Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

EMOTION

D'abord l'émotion. Ensuite, seulement, la compréhension. ~ Paul Gauguin

Le coeur a ses raisons que la raison ne connait pas. ~ Blaise Pascal

I feel it is necessary to overcome the false separation between serious teaching and the expression of feeling. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

True education, as Friedrich Schiller rightly saw it, ought to fuse mind and heart. Current education in the liberal arts does precisely the opposite. At the end of this road lies a human type bitterly and memorably described in Weber: 'Specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.' ~ Mark Edmundson, Why Read?, p. 45

The appreciation of emotions, perhaps even their recognition in certain cases, depends upon their linguistic identification. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

Happiness cannot be pursued; it must ensue. ~ Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, p. 162

Worry means always and invariably inhibition of associations and loss of effective power. ~ William James, Talks to Students, The Gospel of Relaxation

Agape is the love that bestows worth regardless of reciprocity. ~ Marshall Gregory, "Pedagogy and the Three Loves"

We cannot learn without pain. ~ Aristotle

We are never so defenceless against suffering as when we love. ~ Sigmund Freud, Civilization and its Discontents

More often than not, it is in a shy and repressed passion . . . that we find the source of greatest creativity. ~ Cristina Nehring, The Higher Yearning

Don't hold to anger, hurt or pain. They steal your energy and keep you from love. ~Leo Buscaglia

Your first duty is to be humane. Love childhood. Look with friendly eyes on its games, its pleasures, its amiable dispositions. Which of you does not sometimes look back regretfully on the age when laughter was ever on the lips and the heart free of care? Why steal from the little innocents the enjoyment of a time that passes all too quickly? ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

We only excite envy in a child by telling him to compare his own worth with the worth of others. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

If I had to live my life over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week . . . The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature. ~ Charles Darwin (as quoted in William James, Talks to Teachers)

The impetuous passions have a great effect on the child who witnesses them. ~ Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile

In order that a child may acquire prudence, he must learn to disguise his feelings and to be reserved, while at the same time he learns to read the character of others. It is chiefly with regard to his own character that he must cultivate reserve. ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

Punishments inflicted with signs of anger are useless. Children then look upon the punishment simply as the result of anger, and upon themselves merely as victims of that anger; and as a general rule punishment must be inflicted on children with great caution, that they may understand that its one aim is their improvement. . . . ~ Immanuel Kant, Thoughts on Education

No elementary measurement, capable of being performed in a laboratory, can throw any light on the actual efficiency of the subject; for the vital thing about him, his emotional and moral energy and doggedness, can be measured by no single experiment, and becomes known only by the total results in the long run. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

In either case genetics and neuroscience are showing that a heart of darkness cannot always be blamed on parents or society. ~ Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate, Chapter 3

Clearly we ought not be playing, for then play would be the end of life. But if this is inconceivable, and play is needed more amid serious occupations than at other times (for he who is hard at work has need of relaxation, and play gives relaxation, whereas occupation is always accompanied with exertion and effort), we should introduce amusements only at suitable times, and they should be our medicines, for the emotion which they create in the soul is a relaxation, and from the pleasure we obtain rest. ~ Aristotle, Politics

Students whose academic efforts are grounded in love of the work and who prefer tasks from which they can learn, even if they make mistakes along the way, do not require that others validate their academic efforts and do not fear self-censure or the censure of others when errors are made. This social and psychological emancipation from need and fear frees individuals to more readily accept, appreciate, and forgive—to invite—themselves and others. ~ Frank Pajares, Toward a Positive Psychology of Academic Motivation

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

~ Omar Khayyám

The same is true of Love, and the instinctive desire to please those whom we love. The teacher who succeeds in getting herself loved by the pupils will obtain results which one of a more forbidding temperament finds it impossible to secure. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved! ~ Sigmund Freud

There can be little psychological distance between the fear that others will think us incompetent and the suspicion that we may be so, the suspicion that our accomplishments are ill deserved. ~ Frank Pajares, Toward a Positive Psychology of Academic Motivation

To read great literature is to read men—their fears and motives, their needs and hopes. Every great novelist is a Menschenkenner who opens the hearts of others to us and help us to read our own hearts as well. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

C'est tellement mystérieux, le pays des larmes. ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince

The communal life of human beings had, therefore, a two-fold foundation: the compulsion to work, which was created by external necessity, and the power of love. ~ Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents

It is hard to be an apprentice to an unfriendly professor, or even one whose warmth or tolerance wears thin when the going gets hard for the student and help is needed. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning

The need here is professional closeness tempered by emotional distance. ~ Robert Audi, On the Ethics of Teaching and the Ideals of Learning

What is important in teaching is not the mechanical repetition of this or that gesture but a comprehension of the value of sentiments, emotions, and desires. Of the insecurity that can only be overcome by inspiring confidence. Of the fear that can only be abated to the degree that courage takes its place. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM