The Educational Philosophical Thoughts of Abu Hamid Al Ghazali (1058 - 1111) and ‎John Dewey (1859 - 1952): A Comparative Study‎

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to compare the educational thoughts of Al Ghazali and Dewey, two renowned scholars. In this ‎study, the researcher surveyed Al Ghazali's and Dewey's efforts on education using methodological qualitative research methods, ‎namely constant comparative analysis and discourse analysis, to discuss and evaluate their educational thoughts and to determine ‎their educational philosophical thoughts in order to objectively validate their educational aspects as educators. Similarities and ‎differences were discovered in the results of this study. The results indicated that the educational philosophical implementations ‎of Islamic and Pragmatic thoughts in terms of school curricula, teaching methods, roles of teachers, roles of students, and school ‎roles are viewed differently by each philosopher. Generally, Al Ghazali’s educational philosophical perspectives embody the idea ‎that education involves the intellectual, mental, spiritual, ethical, moral, and physical elements of a person. Whereas, Dewey’s ‎educational philosophical perspectives embody that the person, who is a social being, acquires knowledge through personal ‎experiences and is born with intrinsic skills that education should develop. Education must aim at nurturing and promoting those ‎skills to students’ fullest potential. Both scholars believed that promoting the well-being of children would be the school's role by ‎providing students with curricula enriched with a range of subject matters. Based on the study results, the researcher ‎recommended that those who are concerned with the business of changing lives must realize the importance of teaching ‎philosophy in order to establish their own. The researcher also made a number of recommendations, the most important of which ‎was that future research on this topic should take into account only one educational aspect as opposed to combining all five ‎aspects into a single study.‎ ‎(Keywords: Abu Hamid Al-Ghazali, John Dewey, Educational Philosophical Thoughts, Comparative Study)‎