Ta'dib-Based Deep Learning
A Dialogue Between Syed MuhammadNaquib al-Attas and Meaningful LearningTheory for Indonesian Education
Keywords:
adab; Al-Attas, deep learning, Indonesian education, meaningful learning, ta'dibAbstract
Purpose—This conceptual article reconstructs a ta'dib-based account of deep learning by establishing a dialogue between Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas's philosophy of Islamic education and Western meaningful learning theory (David Ausubel and Joseph Novak). It addresses a gap in Indonesia's current Pembelajaran Mendalam agenda, whose policy vocabulary lacks an explicit account of why knowledge should be learned, how it should be ordered, and what conduct should follow from it.
Design/methods— The article employs an integrative literature review, analyzing foundational philosophical works, peer-reviewed studies on al-Attas and meaningful learning, Indonesian policy documents, and recent scholarship on digital and generative-AI-mediated education.
Findings— The analysis reveals a real but limited convergence: both traditions reject rote accumulation and require learners to connect new knowledge with an already meaningful structure. However, their difference is equally significant. Meaningful learning primarily explains cognitive integration and conceptual change, whereas ta'dib supplies an ontological, ethical, and teleological grammar that judges the proper place, source, purpose, and use of knowledge. The article therefore proposes that ta'dib should function as the normative orientation for objectives, source evaluation, dialogue, application, reflection, and assessment—not reduced to etiquette or a moral appendix. In Indonesia's digital environment, this reconstruction supports a form of deep learning where technological fluency, conceptual understanding, and learner agency are held accountable to intellectual humility, verification, justice, and responsibility.
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