PSE4801Assignment 1 2023
, 1. African philosophy and education
1.1 Define African philosophy. (5)
Philosophy means path.
Philosophy to African cultures, values and traditions, and to the notion of ubuntu, and sought
to understand the reasons for students’ inclination to treat African philosophy in this way.
African philosophy accentuates the importance of being reasonable – the ability of people to
articulate clear, logical and defensible arguments, on the one hand and to demonstrate a
willingness to listen carefully to others, on the other hand. (p. 57)
1.2 Explain why Waghid and Higgs (2017) adopted the view of “mutual attunement”. (5)
-A pedagogy of friendship, is ability to be aware of and respond to the child’s needs.
[T]o act responsibly, one also needs to engender friendship through one’s (inter)actions – the
idea of “doing things together”, that is, a kind of mutuality whereby one engages another and to
be engaged in return. ...
[M]utuality can be captured in Aristotelian phrases such as “spending days together”, “spending
time together”, “living together”, acquiring experience of one another and becoming familiar
with each other’s habits, as well as in more transient interactions such as great conversation, in
knowing glances, in a moment of shared repartee that lasts no longer than an instant, yet captures
in that moment the magic of a special connection.
For me, such a notion of friendship, which requires time and familiarity with each other’s
characters on the basis of doing things with each other, cannot be separated from the relationship
that ought to exist between a university teacher and her students. (Waghid 2007, 189).
Here friendship is characterized by mutual engagement, mutual attunement and mutual action.
This notion of mutuality includes the space to correct one another. ‘It is this idea of correcting
one another and learning from each other in an atmosphere of trust, goodwill and mutual benefit
that holds much promise in reshaping teaching and learning’ (Waghid 2007, 189).
2. Pragmatism and education
2.1 Show how “experience” of pragmatism has been challenged by pragmatists such as Rorty.
(5)
According to pragmatism, an idea or a proposition lies in its observable practical
consequences rather than anything metaphysical. Whatever works is likely true. Pragmatism
is the philosophy that encourages us to seek out the processes and do things that work best
to help us achieve desirable ends. Pragmatism is a practical, matter-of-fact way of
approaching a situation or of solving problems. According to Dewey, the methods and the
