Philosophy of Education
by Dr. Leonard Peikoff
- 6 lectures, 8 hours
- Recorded in 1985
In this lecture series, Dr. Leonard Peikoff explores the nature of education, why contemporary schools do not achieve it, and what the proper basis is. In it, he discusses why education must be conceptual, the principles of proper instruction, and the essential content of a proper education.
Download the entire course (353 MB) to listen in the audio player of your choice—or listen online starting with Lecture One below. If listening to the course from this website, be sure to make a note of the current lecture and timestamp before leaving so that you can easily resume where you left off.
Study Guide
This course includes a study guide, featuring questions and other material designed to help you digest the course content. This material accompanies the individual lectures and is also available below as a PDF.
Lecture Guide
Summaries of the lecture content are provided below for your reference and convenience.
| Lecture 1 | This lecture focuses on the nature and purpose of education. Dr. Peikoff examines five different approaches to education and discusses which are or are not appropriate for rational education. He further investigates how basic philosophic approaches to cognition will impact one’s approach to education. He provides a definition of education and explains the proper philosophic approach to it. |
|---|---|
| Lecture 2 | This lecture examines the nature of conceptual education. Dr. Peikoff explains the essential methods for how cognitive content can be taught and the components that make up that approach. In this lecture, he focuses specifically on motivation and cognitive integration. |
| Lecture 3 | This lecture concludes Dr. Peikoff’s explanation of the essential components of proper teaching methodology. He focuses on how sequence and structure function in teaching and provides examples of how this works. |
| Lecture 4 | In this lecture, Dr. Peikoff discusses what content and subject matter should be taught to children. Taking reading, writing, and basic arithmetic as the basis of all education, Peikoff focuses on the essential role of history, mathematics, science, and literature in guiding children in the development of their rational faculty and preparing them for successful use of their reason as adults. |
| Lecture 5 | Dr. Peikoff explains the basic teaching skills and methods that must be adopted to succeed at teaching. He explores the nature of delivering content, the training needed for teachers themselves, as well as the political context of education. |
| Lecture 6 | This is a Q&A session on Objectivism. |