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Education reform should consider critical thinking, celebration of life

Oct 09,2018 - Last updated at Oct 09,2018

The Greek concept of life and their emphasis on the examination of belief could be of an added value to our lives. The Greeks left a great civilisation that could be retaught and reintroduced to our text books and schools, such as the celebration of life and the purpose of life, otherwise the forces of darkness will continue to dominate our life and the thinking of the next generation.

In this part of the world, opposite to the Greek philosophy, we do not cultivate the life of the mind. We need to ask ourselves why is it that since the fall of the Abbasid Empire, we have been in a state of backwardness and regression. One answer could be that we stopped celebrating life and to many of us “heaven” has become the ultimate frontier, which in turn blinded us from focusing on the now and the here in this life. This is reinforced in many aspects of our lives, from what religious preachers teach us to media and school curriculum.

The Greeks were the first civilisation that used critical thinking in their deliberations. They believed that ideas should be examined and nothing should be held or believed just because someone said it. Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living, which means we should continuously be in a state of reflection and examination. 

To most Greek philosophers, life is for the sake of human happiness. For example, Aristotle believed that the highest aim of life, as well as the purpose of life, is to attain human happiness. He wrote about that subject at length and mentioned in his writings the conditions for human happiness, like friendship, love, physical fitness and economic well-being. Moreover, Aristotle believed that life is to be celebrated. Plato, the founder of the Academy in Athens, believed that the aim of life is the contemplation of beauty, truth and goodness. He believed that the world of ideas is to be discovered. He emphasised the importance of mathematics and that through it we can discover the good, the beautiful and the true.

Reintroducing the teaching of philosophy in our schools as part of the curriculum, which was part our education system in the past, is most crucial now. The curriculum could benefit from the origins of philosophy, namely from Plato and Aristotle, and move through history until the times of Ibn Rushd capturing the most important values, virtues and ways of thinking that celebrate life. 

In the struggle between Al Ghazali and Ibn Rushd, Al Ghazali won, and since his time we have largely been victims to his thinking that has contributed to religious fanaticism in many parts of the world. As a result of the conflict between Ibn Rushd and Al Ghazali, the library of Ibn Rushd was burnt and a huge part of his learnings vanished. We need to revive it and bring back the essence of life to our lives, starting with our school system. 

Ibn Rushd and Al Ghazali are both 12th century Islamic philosophers. Ibn Rushd integrated Islamic traditions with ancient Greek thought, producing a series of summaries and commentaries on most of Aristotle’s works and on Plato’s Republic, while Al Ghazali produced his greatest work, Ihya Ulum Ad-din  (“The Revival of the Religious Sciences”), which made Sufism (Islamic mysticism) an acceptable part of orthodox Islam.

In line with Ibn Rushd’s thinking; stemming mostly from Greek philosophy, there is a need to cultivate the virtues of tolerance and respect for others; virtues important for young minds and important to be cultivated in school culture. It is vital that educators take a more active role to reexamine text books taught in schools and identify areas where we can benefit from Ibn Rushd and the Greek philosophy. 

Most of the Greek philosophers believed that knowledge is good and makes us free, and ignorance is seen as evil. They claimed that when people commit evil, they commit it when they are ignorant. Simply, for them knowledge is good and stems from virtues of critical thinking and the celebration of life while ignorance is considered evil and stems from dogmatic thinking and the inability to celebrate life.

In the Arab world, we need fundamental changes in our educational system. Extremism and uncritical beliefs have become a phenomenon. So, reform in our schools has to consider values of critical thinking and the celebration of life and that all ideas have to be reflected on and can be examined.

Our teachers have also become victims of dogmatic thinking and closed-mindedness, when critical thinking and openness is most vital in our class rooms. Exposing teachers to philosophical theory is crucial and training of teachers and educators in the art of critical thinking is critical.

Another important dimension besides critical thinking is the importance of arts; music, painting, singing, drama, school choirs and school bands which foster the spirit and elevate our sensitivity to the beautiful and the good.

We are heirs to a long history that goes back in Greater Syria to thousands of years, and we could claim without exaggeration that human civilisation began in this part of the world. By incorporating ancient Greek wisdom into educational curricula, we will be able to do more than simply sharing knowledge, we are encouraging individuals to expand their horizons, think with a positive outlook and most importantly celebrate life in complete, with everything it has to offer.

 

The writer is a former professor of philosophy. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times

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