Paper Presentation on Philosophy of Education World Congress of Philosophy Athens, Greece - August 4-10, 2013 1 TEACHING: A DIALOGICAL RELATION FOR CONTINUAL LEARNING AND GROWTH 1 Jove Jim S. Aguas, Ph.D. University of Santo Tomas, Manila, Philippines Introduction One of the noblest of all professions is teaching, in fact all the other professions depend on the profession of teaching. No professional has become what he is without being under the teaching profession. According to St. Thomas Aquinas, to teach is to cause knowledge on others, that is, a process whereby knowledge or learning is effected on others. Teaching is a channel of knowledge and the teacher acts as an instrumental cause in the acquisition of knowledge of others. The teacher being the instrumental cause of the learning of others must have a mastery of the subject matter and must be able to communicate clearly the ideas to his students. We can consider some general aims of teaching. First, teaching could be intended as a means to give instruction; the most basic form of teaching is simply to instruct. Through instruction the teacher simply informs the minds of his students about a particular topic or subject matter. This is done through a clear communication process where the teacher simply transfers the ideas, principles and theories to his students. Related to this is the intention of the teacher to convince the students about the truth or validity of a particular idea or theory or principle. To teach in this sense is to prove the validity and truth of what one is teaching, to support his position and the truth of his teaching. Second, teaching could be intended to engage students in discussion and exchange of ideas. He explains and defends the truth of his teaching and answers questions, clarifies certain difficulties and defends the truth and refutes errors and also allows his students to express their ideas and opinions also to defend their own positions or views. In the end he is able to guide students how to create their ideas and thoughts. Socrates offers us a basic insight into the nature of teaching, he compares the art of teaching to that of the ancient craft of the midwife, just as a midwife assist the body to give birth to new life, the teacher assist the mind to deliver ideas, knowledge and understanding. Teaching is a humble and helping art. To teach is not to produce knowledge or stuff ideas or information on a passive and empty mind, but to assist in producing knowledge. 1 A paper presented for the Contributed Paper session on Philosophy of Education during the 23 rd World Congress of Philosophy (WCP) held at the School of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece, from August 4-10, 2013. The WCP is organized by the International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP).