The document provides an overview and comparison of five major philosophies: naturalism, idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism. For each philosophy, it outlines perspectives on metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and how the philosophy relates to religion and education. It also identifies strengths and weaknesses of each view. The philosophies represent different stances on the nature of reality, knowledge, values, and implications for living, learning, and faith.

1. SYNTHESIS OF PHILOSOPHY
(Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
From Donald J. Butler’s book:
Four Philosophies and Their Practices in Education and Religion
Compiled by JOHNY S. NATAD
© 2009
http://johnysnatad.wordpress.com

2. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS EPISTEMOLOGY AXIOLOGY ISM IN RELIGION ISM IN EDUCATION STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Nature is all • There is no • To preserve • Reduces Religion to • Education must • Contributes a • Oversimplifies
there is, and all higher tribunal natural goodness a phenomenon of satisfy the inborn simplifying life and existence
NATURALISM basic truths are for truth than and virtue human experience needs of the influence, and does not go
truths of nature natural itself • God is that individual neutralizing deep enough in
• Nature is good; • Science is the structure in the • Education is confusion of self its attempted
society is evil best way to world which makes geared to the and society effect explanations
and crafty explore the possible the individual growth measurable
• Nature offers us processes of the realization of values • Education is not benefits
freedom and universe and simply mental in
necessity, if we that those nature
live close to her; processes are
society offers what modern
tyranny and science is
authority striving to
• Nature has understand
smooth-flowing
rhythms which
choose their own
time
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 2

3. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
Naturalism Proposition
• Nature is all the reality there is. (Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius, and Spencer)
• Reality is comprised of bodies moving in space. (Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius, and Hobbes)
• Ultimate reality is force or energy. (Spencer)
• The most acceptable life is possessed by keeping close to the simple and peaceful ways of natur (Leucippus,
Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius, and Rousseau)
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 3

4. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS EPISTEMOLOGY AXIOLOGY ISM IN RELIGION ISM IN EDUCATION STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Reality is • Knowing is the • Values are • Religion provides • The curriculum is • Can live with • The abundance
spiritual or rethinking of absolute and structure for based upon the idea science, value it, of
IDEALISM mental and latent ideas eternal intellectualizing or assumption of and join in its misconceptions
unchanging • All knowledge is • Values are religious faith and the spiritual nature advancement, • The idea about
• All of reality is independent of rooted either in a experience of man but at the same man is irrelevant
reducible to one sense experience personal God or • A subject –matter time it can also in our present
fundamental • The act of in an impersonal or curriculum must insist, as it doer, historic setting
substance – spirit knowing takes spirit force of emphasize the great on the • It is subjective to
• Matter is not place within the nature and enduring ideas superiority of the which nothing
real, rather it is a mind of the culture human and exists except in
notion, an illus- • The mind is • Subjects must be personal over the mind of the
trations of the active and essential for the scientific individual
mind contains innate realization of achievement
• It is only the capacities for mental and moral
mind that is real organizing and development
synthesizing the
data derived
through
sensation
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 4

5. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
Idealism Proposition
• Ultimate reality is of the same substance as ideas. (Plato and Hegel)
• Behind the phenomenal world is an infinite Spirit that is both substructure and creator of cosmos. (Leibniz and Berkeley)
• One of the two attributes of God is thought. (Spinoza)
• The existence of God is made necessary by certain factors in selfhood –
The fact that I have an idea of perfect being necessitates that perfect being exist. (Descartes)
The fact that I have perceived qualities in the objective world necessitates a God to create these qualities. (Berkeley)
The fact that there is a category of imperatives in self necessitates God as the one who guarantees contentment as the accompaniment of
moral obedience.(Kant)
On selfhood
• The self is the prime reality in the experience of a person. (Descartes, Berkeley, and Kant)
• Human selves are like God that there are spirits, unlike Him in that they are finite. (Leibniz)
• Man as a thinking being is a part of God. (Spinoza)
• The human self has freedom of will. (Leibniz and Kant)
On knowledge
• By examining his own ideas and testing their consistency, man can achieve truth. (Plato, Leibniz, and Hegel)
• The self reads meaning and unity into the objective.
• Value and meaning are obtained by relating parts and an whole. (Spinoza)
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 5

6. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS EPISTEMOLOGY AXIOLOGY ISM IN RELIGION ISM IN EDUCATION STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Reality consists • Knowledge is • Values are simply • There is basis for • A pupil shall be • Whatever is • Reality is
REALISM of many independent on indefinable worship of a God taught with strong real is capable of
substances mind • A value is depend- who is real in states of personal independent interpretation
(pluralism) • The instrument of ent upon the actual world discipline of every • Embrace
• There is knowledge are ex- attitude of sentient • Pupil must be finite pluralism in
privation of will perience (sensory – • Anything consistent provided with individual preference to a
(free will) perceptual with nature is essential who may more or
• The self consists experience); valuable knowledge re- know it essence side
of body authoritarianism • Standards of value quired for survival • Realism • Conception of
(material (church, school and are found in natural world demands and pupil is not
principle) and state, and revela- (determine) by • Curriculum is best recognizes of adequate
soul (rational- tion) means of act of organized relation to • Realism
spiritual • At birth, the mind reason according to sub- that which is places too
principle) in of man is blank • Value judgment is ject – matter beyond self much
man • (tabula rasa) never considered to • Curriculum should confidence in
• The world is • Man can be factual, it is a also emphasized transmission
made of real, capitalized on this subjective judgment the effects of the of content
substantial, and knowledge by based on feeling social environment • Too much
material entities using reason to • Accepted values on the individual’s stress upon the
discover objects & conforms with the life formation of
relationships which prevailing opinion • Subjects are taught the pupil
he does not or of society by a teacher who is
cannot perceive • Prevailing opinion impersonal and
• Common sense of society reflects objective and
shows that it is the status quo of knows the subject
reasonable to social reality fully
assume that objects • Social reality • The teaching
exist independent represents the truth method
of one’s mind and that is out there, recommended are
that man can beyond the mind authoritative
discover these
things by using
senses
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 6

7. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
REALISM Proposition
On the Physical Word
• Nature is a primary self evident reality, a starting point in philosophizing. (Aristotle)
• The physical world is real, at least for the duration of the temporal order. (Saint Thomas and Descartes)
• There is no thought without extension. (Spinoza)
• The primary qualities of experience exist in the physical world. (Locke)
• There is something which produces my sensations and perceptions, the thing-in-itself, which cannot be known to be mental character. (Kant)
On the Character of Mind
• Mind is like a mirror receiving images from the physical world. (Comenius)
• The mind of a child at birth is similar to a blank sheet of paper upon which the world proceeds to write its impression. (Locke)
• Mind is a manifold of ideas and concepts. (Herbart)
• Consciousness is not a substance, it is an awareness of experiences, and experience is a medium in which objects and organisms are related.
(James)
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 7

8. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS EPISTEMOLOGY AXIOLOGY ISM IN RELIGION ISM IN EDUCATION STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Reality is the • Knowing results • Values are • There is no • School must aim at • Offers wise • Being practical
interaction of an from experiencing situational or supernatural base developing those counsel for day- would sometimes
PRAGMATISM individual with use of scientific relative for religious experiences that to-day living loose our moral
environment or method • Ultimate values experience will enable one to which may help values
experience: it is • Reason is the chief cannot exist for • Good and evil are lead a good life maintain mental • Not satisfactorily
always changing instrument of truth is always dramatically • Advocate the health representing the
• Reality cannot be knowledge relative and opposed to one importance of • Keep us close essence and
proven, even if it • (Rationalism) conditional another by a democracy to experience existence of
were, it wouldn’t • Truth is something • Value judgment precariously • Education must and to shelter individual
help us solve that happens to an are useful as decisive world help its students for us artificial • The application of
problems idea means to an become excellent of the cloistered experimental
• Reality is • Knowing to make intelligent life citizens in a and formally method is arbitrary
dependent upon personal choices democratic society academic being done to
experience which • Teachers must • Helps to discern every individual
determine provide experience the ways of • Radically negative
knowledge that will excite experience and in its ontological
• Man is both in motivation offers some meaning
the world of his • School Curriculum source in the • Redefining
perception must be part of control of religion as wisdom
social context experience pointing to certain
• Instruction • Has a great attitudes in
organized around contribution in religious devotion,
problem solving education in which are needed
according to the giving for effective lying
scientific method sensitivity to • Experimental
the cycle of method is applied
learning a bit more
universal and
arbitrary in
educational
method
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 8

9. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
PRAGMATISM Proposition
• All things flow, nothing remains the same. (Heraclitus and Dewey)
• It is impossible to gain knowledge of ultimate reality. (The Sophists and Dewey)
• Hypothesis tested by experience constitute the nearest approach to knowledge which we have. (The Sophists and Dewey)
• Science should become a special pursuit by being applied cooperatively to the study of all the problems of a man. (Bacon, Comte and Dewey)
• In order to determine the meaning of an idea, it must be put into practice; the consequences which follow constitute the meaning of the idea. (James and
Dewey)
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 9

10. Synthesis of Philosophy (Naturalism, Idealism, Realism, Pragmatism and Existentialism)
PHILOSOPHY METAPHYSICS EPISTEMOLOGY AXIOLOGY ISM IN RELIGION ISM IN EDUCATION STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• Reality is • Knowing to • Values should • Believing in God • Teaching • Freedom with • Standard of
EXISTEN- subjective with make personal be freely chosen is a matter of strategies must convergence or goodness varies
TIALISM existence choices choice (Theistic or stimulate an responsibility from another
preceding Atheistic) awareness that • There are a lot • One’s choice
essence each person of opportunities may not be of
• “Facticity” and creates a self- to explore others
“existence” concept through nature and • Respect for
precedes significant choices enhance oneself others is seldom
essence • Teacher should out of the given considered
help the student to freedom
become for • Respect for
himself what it is individual’s
he wants to background
become • Value formation
• School assists and integration
student in knowing are enliven
themselves and through
leaning their place decision –
in society making and
experience
Source:
Four Philosophies and Their Practices in Education and Religion
By: Donald J. Butler
http://johnysnatad.wordpress.com
Synthesis of Philosophy Compiled by Johny S. Natad © October 2009 10