To most people, Philosophy is a subject matter of ancient times. But it has become crucial to humanity in the age of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Genomics, Climate change and Quantum Entanglement.
World Philosophy Day is an International Day proclaimed by UNESCO to be celebrated every 3rd Thursday of November. It was first celebrated on 21 November 2002, at the turn of the 21st Century, when it’s criticality for human progress was fully appreciated. This year it will fall on Thursday 17th November 2022.
UNESCO underlines the enduring value of Philosophy for the development of human thought, for each culture and for each individual.
In establishing World Philosophy Day in 2005, UNESCO’s General Conference highlighted the importance of this discipline, especially for young people, underlining that “philosophy is a discipline that encourages critical and independent thought and is capable of working towards a better understanding of the world and promoting tolerance and peace”. UNESCO’s General Conference was convinced that “the institutionalisation of Philosophy Day at UNESCO as ‘World Philosophy Day’ would win recognition for and give strong impetus to philosophy and, in particular, to the teaching of Philosophy in the world”.
In keeping with the current focus in education on “learning” rather than “ teaching”, I have created a 9 level framework for the learning of Philosophy. Rather than a set of discrete courses, I have used a framework of levels of Philosophical enquiry and achievement of understanding. There are many examples of this approach : The CMM levels 1 to 5 in the software industry, the 6 levels of the CEFR framework of languages, the 6 levels of automation in self-driving cars and the 9 levels of proficiency in the IELTS for English.
My 9 level framework for Learning Philosophy, spans from early childhood to a mature adult, as follows:
Level 1: ages 3 to 6
Level 2: ages 7 and 8
{ These together comprise the Foundational stage of the NEP 2020}
Level 3: ages 9 to 11
{Preparatory stage of the NEP 2020}
Level 4: ages 12 to 14
{Middle stage of the NEP 2020}
Level 5: ages 15 to 16
{ Secondary stage of the NEP 2020}
Level 6: ages 17 to 18
Level 7: post school ~ 20 years
{ Post School: Professional education : engineering, medicine, law etc.}
Level 8: post University ~ 25 years
{Young professional}
Level 9: Mature adult > 30 years
{ A mature person: lifelong learner }
The NEP 2020 mentions Philosophy at several places in the document, twice at pages 5,17,38,43,44,54 and 55. Philosophy is also referred to at pages 15 and 56.
On this World Philosophy Day 2022, I will Introduce the World Philosophy Day and touch upon Why Learn Philosophy? Philosophy at different stages of life ? And most importantly, of India’s contribution to World Philosophy. I will do this in the WhatsApp group “ Philosophy Matters”.
Prof. M.M.Pant has a Ph.D in Computational Physics, along with a Professional Law Degree, and has been a practitioner in the fields of Law, IT enabled education and IT implementation.
Drawing upon his experience in world class international institutions and having taught in various modes of Face-to-Face, Distance Learning and Technology Enhanced Training, Prof. Pant is now exploring the nature of institutions which will be successors to the IITs, which represented the 1960s, IIMs, which represented the 1970 and Open Universities which were the rage of 1980s & 90s.
He believes that the convergence between various media and technologies would fundamentally alter the way learning would be created, packaged, and delivered to learners. His current activities are all directed toward actual implementation of these new age educational initiatives that transform education in the post Internet post WTO era..
Prof. Pant, has been a Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and has been on the faculty of IIT – Kanpur (the premier Engineering institution in India), MLNR Engineering College and Faculty & Visiting Professor - University of Western Ontario-Canada.
He has been visiting scientist to research centers in Italy, England, Germany & Sweden and has delivered international lectures with about 80 papers published.
During his association of almost 15 years with the IGNOU, Prof. Pant has served as the Director Computing and has been the Member of All Bodies (i.e. School boards, Academic council, Planning board, Finance committee and the Board of management).
With his interest in Law, backed with practice of Law in a High Court, and his basic training in Science and IT, Prof. Pant has been particularly interested in the Cyber Law, Patent & trade mark issues, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues etc. and has been involved with many activities, conferences on “Law & IT”
Prof. Pant is presently;
• Advisor to Media Lab Asia - Chairman of working group on ICT for Education, chairman of PRSG handling projects on ICT for education.
• Lead Consultant for an ADB funded project for ICT in Basic Education in Uzbekistan
• Member of the drafting Group for India’s National Policy on ICT in education
• Chairman of the group creating books for class 11 and 12 students on ‘Computers and Communication Technology’ appointed by the NCERT
• Preparing a ‘Theme Paper” for the NCTE in the area of ICT and Teacher Training
• Advisor and mentor to several leading Indian and Multi-national Companies in the area of education.
Prof. Pant has in the recent past been ;
• Member – Board of Management – I I T, Delhi for 6 years (two consecutive terms)
• One-man committee to create the Project Report & Legislation for Delhi IT-enabled Open University
• Advisor to the Delhi Government on Asian Network of Major Cities Project (ANMC-21) distance learning project in association with Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
• Chairman Board of Studies, All India Management Association
With his mission to create and implement new business opportunities in the area of e-learning & learning facilitation, Prof. Pant has promoted Planet EDU Pvt. Ltd., as its Founder & Chairman, along with a team of highly experienced and skilled professionals from Education & Training, Operations, IT and Finance.
