The role of philosophical analysis in contemporary educational research

Abstract

The author of the article explores the significance of philosophical analysis in contemporary educational research. Considering the dominant position of empirical methods (which stems from the erroneous assumption on the lack of essential relations between practice and theory), the author puts forward a thesis regarding the need for educational research to include philosophical analysis (as is defined in analytic philosophy). It provides cognitive tools that allow one to perform wider and more in-depth studies of education than empirical methods would ever enable on their own. In addition, the application of this method ensures a higher level of rationality (in terms of justification) in the discipline in question. This thesis, which advances the need for philosophical analyses in educational research, does not strive to absolutize this particular method. In fact, it acquires a special value when combined with empirical methods. Such complementary studies constitute a necessary condition for the adequate description and elucidation of issues and topics related to education. They comprise its specific practical and empirical aspects, along with the related theoretical grounds. When providing the rationale for the aforementioned thesis, the author indicates (a) possible areas of philosophical analysis application, together with justification of its importance for research in this areas; (b) frequently formulated objections to philosophical analysis and answer them briefly. The final section of the article presents a summary and conclusions.

Keywords:

• Philosopy of education
• educational research
• educational theory
• philosophical analysis

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Katarzyna Wrońska, PhD, Marek Więcław, PhD, Jacek Moroz, PhD and anonymous reviewers for their remarks and helpful suggestions during the work on the final version of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Philosophical analysis is understood here as in tradition of analytical philosophy (see e.g. Glock, 2008; Beaney, 2013, pp. 3–140; Beaney, 2014; Føllesdal, 1996, p. 199). The decision to define philosophical analysis in these terms stems from the author’s belief that the application of philosophical analysis thus understood to contemporary education research may benefit the latter (which I try to show in the paper). This does not mean, however, that I regard other perspectives such as hermeneutics or phenomenology as less important. In principle, it is difficult to discern clear boundaries between these fields, particularly in contemporary philosophy. Certainly, hermeneutics, which put emphasis on understanding and interpretation, is useful e.g. in indicating the context (cultural, historical, political) involved in each educational research endeavour (see e.g. Gallagher, 1992; Kerdeman, 1998; Hogan, 2016). Phenomenology, on the other hand, plays an important part, inter alia, in the description of phenomena present in the research (on the side of both, the researched and the researcher) (see e.g. van Manen, 1996; Selvi, 2008; Stolz, 2020). Showing the role of philosophical analysis, in its broadest sense, i.e. taking into account many philosophical traditions, would be an important complement of the analyses presented in this paper, but it goes beyond the framework of this short study.

2 By assumptions of proposition B, I mean such a set of propositions A₁,…A_n that if they are true, then proposition B is also true (proposition B can be logically inferred from A₁,…A_n).

3 By presuppositions of proposition B, I mean such a set of propositions A₁,…A_n that must be true for proposition B to be either true or false.

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Tomasz Leś

Tomasz Leś – Doctor of Philosophy, employed at the Institute of Pedagogy of Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. His research involves issues of the philosophy of education and metaethics, particularly the philosophical foundations of the concept of education, the methodology of educational research, normativeness, and the goals of education. He is the author of a book on the concept of wisdom in ancient philosophy and numerous papers published, i.a. in Educational Philosophy and Theory and The Pedagogical Quarterly.