Philosophical Foundations of Education
Idealism treats mind as the ultimate ground of reality, so it naturally taps all four “Dimensions of Philosophies”: Metaphysics (reality is fundamentally mental or spiritual), Epistemology (knowledge arises through rational intuition or contemplation), Axiology (truth, beauty, goodness are timeless and objective), and Logic (reason structures both thought and the cosmos).
Realism begins with an independent, material world whose laws can be discovered through disciplined observation and inference. That foregrounds Metaphysics (a mind-independent reality), Epistemology (sense data confirmed by logic yield reliable knowledge), and Logic (induction and deduction organize facts into truths). Values (Axiology) enter as accurate representation of the real is judged a chief good.
Pragmatism wagers that the meaning of any idea lies in its practical consequences. Its primary dimension is Epistemology (truth is “what works” when tested in lived experience), closely followed by Axiology (pluralism and problem-solving are prized) and Logic (the logic of inquiry, hypotheses and revision). Metaphysics stays flexible, treating reality as an open process.
