the reason of this epoch, its reflection of understanding on organization of educational strategies began to arise up not by chance. The reason of a contemporary man becomes an independent constituent in the decision of some questions and problems. On any business not only the resource of power, wealth, force must be involved but also the resource of reasonableness that is consistent with the proper intellectual height and professional competence. The reason must be examined not as individual ability of reflection but as a product of intellectual culture of the humanity. The idea of the «reason» is appreciated as a general civilization principle. Referring to Gegel, the reason is able to «throw out» new ideas, the reason can break old logical constructions and create new ones. The sense cannot always state the true value of the reason ideas. Sometimes they are incompatible with a common sense, but sometimes the ideas of reason give an opportunity to «leave» from an old world and «enter» a new one.  Y. Habermas, continuing the Gegel’s tradition, wrote that the concept of the «reason» is depreciated and is taken to the sense. М. Horkhaymer and T. Adorno speak about an “instrumental reason” as an ironical expression. It means that today the “rationality of target” (Veber) threatens to usurp the place of reason:  «by mistake supposes itself  to be a center and a top of society» [1, p. 84]. About ontological communication of reason with vital reality Т. Burkhardt reminded: «A reason must be instrumental in clearing up our life projects» [2, p. 151], and М. Horkhaymer specified: «this is the basic question of philosophy – methodical and persistent attempt to bring a healthy reason to the world».  L. Vitgenshteyn, Y. Habermas, К.-О. Apel are overcoming the thinking monologyzm, the reason is proclaimed to be communicative. N. Luhmann at the end of the 20th century considers it as transversal. The ground of ontological aspect of rationality supposes the presence of the idea of the «reason» in the sense of transindividual structures, which are expressed in the historical «language» that depends on a historical epoch and represents one or another type of the rationality. But, from other side, the presence of the reason is a possibility of its realization in a human activity, in a language, in a thought, that requires the presence of subjectivity, the exposure of its existence that not only «lives» in the mode of these transindividual structures of the reason, but also is not characterized by the constancy. And it is related to the description of the rationality transformations, when the rationality itself supposes both estimation and overcoming of these structures. Such overcoming supposes the row of some consequences that are necessary to examine as a forming and an action of concrete types of the rationality.  In the age of development, science and technique the rationality has been associated with the scientific rationality. The influence of scientific and technical progress has became something in the nature of  soil on the basis of which there is a setting which tells that scientific rationality does not need to «justify itself » to be correct before the philosophical standards. And the «matter of philosophy now is turned in a way, that she adopted excusatory position: exactly philosophy and rationality must be determined in accordance with the standards of the rationality set by science», –V.  Karr notices [3, p. 190].  Speaking about rationality in education, we underline its historical changeability based on the different reason understanding.  We begin the ground of theoretical bases of forming of rationality in education with the philosophical-educational ideas of Antiquity. For the epoch of Homer highly emotional-naive rationality is typical, it is represented as the synthesis of emotional sensuality  and rationality. In  the sophist’s, Sokrat’s and Plato’s times such principles of the reason understanding were formed: intellectually-formal, intellectually-evident and intellectually-socially conditioned. Due to the Plato and Arystotel, the theoretical reflection of process of the rational comprehension of the perceptible reality with fixing of eventual result of thought was formed. On the basis of description-normative standardization of thought the process of forming of concepts was designed. The rationally-scholastic type of rationality was formed in the Middle Ages, but there is a domination of deductive-conclusion type of thought in his basis. In early Renaissance the mind begins to be examined as Mens mensure (mind-measuring device). The thought of N. Kuzansky became the example of such changes.  He made an effort to intellectualize deductive conclusions suggesting new possibilities of the rational world familiarization – perceptibly-measuring ones. In the Modern epoch education lines up on the basis of the F. Becon and D. Lokk conseptions. Lokk’s ideas helped Y. A. Komensky to find the principle of the evident teaching. At the heart of he perceptibly-empiric orientation of the development of education laid a thesis that the sensual experience was the source of scientific knowledge. This was the transition to the span-new type of the rationality, in fact « the transition of the sense to the reason is carried out in different forms, the most typical which the overrun of the folded system of knowledge on the basis of the advancement of new ideas » [4, p. 220]. This idea became the main strategy of all European system of education. The rationally-empiric type of rationality is formed.  At the beginning of the 20th century there is the denial of legislative, «monologue» reason, and from the middle of the 20th century the communicative rationality appeared in a spotlight of philosophers. The scientists-methodologists used the communicative reason in their practical works in a different way. G. Schedrovytsky’s School proposed the idea of the project rationality and the mind communication. The V. Bibler’s School proposed the idea of the dialogue rationality. He also suggested complementing the formal-boolean value of concepts by a pragmatic aspect. It allowed him to form the idea of a new technique of thought – illogical.  The classic variant of the rationality leaned only on the scientific rationality at the heart of which there is the realization of «geometrical» construction and the perception of reality. But the Postmodern philosophy examines the world as the world of senses, signs and texts. J. Delez criticizes  Plato’s and Gegel’s tradition in which sense was provided with status of transcendental. According to his opinion, the problem of sense is the problem of language which is the sign system. Sense means something fluid, mobile and becoming. The monosemantic reading of a sign characterizes lineal techniques of thinking. In the Postmodern the accent is put on a polysemy, that is the description of non-lineal techniques of thought. The representatives of the Postmodern refuses the lineal idea and traditionally related to it the idea of predictable, simple, transparent rationality. It indirectly intersects with the Bybler’s ideas. Rationality in education in this case is considered as interpretation. Conclusions. Rationality in education is constantly transformed. The presence of its different types allows building the model of transformations of rationality. Depending on the type of rationality all space of education is formed. The model of principle remains opened for the further improvement. List of literature:  1. Горкгаймер М. Критика інструментального розуму / Макс   Горкгаймер ; [пер. з німец. М.Д. Култаєва]. – Київ : ППС – 2002, 2006. – 282 с. 2. Буркхардт Г. Непонятая чувственность / Титус Буркхардт // Это человек: Антология.  –  М. : Academia, 1995. – 245 с. 3. Карр В. Философия и образование / В. Карр // Социальные и гуманитарные науки. Сер. 3 Философия. Реферативный журнал. – 2006. – № 1. – С. 184 – 192. 4. Коменский Я. А. Панпедия (Искусство обучения мудрости / Ян Амос Коменский ; [пер. с лат. Э.Д. Днепров, Г.Б, Корнетов, М.М. Сокольская]. – М. : Изд-во УРАО, 2003. – 320 с.   

The problem of understanding the rationality and the reason in modern education

http://repository.kpi.kharkov.ua/bitstream/KhPI-Press/4747/1/Dol%27skaya_The_Problem_2013.pdf

The problem of understanding the rationality and the reason in modern education

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

eNTUKhPIIR Electronic National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute"; Institutional Repository