The seminar attracted the attention of many researchers, lecturers, and postgraduates from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities and a number of universities and research institutes in Hanoi.
At the seminar, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Thai Viet discussed and shared many issues, but the main content that strongly attracted the attention of those who are currently teaching and researching Philosophy in Vietnam is the method of teaching and researching Philosophy in practice today.
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Thai Viet shared at the Seminar
The first, about the current philosophy teaching method in Vietnam, Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Thai Viet shared: A common reality is that most students are not enthusiastic, even bored, afraid of philosophy, especially the Marxist-Leninist Philosophy course. One of the reasons lies in the teaching method. Lecturers often start from the pure content of the curriculum instead of starting from the specific needs and goals of the learners. A specific example: when presenting or debating about pure philosophical concepts that took place in the history of philosophy, and ended at the philosophical system of GWF Hegel (18th century German classical philosopher). When it came to C. Marx, in "Capital", he "did not leave us "Logic" (with a capital L), but left us the Logic of Capital" (Lenin). This means that philosophy has found a "way out" in the system of Marx - Engels, which is practical philosophy. However, philosophy teachers in Vietnam today seem to be going against that process, causing students to encounter difficulties and have prejudices when studying philosophy. According to Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Thai Viet, teachers should re-examine the problem, starting from students, from their questions, goals, and real-life needs to lead to principles, categories, and laws in philosophy.
Monday,On philosophical research methods: One of the questions that young philosophical researchers often wonder about when doing a topic is: "Where is the philosophical nature of the problem?". According to Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Thai Viet, the philosophical nature of a research problem lies in two factors: philosophical knowledge and philosophical research methods, in which the second factor is especially important. This was "modeled" by C. Mac in "Capital", when he applied philosophical principles and methods such as: the principle of historical logic unity, the principle of going from abstract to concrete, the principle of unity between the deductive method and the inductive method to find the nature and laws of the capitalist mode of production. So it is not only studying purely philosophical problems that then has philosophical nature. But applying philosophical methods to research is the most convincing proof of the "philosophical nature" of the research problem. Therefore, those who study philosophy should not limit themselves to purely philosophical problems, but should use philosophical research methods to consider practical problems, which have the breath of "living reality".
Completely agreeing with the discussion of Associate Professor Dr. Pham Thai Viet, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan shared that the difficulty in teaching Philosophy at universities today lies in the unified perception of philosophical knowledge by lecturers themselves. For example, the understanding of the categories of "Matter" or "State", the distinction between "Property" or "Form of existence", "Type" or "Form of expression" is not always consistent among all lecturers.
Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Anh Tuan shares some difficulties in teaching philosophy at universities.
Dr. Tran Thi Dieu (Head of Philosophy Department, Faculty of Philosophy) also pointed out some difficulties in teaching practice.
The first, the students studying philosophy are very diverse, in each different field, they have different questions, needs, and goals. Therefore, if starting from that, to generalize about philosophical knowledge, it requires the lecturer to have the ability to understand widely and abstract greatly.
Monday, there are some philosophy students who are older and have more practical experience than young lecturers, so teaching them in a way that attracts and engages them is also a challenge. Finally, in the input group are students and postgraduates, their knowledge base is uneven, all of them rely on the guidance of their instructors.
Some delegates attending the seminar also wanted the speaker to discuss more about the Philosophy of Art, aesthetic philosophy, how to recognize contradictions, dialectical thinking, and criteria to distinguish between subjective and objective consciousness.
Dr. Pham Hoang Giang (Head of Philosophy Department) expressed his hope that the speaker would continue to accompany and share many valuable opinions on the issue of applying philosophy in practical life.
The seminar was successful, sharing and exchanging a lot of useful information about teaching methods and applying philosophy in research as well as in practical life.
In the coming time, with the Faculty of Philosophy, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities will continue to organize activities to improve expertise and inspire lecturers and young researchers in the field of philosophy in Vietnam, aiming at changes in teaching thinking and research methods, making philosophy a more attractive and meaningful subject for learners and society.
