The college has an auditorium and a library, as well as several classrooms and living rooms. Students come from all directions, and teachers and students live together. Therefore, the relationship between teachers and students is close and harmonious. In addition to the main subject philosophy, there are auxiliary subjects such as mathematics, astronomy, physics and music theory. Plato attached importance to mathematics and thought it was helpful to the development of reason. Outside the academy, he wrote the words "No entry for those who don't know geometry". The teaching methods are speech and dialogue. In order to publicize his political and philosophical thoughts, Plato took pains to manage this college, where he taught for 40 years. After his death in 347 BC, the college lasted until 529 AD when it was closed by Justinian, the eastern Roman emperor. It existed for more than 900 years and became the oldest college in ancient Greece.
Plato was engaged in writing while giving lectures. He wrote a lot of works, including the early work "Republic" and the later work "Fa", which can be called sisters. In these two masterpieces, especially the Republic, Plato not only systematically expounded his own philosophy and political thoughts, but also discussed education in detail and put forward a relatively complete educational theory system. The Republic is a classic educational work in the ancient western world, which has become one of the important sources of western educational thoughts and occupies an important position in the history of educational development. /kloc-Rousseau, an outstanding French enlightenment thinker in the 0/8th century, spoke highly of this masterpiece. He said: "this book is not a book about politics as those who judge by its title imagine;" It is the best educational paper, and no one has ever written such an educational paper "(Rousseau: Emile, Volume I, Commercial Press, 1978, p. 1 1).
(A) the theoretical basis of Plato's educational thought-idealism and utopia
Plato is an objective idealist philosopher, and idealism is the core of his philosophical thought. Plato believes that the origin of the universe is not matter, but spiritual idea. In his view, the idea is an independent, eternal and perfect real "entity" and the root of the fickle phenomenon world. That is to say, beyond reality, the innate conceptual world is ontological and primary, while the phenomenal world is only a shadow or replica of the conceptual world, which is secondary. The conceptual world imagined by Plato is a perfect pyramid, and the concept of countless concrete things at the bottom is the lowest; A slightly higher level is the concept of mathematics or science; Higher is the idea of morality and art; Living at the top of the tower is the concept of "goodness". "goodness" is the origin of all things, from which all ideas get reality; "Goodness" is the source of truth, which enables people to gain insight into everything in the conceptual world.
Plato designed a hierarchical "Utopia" composed of rulers, patriots and producers according to the pyramid of his ideal world. The few rulers created by God with gold, that is, philosophers, have the strongest rational part and the highest virtue-wisdom in their souls. They can understand all kinds of knowledge in the conceptual world and master eternal truth through the changing phenomenon world, which is most suitable for being the supreme ruler of the country and the highest level of society. A little more patriots are made of silver by God, and their will occupies a major position in their souls, full of brave virtues. Their bounden duty is to defend the enemy and the country, which is the second layer of society. As for a large number of craftsmen, farmers and businessmen, they are made of copper and iron. The most important thing in their souls is emotion, which has the virtue of the golden mean and is most suitable for producing material wealth and supplying the first two grades. Slaves are talking tools and do not belong to any of the above three kinds of people. Plato believes that if the above three levels perform their respective duties in a country, the country will be harmonious and realize the principle of "justice" or "fairness". He said: "If businessmen, soldiers and officials in this country do their own thing, that is justice, and the country is justice" (Selected Readings of Western Philosophy, Volume I, page 1 18). Plato resolutely opposed the phenomenon of transcending hierarchy and interfering with each other, believing that it would bring disaster to the country. "The mutual interference and substitution of these three levels is extremely harmful to the country and should be the biggest bad thing" (Selected Readings of the Original Works of Western Philosophy, Volume I, page 1 18). In Plato's view, because people at all levels are made of different metals by God, the division of levels is innate. Generally speaking, a child in life belongs to which level. He said, "You are related by blood, and most of you are like your father" (translated by Zheng: Plato on Education, p. 1). As for genetic variation, for example, the ancestors of gold and silver have descendants of steel, which is only an accidental exception.
Although the knowledge and virtue of the ruling class are innate, the key to fully developing and realizing a just country lies in education. Therefore, Plato attached great importance to education. Based on idealistic philosophy and hierarchical utopian political thought, he summed up the practical education experience of ancient Greece, especially Sparta and Athens, and combined with his own educational practice, put forward a systematic educational thought.