Philosophy of education timeline analysis - Essay Example

I will carry this theme further in my essay and will trace its origins and development. The later part of the essay will explore the role naturalism plays in the current educational world. The East and West have rich ethical traditions (Brannigan, 2005). Some like the Confucianism developed in a certain area- China in the case of Confucianism (Confucianism, 2010)- whereas others like naturalism were developed and promoted by philosophers all over the world. Naturalism is that branch of philosophy that adheres to the notion that everything can be explained scientifically.

It can be portrayed as the ideology that everything constitutes a part of nature and there is no reality that is beyond the scope of nature (Goetz & Taliaferro, 2008). The philosophical paradigm denounces the supernatural, supporting the ideology that everything in nature can be accounted for by a scientific cause. The philosophy relies on empirical and evidence-based science to prove and ratify the natural phenomena around us. Naturalists believe that everything in the universe is governed through scientific principles and even the social and behavioral elements that constitute an individual’s thought process and rationality have a scientific basis.

Naturalism does not have a priori approach to explain the natural world; rather it attempts to provide a scientific justification through knowledge that does not involve the special senses. It is also known as materialism and its basic definition encompasses the tenet that individuals are a completely natural phenomena. In the past centuries, scientific discoveries have replaced many of the myths and superstitions by concrete scientific explanations. The rate at which science has progressed is exponential; as a result, the theory of naturalism has received more factual data to support it.

Naturalism has developed overtime by such advances in technology and by the works of many