Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

THE IMPORTANCE OF CONTEXT

There are possible scarce two children, who can be conducted by exactly the same method. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

And a roundworm is composed of only 959 cells! A human brain, with its hundred billion neurons, has even more opportunities to be buffeted by the outcomes of molecular coin flips. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate (p. 397)

There are a thousand other things that may need consideration; especially if one should take in the various tempers, different inclinations, and particular defaults, that are to be found in children; and prescribe proper remedies. The variety is so great, that it would require a volume; nor would that reach it. ~ John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education

[Genes'] effects can vary depending on the environment. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter 3

It is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way. Questions about the meaning of life can never be answered by sweeping statements. ~ Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, p. 98

The idea from the cognitive revolution that the mind is a system of universal, generative computational modules obliterates the way that debates on human nature have been framed from centuries. It is now simply misguided to ask whether humans are flexible or programmed, whether behavior is universal or varies across cultures, whether acts are learned or innate, whether we are essentially good or essentially evil. Humans behave flexibly because they are programmed: their minds are packed with combinatorial software than can generate an unlimited set of thoughts and behavior. Behavior may vary across cultures, but the design of the mental programs that generate it need not vary. Intelligent behavior is learned successfully because we have innate systems that do the learning. And all people may have good and evil motives, but not everyone may translate them into behavior in the same way. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter 3

The slate cannot be blank if different genes can make it more or less smart, articulate, adventurous, shy, happy, conscientious, neurotic, open, introverted, giggly, spatially challenged, or likely to dip buttered toast in coffee. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter 3

No one can be in the world, with the world, and with others and maintain a posture of neutrality. I cannot be in the world decontextualized, simply observing life. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Just as you cannot fully understand human action without taking account of its biological evolutionary roots and, at the same time, understanding how it is construed in the meaning making of the actors involved in it, so you cannot understand it fully without knowing how and where it is situated. ~ Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education, p. 167

It is practically impossible to understand a thought, an act, a move of any sort from the situation in which it occurs. ~ Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education, p. 167

Difficult though it may be, we must learn to think holistically rather than atomistically. ~ Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, pp. 191-192

Ultimately, dichotomizing pathologizes, and pathology dichotomizes. ~ Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, p. 192

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM