Philosophy & Education Quotes

“All too often Christians look at morality from the negative viewpoint. Christian growth does not come from what we don’t do. It is rather a product of what we actively do in our daily lives. The Christian ethic is a positive ethic, and the Christian life, as an expression of that ethic, is a positive, active existence.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy and Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“at every turn the social obligation which the advantages of a college education impose must be stressed: too often have we preached the monetary value of a college education; too widely have we bred the conviction that the training is advantageous because it enables the individual to get ahead; too insidiously have we spread the doctrine that the college opens up avenues to the exploitation of less capable men. Higher education involves higher responsibility . . . ; this cardinal truth must be impressed upon every recipient of its advantages. In season and out of season, social service, and not individual advancement, must be made the motif of college training.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“Humans are much more than animals or machines whose activities and choices are determined. Unfortunately, however, people often choose to live on the level of the animal and machine.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“[T]o be fully human, they must be controlled by their minds rather than by their animal appetites and propensities.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“Living the responsible life also includes acting upon one's decisions, if a person is to be true or authentic to himself or herself.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“[T]he school experience is a part of life, rather than a preparation for life.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“[M]indlessness in education is a natural outcome for a society which has traditionally been concerned with the “how” rather than the “why” of modern life.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy & Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will he be something, and he himself will have made what he will be. Thus, there is no human nature, since there is no God to conceive it. Not only is man what he conceives himself to be, but he is also only what he wills himself to be after this thrust toward existence. Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy and Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective

“Francis Schaeffer has pointed out that the Christian worldview can be divided into a major and a minor theme.38 The minor theme deals with the abnormality of a world in revolt, with the fact that humanity has rebelled, has become separated from God, and has come to see its own meaninglessness. The minor theme is the defeated and sinful side of human life. The major theme is the opposite of the minor. Metaphysically it uplifts the fact that God exists, all is not lost, and life is not absurd. People have significance due to the fact that they are made in God’s image. If art exclusively emphasizes the major theme, it is both unbiblical and unreal.39 It would be less than Christian art. It would be romanticism, and by its shallowness and lack of insight into “real-life problems” would have to be rejected rightfully as genuine art in the biblical sense. On the other hand, it is equally unbiblical for art to emphasize exclusively the minor theme of human lostness, degradation, and abnormality.”
― George R. Knight, Philosophy and Education: An Introduction in Christian Perspective