The content and teaching methods of Philosophy need to be more relevant and meet the needs of real life.

 
The seminar's topic attracted the participation of numerous researchers, lecturers, and postgraduate students from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and several other universities and research institutes in Hanoi.
At the seminar, Associate Professor Pham Thai Viet discussed and shared many issues, but the central topic that strongly attracted the attention of those currently working in teaching and research of Philosophy in Vietnam was the methods of teaching and researching philosophy in practice today. The firstRegarding current philosophy teaching methods in Vietnam, Associate Professor Pham Thai Viet shared: A common reality is that most students are not enthusiastic, or even find philosophy boring and frightening, especially the Marxist-Leninist philosophy course. One of the reasons lies in the teaching methods. Lecturers often start from the purely theoretical content of the textbook instead of from the specific needs and goals of the learners. A specific example: when presenting or debating purely philosophical concepts, this has taken place throughout the history of philosophy, and ended with the philosophical system of G.W.F. Hegel (an 18th-century German classical philosopher). With Karl Marx, in "Capital," he "did not leave us 'Logic' (with a capital L), but he did leave us the Logic of Capital" (Lenin). This means that philosophy has already found its "way out" in the system of Marx and Engels, which is practical philosophy. However, philosophy teachers in Vietnam today seem to be going against this trend, causing students difficulties and prejudices when studying philosophy. According to Associate Professor Pham Thai Viet, teachers should reframe the problem, starting from the students, from their questions, goals, and needs in real life, to guide them to the principles, categories, and laws of philosophy.
Monday,Regarding philosophical research methods: One of the questions often pondered by young philosophy researchers when undertaking a research topic is: "Where does the philosophical nature of the problem lie?" According to Associate Professor Dr. Pham Thai Viet, the philosophical nature of a research problem lies in two elements: philosophical knowledge and philosophical research methods, with the second element being particularly important. This was exemplified by C. Marx in his work "Capital," where he applied philosophical principles and methods such as: the principle of historical-logical unity, the principle of moving from abstract to concrete, and the principle of unifying deductive and inductive methods to discover the essence and laws of the capitalist mode of production. Therefore, it is not only the study of purely philosophical issues that constitutes a philosophical problem. Applying philosophical methods to research is the most convincing evidence of the "philosophical nature" of the research problem. Therefore, those who study philosophy should not limit themselves to purely philosophical issues, but should use philosophical research methods to examine practical problems that breathe the spirit of "living reality".
Completely agreeing with the points raised by Associate Professor Pham Thai Viet, Associate Professor Nguyen Anh Tuan further shared that the difficulty in teaching Philosophy today also lies in the lack of a unified understanding of philosophical knowledge among the lecturers themselves. For example, the understanding of the categories "Matter" or "State," the distinction between "Attribute" or "Form of Existence," "Type" or "Form of Expression" is not always consistent among all lecturers. Dr. Tran Thi Dieu (Head of the Philosophy Department, Faculty of Philosophy) also pointed out some difficulties in teaching practice.The firstThe student body studying philosophy is very diverse; in each different field, they have different questions, needs, and goals. Therefore, if one were to generalize philosophical knowledge based on this, it would require the instructor to have a broad understanding and a high degree of abstraction ability.MondayFurthermore, some philosophy students are older and have more practical experience than the younger lecturers, so teaching in a way that is engaging and appealing to them is also a challenge. Finally, among the incoming students and researchers, their knowledge bases are uneven, and they all rely on the guidance of their supervising professors.
Some participants in the seminar also wished for the speakers to further discuss the Philosophy of Art, aesthetic philosophy, how to recognize contradictions, dialectical thinking, and criteria for distinguishing between subjective and objective consciousness. The seminar was a success, sharing and exchanging much useful information about teaching methods and the application of philosophy in research as well as in practical life.
In the coming period, the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, will continue to organize activities to enhance professional skills and inspire faculty members and young researchers in the field of philosophy in Vietnam, aiming for changes in teaching thinking and research methods, making philosophy a more attractive and meaningful subject for students and society.