MILITARY EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY: PROBLEM AREA AND OBJECTIVES

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to substantiate the need for distinguishing the military education philosophy as an independent specific area within the education philosophy using the analysis of the transformation processes that are currently taking place in the field of the national military education in Ukraine; to identify a range of problems that should establish the subject field of the military education philosophy; and to support the need for integrating the knowledge generated through the military education philosophy into the educational process in military educational institutions that are part of the security and defense sector of Ukraine. The methodological basis of the current study is set up through the specific historical, interdisciplinary and integrative approaches which are comprehensive and all-embracing in the methodology of modern scientific knowledge. The methods used in the study are those of philosophical reflection, analyses including a comparative analysis, a document analysis, synthesis, monitoring and observation. The context of the research encompasses transformational processes that are taking place in educational practices implemented at higher military educational institutions of the security and defense sector of Ukraine. The core results of the study are as follows: 1) The paper analyzed the challenges that actualize the singling out of military education philosophy into an independent and self-sufficient direction within the philosophy of the world. 2) The significance of philosophical and methodological analyses of problems that go beyond the subject field of military pedagogy, military psychology, military sociology and education philosophy was substantiated. 3) A range of specific problems that should be the subject of the military education philosophy as opposed to the education philosophy was determined. 4) The scientific, theoretical and applied denotations of the military education philosophy were analyzed. 5) The significance of the military education philosophy as a worldview and methodological basis for the development of philosophical and pedagogical culture in teachers at Ukraine’s military educational institutions was substantiated. 6) The relevance of introducing the academic discipline of Military Education Philosophy in the training course for operational level officers, especially those who will continue their military careers as teachers/ instructors, was substantiated. 7) The prospects for further development of the military education philosophy as a relevant component of philosophical discourse and training course were determined.