Towards a Consensual Definition of Learning: Insights from the Aristotelian Philosophy

Taie, Masumeh; Rostami, Reza; Yazdanimoghaddam, Massood

doi:10.22034/iepa.2021.269579.1242

Towards a Consensual Definition of Learning: Insights from the Aristotelian Philosophy

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Masumeh Taie ¹

Reza Rostami ²

Massood Yazdanimoghaddam ³

¹ Ph.D. student of Department of Foreign Languages, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

² Professor of Department of Psychology, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

³ Professor of Department of TEFL, Islamic Azad University, Garmsar Branch, Tehran, Iran

https://doi.org/10.22034/iepa.2021.269579.1242

Abstract

What is learning after all? Being the cornerstone of educational psychology, this question has not lost its appeal since there still is no consensus over it. What makes providing a careful definition of learning important is that such definitions carry important pedagogical implications which might not be equally beneficial. This theoretical paper, therefore, has tried to define learning by a novel interdisciplinary approach through connecting educational psychology to philosophy. It has started with the dilemma of a lack of consensus over the definition of definition itself and the necessity for holding a theory of definition. Consequently, Aristotle’s definition theory has been chosen. To be impartial, it has been contrasted with that adopted by Karl Popper- Aristotle’s major critic. Then, mainstream leaning definitions have been investigated. Their inadequacy has been attributed to their non-adherence to a tenable definition theory. The paper recommends a framework for learning definition studies established by adopting Aristotle’s definition theory and other points discussed. Such a framework constitutes guidelines for future studies. These guidelines give future definition studies direction and coherence and allow us to move away from idiosyncrasies reflecting personal bias and, as such, they can direct us towards developing a consensual definition.

Keywords

educational psychology

learning definition

definition theory

philosophy

Aristotle

Subjects

Learning

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