ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces general philosophy to those interested in education. Philosophy is a discipline aimed at developing the skills and dispositions necessary to lead a reflective life. Philosophy privileges reason and demands consistency and coherency. Educators and others interested in education should be interested in basic philosophical questions. Ontology is that part of philosophy that addresses the question of what it means 'to be'. Some philosophers argue that humans are the only animal that constructs a world marked by value, sentiment, or taste; therefore, to be fully human requires that one becomes fully 'civilized' in the arts of living so as to fully appreciate these aesthetic values. Existentialism rejects the idea that there is any essential characteristic of human beings but argues, instead, that humans are radically free. One of the oldest approaches to epistemology is referred to as 'classical' or 'correspondence' and is most closely associated with the classical philosophies of the ancient Greeks and Romans.
