1-5 puts forward the theory of intellectual equality based on the materialistic sensory theory, emphasizes the influence of environment and education on human development, exposes the stupidity, arrogance, hypocrisy and harm of religion, and points out that the control of education by the church should be excluded and education should be managed by secular forces.
6-9 articles focus on the interest theory, expounding the importance of a perfect law to a nation's morality and happiness. A good legal plan should include an excellent education plan. 10 explains that different education will produce different results, so as to demonstrate that the power of education is omnipotent, and puts forward that physical sensitivity is the fundamental principle of morality, and the method of moral education is just catechism, so as to give teenagers some clear and sound moral concepts.
This book puts forward some basic viewpoints around the rational ability of human beings and the role that education can play on human beings: helvetius's philosophy is materialistic empiricism. He absorbed and developed Locke's materialistic sensory theory. First of all, he affirmed that nature, as the object of cognition, exists objectively, and all human concepts and spirits are obtained through the senses. In the second chapter, he expounds the process of human cognition, first of all, through the senses, that is, feelings, to obtain the impression of external things. Feelings can be preserved through memory, thus forming two kinds of feelings. One is the feeling actually experienced, and the other is the feeling kept in memory. The spiritual activity of human beings is to compare and sort out various feelings, and finally form a judgment, that is, to describe our feelings correctly. Therefore, the existence of our concept and spirit should be based on the existence of sensory ability.
Based on the above philosophical principles, helvetius opposes the view that "psychological inequality is the result of different degrees of sensitivity". He believes that the superiority of spirit has nothing to do with the perfection of senses, and all people with the same structure have the same ability to achieve spirit. In other words, people's intelligence is equal, and everyone with good sensory organs has the same level of intelligence and can explore the truth. And even people with different degrees of sensory perfection can get the same development.
The first article writes that people usually think that education is that teachers teach children to read, read and recite catechism. In fact, children's real teachers are the objects around them, and almost all the ideas come from these instructors. Moreover, education cannot be fixed in the period of special education, that is, childhood and adolescence. A person's life is actually just a long-term education, starting from the fetus and continuing until death. Therefore, education includes many aspects of a person's living environment, such as parents' status, personality, fate, property, political system and legal system. These social living environments have an unexpected influence on the formation of personal character and national character. Everyone can't live in exactly the same social environment, so it is impossible to receive exactly the same education. So people are different in character, morality and talent.
Based on the above ideas, helvetius pointed out that education is a tool to make the country strong and the people happy, and the key to make the country strong and the people happy is to improve the scientific nature of education. It is not people's meanness, evil and injustice that have caused the misfortune of all ethnic groups, but their laws are imperfect. So the law led to everything. To make the country strong and happy, a few talented legislators must establish new laws for the emerging society, which is in line with the happiness of mankind. This kind of law takes public happiness as the highest interest, and must include an excellent moral education plan, and put forward some clear concepts about morality to citizens, so that citizens can understand that safeguarding public interests should be the only principle of moral rules, and citizens should be brave enough to sacrifice personal temporary welfare for national welfare. Through this kind of moral education, we can cultivate perfect citizens, thus get rid of the shackles of feudal autocracy and establish a reasonable social system. The quality of education is related to the happiness and strength of a country, so who should be responsible for education has become a crucial issue. The first article writes that in Europe, especially in Catholic countries, public education is entrusted to two forces, one is religious power; The other is secular forces. Because the interests of these two forces are contradictory, so are the education they run.
The interests of religious forces have nothing to do with national interests, but only with the interests of a sect. Their strength depends on people's superstition, ignorance and blind obedience. The more ignorant and superstitious people are, the more tame they are. So they tried their best to instill the legend of "the end of the world" into people through education, hoping that people would be frightened by an unprovoked terror, and only know how to pray for God to save them, ascend to heaven for the next life, and give up earthly pursuits and feelings.
Through the above analysis, helvetius resolutely opposes the interference and control of church forces on education, and advocates that secular forces should be in charge of education and make a good education plan including moral education, knowledge education and physical education. Helvetius believes that the motive force for the existence and development of human society is people's pursuit of individual or collective interests. In all fields of social life, interests play a leading role and are our only motivation. Interests not only determine all personal activities, but also constitute the legal basis and moral standards of society.
The interests pursued by people can be summarized into three categories, namely, personal interests, small group interests and public interests or national interests. Everyone is driven by the law of self-love and must first seek personal interests. Under the premise of not violating the public interest, it is reasonable and upright to pursue personal interests, not immoral. But the higher realm of morality is to safeguard the public interest. Public interest is "the principle of all human virtues and the basis of all laws", and those who sacrifice their personal interests for public interest are the noblest and most upright people. It is immoral that the interests of small groups lead the rulers to be extravagant, corrupt, profligate, cronyism and seriously infringe on public interests.
Moral education should be based on interest theory and based on physical sensitivity. Although self-love is the natural nature shared by everyone and the basis of morality, people must pursue personal interests under the guidance of rationality, so that everyone will not interfere with the interests of others when pursuing personal interests, and even combine personal interests with public interests. Virtue is the pursuit of public interests and happiness. Therefore, the ultimate goal of moral education is to make people pursue common welfare. Only with this virtue can they be brave, humane, just and patriotic. (1) interest theory and its theoretical cornerstone "body sensibility" confuse the different natures of human beings and animals, ignoring the social and class differences of human beings; (2) The omnipotent theory of education exaggerates the role of education and regards it as the decisive force to transform society. It even advocates that a few talents are trained through education, and then they make good laws and establish a reasonable social system, thus falling into historical idealism and heroic historical view.
Despite the above defects, helvetius's educational thoughts, together with the educational theories of other encyclopedic enlightenment thinkers, constitute the most progressive educational theory system in18th century. In the struggle against feudalism and religious education, the rationality of bourgeois demands in politics, economy and education was strongly demonstrated, which had a positive impact on the later utopian socialist education theory.