2. Soul theory and knowledge theory
3. Ethics education
Augustine (354~430) is a masterpiece of Christian godfather philosophy. He applied philosophy to Christianity, thus establishing a Christian religious philosophy system composed of theologians and philosophers. In his important book Confessions, he described a series of views on education in combination with his own experience. His educational philosophy became the theoretical basis of Christian education in the Middle Ages.
(1) Religious Philosophy and Education
Augustine's highest spiritual entity is God. God is an unchangeable noumenon and an absolute spirit. The fiction of Augustine's "City of God" and "City on Earth" became the theoretical basis for the medieval Christian church to realize its international theocracy and compete with secular countries for political power. This theory plays an important role in strengthening the position of the church in European international politics and other countries, and strengthening the control of the church on education.
(2) Soul theory and epistemology
The human soul is a spiritual entity and a creation of God. The human soul has three functions: knowledge, emotion and will. People's cognitive activities play an extremely important role in people's soul activities. People's cognitive activities include three abilities: one is feeling, the other is soul, and the third is thought.
The purpose of teaching is to let students discover their inner truth, not to know the objective material world. Teaching activities, that is, through symbols, languages, numbers, etc. To arouse students' re-understanding of the existing concepts in their minds.
Augustine's epistemology is also full of strong religious color. He emphasized that faith is higher than reason and religious piety is higher than knowledge. However, Augustine did not completely abandon knowledge.
(3) Ethics education
Augustine's theory of original sin and asceticism are two extremely important theories in his religious philosophy and educational thought. In the Middle Ages, they became an important part of Christian doctrine.
He created his "original sin theory" from the story about Adam and Eve in the Bible. It also had a very bad influence on education and became the theoretical source of intimidation and flogging of children in medieval schools.
Augustine's asceticism is a derivative of his theory of original sin. He fasted and whipped his body every day to achieve the purpose of abstinence. This method of forcibly suppressing and then extinguishing human desires by flogging was very popular in monastic schools and cathedral schools in the Middle Ages.
Augustine's educational philosophy had a far-reaching and extensive influence on medieval education in western Europe. Monastery schools, cathedral schools and some universities in medieval western Europe all took his educational philosophy as their purpose and soul. He is the ideological source of the educational principles and policies pursued by church-controlled education in the Middle Ages.