Philosophical and Psychological Foundations of Education

QUOTATIONS BY TOPIC

THOUGHT

There is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so. ~ William Shakespeare

All human perception consists of categorized rather than isolated perceptions. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

Frequently, failures help more than successes do, when we try to acquire deeper ideas. ~ Marvin Minsky, The Emotion Machine, p. 38

Bitter, brutal thoughts can grow prolifically in the mind's unlighted cellars. But when we bring them into the world and examine them dispassionately, they often lose their force. ~ Mark Edmundson, Why Read?, p. 84

The material of thinking is not thoughts, but actions, facts, events, and the relations of things. ~ John Dewey, Democracy and Education

Mankind likes to think in terms of extreme opposites. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education

Thinking is thus a postponement of immediate action, while it effects internal control of impulse through a union of observation and memory, this union being the heart of reflection. ~ John Dewey, Experience and Education

Get to your students' Final Narratives, and your own; seek out the defining beliefs. Uncover central convictions about politics, love, money, the good life. It's there that, as Socrates knew, real thinking starts. ~ Mark Edmundson, Why Read?, p. 28

He who cannot change the very fabric of his thought will never be able to change reality. ~ Anwar Sadat

[Open-mindedness] includes an active desire to listen to more sides than one; to give heed to facts from whatever source they come; to give full attention to alternative possibilities; to recognize the possibility of error even in the beliefs that are dearest to us. ~ John Dewey, How We Think

There is no greater enemy of effective thinking than divided interest. ~ John Dewey, How We Think

The art of remembering is the art of thinking . . . When we wish to fix a new think in either our own mind or a pupil’s, our conscious effort should not be so much to impress and retain it as to connect it with something else already there. The connecting is the thinking; and, if we attend clearly to the connection, the connected thing will certainly be likely to remain within recall. ~ William James, Talks to Teachers

"If you want to know what you are thinking, put your thoughts into words." ~ John Stuart Mill, Inaugural Address at St. Andrews

"How can I know what I think unless I hear what I say." ~ adapted from Graham Wallas, The Art of Thought (and E. M. Forster)

"How can I know what I think unless I see what I write." ~ Erica Jong, Fear of Flying

The child begins to perceive the world not only through his eyes but also through his speech. ~ Lev Vygotsky, Mind in Society

The models of correct thinking in each field must be the best illustrations of thinking in that field, not the pattern of another field. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

It is appreciated that among the essentials of clear thought are good language habits and that, except in the higher strata of philosophic discourse, tortuous obscurities of expression are more likely to be an indication of plain confusion than of stuttering profundity. ~ Sidney Hook, "Education for Modern Man"

The role of the educator is one of a tranquil possession of certitude in regard to the teaching not only of contents but also of "correct thinking." ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

The person who thinks "correctly," even if at times she/he thinks wrongly, is the only capable of teaching "correct" thinking. For one of the necessary requirements for correct thinking is a capacity for not being overly convinced of one's own certitudes. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Right thinking is right doing. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Proper to right thinking is a willingness to risk, to welcome the new, which cannot be rejected simply because it is new no more than the old can be rejected because chronologically it is no longer new. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

Thinking correctly is . . . not an isolated act or something to draw near in isolation but an act of communication. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

In the process of the ongoing education of teachers, the essential moment is that of critical reflection on one's practice. ~ Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Freedom

"Thinking about thinking" has to be a principal ingredient of any empowering practice of education. ~ Jerome Bruner, The Culture of Education, p. 19

The truth and grandeur of their thought is proved by its scope and applicability, for it commands the entire schedule and inventory of things for its illustration. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Intellect"

What is the hardest task in the world? To think. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Intellect"

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Last updated:
September 19, 2008 4:23 PM