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How does the discussion of “The One and the Many” inform education?

Poem: Cosmetics, By Owen Barfield

Statement of the Whole:  Long ago, the Greeks began a discussion of how the One and the Many work together and fight each other in human relations.  Education, by working within community, enters this discussion.  In this episode we define the issue and apply it to the classroom endeavor.

1. Defining the issue
   1. The onecan be a separate whole, or it can be the sum of things in their analytic or synthetic wholeness; that is, it can be a transcendent one, which is the ground of all being, or it can be an immanent one.
   2. The manyrefers to the particularity or individuality of things
   3. So the issue is if the universe is full of a multitude of beings, is the truth concerning them inherent in their individuality, or is it in their basic oneness?[i]
   4. How this issue is answered tends to lead toward the poles of Realism and Nominalism.
   5. In education, Realism and Nominalism both highly affect many aspects of education: how it is done, why it is done, how it is assessed, etc.
      1. Are the needs of the many, the students, more important than the needs of the one, the school, class, society?
      2. Is a lesson more about reaching unity, agreement, or individuality?
   6. Those who emphasize “the One” (Realists)
      1. Emphasize ideals
      2. Call students to something higher than themselves
      3. Call students outside themselves to some Form
   7. Those who emphasize “the Many”
      1. Emphasize particulars, experience, and individuality
      2. Want students to express their own thoughts, creativity
      3. Like things “outside the box”
   8. Finding a middle ground?
      1. Is the Trinity involved here? Unity and Individuality perfected
      2. Might this be a case of antithesis where both are true and provide a healthy tension?
      3. Examining how this question either builds or tears down civility
   9. Practical implications and examples
      1. How much of education is group and how much individual?
      2. What are my goals in teaching a student
         1. Bringing them to know themselves
         2. Bringing them into harmony with things outside themselves

[i] Rushdoony, R.J. “Philosophy: The Problem of the One and the Many.” Philosophy: The Problem of the One and the Many, Chalcedon, 24 Apr. 2017, chalcedon.edu/resources/articles/philosophy-the-problem-of-the-one-and-the-many.