Traditional versus modern philosophies distinguished by who determines ends and means

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Evidence · no claims cited

Description

Apps organizes the four general philosophies by a structural axis: idealism and realism are traditional, while experimentalism and existentialism are modern. His summary sentence states the axis directly: "Thus, the basic difference between the traditional philosophies (idealism and realism) and the modern philosophies (experimentalism and existentialism) is the relationship of ends and means." For traditional philosophies ends are fixed by an outside authority; for modern philosophies the individual selects both ends and means.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

• Serves as an interpretive lens when comparing philosophies in Chapters 3 and 4.

Constraints

• The distinction is drawn from Stone and Schneider's Foundations of Education, as cited by Apps.

Target Learners

• adult educators

Target Learning Objectives

• locating one's own beliefs on the ends-means axis

Claims

Related Theories

• General Philosophies Taxonomy Apps
• Apps's four-category framework for a working philosophy of adult education
• Belief structure: sources, levels (zero-order, first-order, higher order), and the belief-value-attitude distinction
• Taxonomy of five educational philosophies for adult education
• Existentialism (Educational Philosophy)
• Realism (Educational Philosophy)
• Four-category taxonomy of educational philosophies grouped into traditional and contemporary dimensions
• Taxonomy of educational philosophies: Perennialism, Essentialism, Pragmatism, Reconstructionism, and Existentialism
• Five basic educational philosophies: traditional-conservative versus contemporary
• Five educational philosophies framework (perennialism, idealism, realism, experimentalism, existentialism)
• Five-philosophy framework of teacher beliefs (Realism, Idealism, Pragmatism, Existentialism, Phenomenology)

Examples

• A four-step process for examining beliefs: recognition, analysis, judgment, and evaluation

Key Sources

• Apps, Jerold W. (1973). Toward a Working Philosophy of Adult Education. Syracuse University Publications in Continuing Education / ERIC Clearinghouse on Adult Education. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED078229

Page metadata

Field	Value
type	theory
title	Traditional versus modern philosophies distinguished by who determines ends and means
description	Apps organizes the four general philosophies by a structural axis: idealism and realism are traditional, while experimentalism and existentialism are modern.
status	review
canonical	True
generated	by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-09-25
trust	unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources	1 — apps-1973

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