Reviews for Education Psychology

The average rating for Education Psychology based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-11-26 00:00:00 Mark Smith This is a neat introduction to "positivism," which anyone trying to understand modern intellectual history will need to confront. This little pamphlet was originally part of a much longer series of lectures written and delivered by Comte, but it stands on its own as a basic introduction to his premises. The underlying theme is that human intellectual development passes through three stages: Theological, Metaphysical, and Positive. The theological stage is the point at which all phenomena are ascribed supernatural causes through the Will of God or gods. The metaphysical is a stage at which the gods become abstractions or concepts which are seen to act according to their natures. Finally, the positive stage is the scientific understanding that nothing supernatural exists, and that all phenomena have natural explanations which can be understood through observation and reason. It should be obvious that Comte's ideas have been profoundly influential, even though his critics have been many, and one might well argue that today his view of science conforms to that of most educated (and many uneducated) people. He goes on to argue that the crisis of his time (the early nineteenth century) was a result of the incomplete conversion to a positive viewpoint - the theological and metaphysical philosophies were still around causing problems. It seems clear enough to this observer that no "pure" state has ever existed, human beings at least since Ancient Greece have used a combination of the methods he describes to apprehend the Universe. Of course, it can also be argued that the elevation of "reason" to a position of (abstracted) Godhead is itself a kind of metaphyisical tautology. Nevertheless, it is worth reading the man's words for yourself to appreciate his perspective.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-02-21 00:00:00 Joe Wilkinson "The general problem of education consists enabling an individual of usually but average ability to reach in a few years the same stage of development that has been attained during a long series of ages by the efforts of a large number of superior thinkers, who have throughout their lives concentrated their attention upon the same subject." (47-48)This Hackett edition collects the first two chapters of Comte's massive Cours de philosophie positive. In the first—The Nature and Importance of the Positive Philosophy—he expounds his law of three stages, according to which each branch of our knowledge passes in succession through three different theoretical stages: the theological or fictitious state, the metaphysical or abstract state, and the final scientific or positive state. The second chapter—The Classification of the Positive Sciences—is where Comte outlines his ideas about how the sciences ought to be classified. I actually got this edition because I wanted to read Comte's description (and ostensible coinage) of the term altruism, but I got to the end of the book—to my disappointment—without having encountered the notion or a discussion of it. I was sure this edition included his writings on altruism... Oh well, I'll have to look elsewhere. The Introduction to Positive Philosophy was still worth reading, though, for little gems like the quotation above, as well as for one of the first calls for the systematic study of social phenomena (Comte also ostensibly coined the term sociology, although he refers to it as social physics [at least in the English translation] from what I've read—but the idea is there all the same).