哲学、教育理论和教育研究范式之关系

The Relationships between Philosophy, Educational Theory and the Paradigms of Educational Research

Since Johann Friedrich Herbart founded scientific pedagogy in the 19th century， education has undergone a change from a discipline of the humanities to that of the social sciences. Since the middle of the 20th century，with the technical advancement of statistics and computer analysis software signiti-cantly inlluencing how theories of education were constructed， positivism and evidence oriented quantita- tive research has become the dominant model in educational research. However， in the Western world， phenomenology，hermeneutics，ethnography as well as critical theory， have all contributed prominently to qualitative research since 1970s. Within the positivist tradition， new developments in philosophy of science represented by Thomas Samuel Kuhn also powerfully challenges positivist logic . Without applying theory in practice，even though multiple research paradigms are employed，it is not helpful in constructing educational theories and using theory to inform educational practices and thus it essentially isolates theories from practices. Based on the above discussion and taking into consideration the relevant reflections on Taiwan experience， three types of educational theories are categorized. These are： 1) the statements of educational slogans， metaphors and ideas， of which the emphases are claritication and justitication; 2) the empirical scientific (positivism) studies of education which gives weight to fact/objective inquiries； and 3) the suggestions and implications for teaching and school management， which stress the development of practical wisdom. Finally， it s argued that the curriculum content of philosophy of education should be adjusted to strengthen the reflection of educational research methodology.