The Ministry of Education’s current life education curriculum contains five major core elements, and takes “philosophical thought” as its approach to life education. In the curriculum, apart from the philosophical inquiry emphasized by traditional Western philosophy, philosophical thought is also defined as “letting thought lead to discovery,” which confuses the concepts of thought and discovery. In contrast, Chinese traditional Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism are fundamentally bodies of knowledge concerning life, and emphasize practice, intuitive awareness, and comprehension; these philosophies promote the direct application of mental effort, and their approach to character formation does not primarily rely on discursive thought and reflection. Instead, they rely on the mental functions of discovery, experience, and intuitive perception as their path for investigating the truth. When thought is paired with the other core elements, it can be seen that the linkage is not as good as between discovery and experience. This is because life education should emphasize discovery over thought, and should stress the importance of discovery learning. Only in this way can it instill the basic theoretical underpinnings of life education and achieve its educational goals.
當前教育部所推動之「生命教育」五大核心素養，以哲學思考為生命教育的方法，且定義為除了有西方傳統哲學所強調的哲學思辨，另有「思考引導覺察」的意涵，以致可能混淆了思考與覺察的觀念。中華傳統儒、釋、道思想本身就是生命的學問，具有重實踐、重直觀、重領悟、直接從心性上下工夫等特點，在人格養成上非以思考、反思為主要學習進路，而是直接以覺察、觀照、體認心性為追求真理的路徑。以思考的方法套進其他核心素養會發現，其連動性皆不如覺察、觀照，故生命教育應強調覺察重於思考，應正視覺察學習的重要性，厚實生命教育的基礎理論，達成教育的目標。
