Like most thinkers, Plato learned knowledge easily from an early age. When I was a teenager, I studied under Socrates. Whether I was thinking about politics or devoting myself to education, I was chasing him. Utopia? . Plato's educational thought has one insistence: to cultivate the spirit of seeking truth and the elite who master the truth.
(A) the view of life and sociology
Plato (Plato in 427 BC? 347 BC) was born into an aristocratic family in Athens. My mother is a descendant of the politician Solon, and my father comes from a noble family. Plato received a good education from an early age. When he was a teenager, he studied under Socrates for eight years. Politically, like his teachers, he opposed the democratic politics that flourished and declined at that time and supported the aristocratic dictatorship. He once joined many Socrates' philosophical groups. Therefore, after Socrates was sentenced to death, he was forced to go into exile and lobby other countries, hoping to realize his political ideal. Unable to realize his wish, he returned to Athens and devoted himself to education. In 387 BC, he established a college called Academi College, which was later renamed Greek College. From then on, I taught here for forty years until my death. Plato's works are numerous, and his educational thoughts are mainly embodied in the Republic and the Law.
Plato highly praised the primitive communism of Sparta's social system in social view, so he wrote a monograph "Republic" to illustrate his views. The Republic reflects the earliest utopian thoughts. In Plato's ideal country, the optimal creator of God is divided into three levels: philosopher, soldier and laborer. Among them, the philosopher is the supreme ruler of the slave-owning country, made of gold by God, with wisdom and rationality. Soldiers are defenders of slave countries and social order. They are made of silver by God and have the qualities of courage and will. Workers, including craftsmen and farmers, are made of copper and iron by God and have mild qualities. The slave at the bottom of society does not belong to the above three levels, but is just a talking tool. People at the three levels should perform their duties and do their best to maintain the normal operation of the country. Besides,? Is it fair? It is the common quality of people at these three levels, that is, to do their own things well and not to surpass them, otherwise the society will be in chaos. Obviously, this is the theoretical basis of slave owners' aristocratic autocracy.
(B) the main educational ideas
1。 On national management education. Plato's philosophical and sociological thoughts are embodied in education, that is, education should train philosophers and soldiers for the country. He learned useful things from the rich educational practice in Sparta and Athens, and formed his own educational theory system. In the organization and management of education, he advocated that the state should control education and adopt the method of public education to cultivate talents.
2。 About preschool education. Children before the age of 3, by the maid full-time responsible for eating and drinking; Education is supervised by the country's best citizens. 3? Six-year-old children should be concentrated in the children's playground in the temple, and citizens designated by the state should supervise and educate them, and female slaves should be responsible for eating and drinking. The main contents of education are telling stories, playing games and learning music. Plato attached great importance to early childhood education, and thought that the stories told to young children should be carefully selected and the unhealthy ones should be eliminated. We should choose stories that can inspire children's courage, justice and noble character. When organizing games, the methods and contents should be carefully arranged, and they should not be changed frequently, otherwise their loyalty to the country and the law will be affected.
3。 On general education. Plato put forward the idea of compulsory education for children. At the age of 6, children begin to study in single-sex schools, receive the same education, and enter national grammar schools, string piano schools and gymnastics schools according to their interests and hobbies. These schools have rich learning contents: reading, writing, calculation, singing, music, gymnastics, horseback riding, archery and so on. The purpose of this stage of education is to cultivate emotion and morality, develop the second half of the child's soul and form a moderate moral character. /kloc-after graduation at the age of 0/6, most people, especially the children of craftsmen and farmers, will enter the society to be obedient workers. And the slave owner's children are in 17? At the age of 20, we must receive a higher level of education, cultivate their will and courage, and make them soldiers to defend the country. Physical training is the main learning content, followed by learning the knowledge that soldiers must master, such as arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music and so on. This is Plato's initiative, known as. The last four arts? . After this stage of study, most slave owners' children completed their studies, assumed the responsibility of defending the country and became soldiers. Only a very small number of people can enter higher education institutions.
4。 About higher education. The state has deeply educated a few children of slave owners with gold potential. During the ten years from the age of 20 to 30, they mainly studied philosophy, that is, dialectical methods, and studied at the same time. The last four arts? . However, the purpose of learning the post-four arts in this period is different from that of soldiers: soldiers apply what they have learned; And now the study is to exercise thinking, in order to make thinking close to the highest idea god in the world. Dialectics is the leading discipline in all contents. Plato believes that only by mastering dialectical methods can we learn other disciplines well. Not everyone can learn dialectical methods, only those adults with abstract thinking ability can learn. After this stage of education, students can serve as senior officials of the country. Among them, a few talented and accomplished people can continue to receive education, spend 20 years studying dialectical methods, and train students to measure things rationally. This is the last stage of education. After graduation at the age of 50, students can become the supreme ruler of the country and the king of philosophy. At this point, Plato's cultivation? King of philosophy? The educational goal will be completed.
Platon (427 BC? Before 347) was a famous thinker in ancient Greece and a representative of Socrates. He was born in a noble family, received a good education since childhood, and was good at gymnastics, music, poetry and philosophy. At the age of 20, he studied with Socrates for eight years. After Socrates' death, he left Megara and later traveled to Egypt, Asia, Italy and other places in an attempt to realize his political ideal of aristocratic autocracy, but failed to do so. In 387 BC, he returned to Athens and set up a study garden in the garden near the temple of Akademi in the suburb of Athens, devoted himself to education and attempted to cultivate talents through education.
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 college, he wrote:? People who don't know geometry are not allowed in? In that case. 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 political book as those who judge only 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 independent, eternal, perfect and true? Entity? It is 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; Who lives at the top of the tower? Okay？ The concept of. ? Okay？ It is the origin of all things, from which all ideas get reality; ? Okay？ Is the source of truth, it can make people insight into everything in the world of thought.
Plato designed a hierarchy composed of rulers, patriots and producers according to the pyramid of his ideal world. Utopia? . The few rulers created by God with gold, that is, philosophers, have the strongest rational part, the highest virtue and wisdom in their souls, can understand all kinds of knowledge in the conceptual world, and master eternal truth through the ever-changing phenomenon world, which is most suitable for being the highest 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 will be realized? Justice? Or? Is it fair? The principle of. He said:? If the businessmen, soldiers and officials in this country do their own jobs, that is justice, and the country is justice? (Selected Readings of the Original Works 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 very 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? (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.
(B) Plato's educational thought
1。 Education is a tool to realize an ideal country, and cultivating philosophers is the highest purpose of education.
Plato spoke highly of the role of education, believing that education is the only means to transform human nature, cultivate virtue and realize an ideal country. In his view, the rationality and virtue acquired by human soul in the ideal world have lost their effectiveness because of the fierce combination with the body at birth and the blindness of lust after birth. Only through education can innate reason and virtue be cultivated. A few Jin people are rational, morally perfect and run the country safely; Those silver-haired people are brave and loyal and serve the battlefield. In this way, the ideal country can be realized. If we don't know enough about the meaning of education, people's natural rationality and virtue can't be fully developed, and the ruling philosophers lack understanding and wisdom and can't take on the great responsibility of governing the country. The warrior who defends the country is weak-willed and courageous, so it is difficult to serve the country. In this way, the ideal country can only be empty talk.
Plato regarded education as a tool to realize an ideal country according to his own idealism, which obviously exaggerated the role of education. However, he noticed the influence of education on politics and closely linked the two, which is commendable.
What kind of people does education cultivate? Plato put the cultivation of philosophers first. Because the quality of the country depends on them. In other words, if their rationality is developed and their morality is pure and beautiful, they can make the country reach an ideal situation and become increasingly prosperous. Training brave soldiers is undoubtedly the purpose of education, but its position can never be compared with the former.
As for the cultivation of agricultural, industrial and commercial workers, Plato did not include the educational goal in the Republic at all, because they are the most irrational and cannot be educated. Later, in the article "Law", although it was involved, it was only the training of practical knowledge and skills, not the rational development, and it could not be regarded as education. It can be seen that Plato regards the development of rationality and the cultivation of ruling philosophers as the highest purpose of education, followed by the cultivation of warriors, while the cultivation of agriculture, industry and commerce is in the most secondary position. The educational purpose clearly embodies the aristocratic nature of Plato's educational thought.
2。 The state controls education and implements a unified academic system.
Because education is related to the rise and fall of a country, Plato learned from the experience of Sparta that strong education must be in the hands of the state and strictly controlled by the state. He proposed that a highly respected and rational person should be the person in charge of education, leading all educational affairs, and no one else should interfere. Only in this way can we maintain the consistency and invariance of education. Plato was extremely dissatisfied with the phenomenon of setting up private schools in Athens at that time and dealing with educational problems at will. He believes that this will lead to disaster and bring misfortune to the country, so it must be corrected.
National leadership education must be customized by schools. In the history of western education, Plato was the first to put forward an all-encompassing education system from preschool education to higher education.
Plato attached importance to preschool education. He said:? Everything is difficult at the beginning, especially when you are young, because when you are young, your character is forming, and any impression will leave a deep impact? (Zhu Guangqian translated: Dialogue of Plato's Literature, Shanghai Literature and Art Joint Publishing Company, 1954, p. 54). Plato insisted that education should start at an early age, and even raised the issue of prenatal education. According to his plan, the country should carry out the policy of prenatal and postnatal care. The ruler chooses marriage for the people, the best man matches the best woman, and ensures that the offspring born are excellent seeds. As for bad marriage between men and women, the less the better, so as not to have bad offspring. After the baby is born, the bad ones are put in unknown places, while the excellent seeds are sent to the state correctional institution for public education. Before the age of 3, 36-year-old children were educated in the public playground attached to the temple. Playgrounds are mainly games, because games are what children need by nature. But the content and way of the game must be carefully chosen, and don't change it easily, so as not to form children? Love the new and hate the old? Psychology. The playground also carries out activities such as music, singing and listening to stories. Plato attached importance to the educational influence of songs on children, and emphasized that children's tunes should be cheerful, energetic and high, so as to cultivate children's perseverance, happiness and courage. The stories told to children should be carefully selected. Plato demanded that the people who created this story and their works be strictly examined. Review criteria? Take slow god as the first meaning? All stories about intrigue, rivalry, jealousy, lying, etc. between gods should be deleted, while those stories about wisdom, courage and friendliness should be included in the catalogue to persuade mothers and nannies to tell them to their children, cultivate their hearts and cultivate good moral quality. He said:? Some stories that we should try our best to make children start to hear must be the best lesson with moral influence? Because? At that age, all deep-rooted views were most easily regarded as indelible and unchangeable? (Zheng: Plato on education, page 3).
After preschool education, from the age of seven, men and women enter state-run grammar schools, string piano schools and gymnastics schools to receive primary education, mainly music and physical education. Sports is to exercise the body, and music is to cultivate the mind? (Edited by Zhang Huanting: Selected Works of Western Bourgeois Education, People's Education Press, 1964, p. 502), so as to make the body and mind develop harmoniously.
Music education has a broad meaning, including intellectual education and aesthetic education. In other words, we should learn not only the basic cultural knowledge of reading, writing and calculation, but also singing, playing the piano and poetry. Plato attached great importance to music education in a narrow sense, because? Rhythm and harmony can be deeply rooted in people's hearts, leaving a profound impact and bringing everything good? (Zheng translation: Plato on Education, p. 3, p. 57). And solemn music and harmonious melody can make people's spirit harmonious, gentle, disciplined, graceful and cultivated. Sports mainly focus on gymnastics, wrestling, horse riding, archery and other physical training projects. In addition, we also pay attention to dancing to train elegant manners. Music and sports must be coordinated, so that body and mind can promote each other and develop harmoniously. ? A strong body can make the mind beautiful because of a strong body; On the other hand, a beautiful mind can make the body reach the level it can because of its performance? . If you only accept music education and indulge in music, you may eventually become a demoralized and unsuccessful coward; Just engaging in sports will lead to physical development and slow response. Therefore, the two should not be neglected. But fundamentally speaking, compared with the mind, the body can only be in a secondary position. Because a noble character can make the body perfect, but the perfection of the body can't make the character noble. The mind is the master of the body and the most important thing. The reason why the body needs health is that it will not affect the health of the mind because of weakness.
Plato advocated that women should receive equal education with men. Because women are not inferior to men in ability, women can do what men can do. Whether a ruler or a patriot, women should be candidates like men. Therefore, women should not only have musical accomplishment, but also have military sports training and be naked on the court like men. The difference between women and men is that women are weak and take on lighter jobs in the war.
/kloc-Teenagers aged 0/8-20 receive military physical training in the National Youth Military Training Corps of a university, learning arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, music, etc. According to military needs? Four liberal arts? , abbreviation? Four arts? . The research of these disciplines is mainly for military purposes. What if arithmetic is? Dispose? Necessary for calculating ships; Marching and positioning require geometric knowledge; Navigation and marching operations need to observe the sky and predict the weather, especially astronomical knowledge; And music helps to boost morale and improve morale. In a word, the education at this stage is to train most young people into qualified soldiers as far as possible.
Young people over the age of 20 will leave school and join the army for life. A few people with excellent rationality continue their studies and receive higher education until they are 30 years old.
The main task of this class education in 2030 is to develop the virtue of wisdom and make it a philosopher, so as to serve as a senior official of * * * *. What subjects do you study besides? Four arts? Outside, it is mainly philosophy. At this time? Four arts? The purpose of learning is to develop thinking rather than practicality. For example, learning mathematics is not for military attack, but for understanding the eternal truth in the conceptual world with the help of mathematical meditation. Studying astronomy is not for marching and observing the sky, but for observing the boundless sky and understanding the creator of the universe. Plato repeatedly stressed that mathematics and geometry are what scholars must know, and they must study them deeply and gradually achieve perfection. Only in this way can we explore the mystery of thought and lay a solid foundation for studying philosophy. Plato believes that philosophy studies the deepest and simplest absolute truth, and it is the highest discipline. It can integrate other disciplines and find out the relationship between things. It can make people's wisdom develop more and more perfect. What about this? Can you finally master it with pure reason? Okay？ The nature of? (Plato on Education, p. 39), become a philosopher.
At the age of 30, a few people with excellent reason will continue to study philosophy for five years until they are 35, and then hold important political and military positions. Only a few of them have been trained for 15 years, and by the age of 50, their rationality and morality have reached the extreme. They can use reason to gain insight into the laws of the universe and master the art of governing the country. They can be the supreme leaders of the country. The king of philosophy in this world is equivalent to the highest concept of goodness in the conceptual world. Can he see it? Okay？ Naturally, he is good, that is, the incarnation of God. It can be seen that cultivating the king of philosophy is Plato's highest educational goal.
To sum up, we can see that Plato's education system just formed a pyramid, and this pyramid is the reflection of his thought pyramid. A few rational and intelligent people enjoy special philosopher education and live at the top of the tower; The education of a little more irrational and strong-willed soldiers is in the middle; The education of the working people who lack rationality and strong feelings is at the bottom of the tower. This school system is obviously aristocratic.
3。 Knowledge is the understanding of ideas, and learning is memory.
According to Plato's idealism, the object of knowledge is not the real world touched by our senses. Because the world is changeable, impermanent and not completely true, the knowledge obtained by taking it as the object is often contradictory, wrong, vague, unreliable and untrue. They can't be called knowledge, they can only be called? Opinion? .
Since the perceptual perception of the real world is not knowledge, what is knowledge? Plato concluded that knowledge is an understanding of the world of thought. Because the conceptual world is eternal, absolutely true and perfect, only by understanding the conceptual world can we obtain reliable and true knowledge. For example, only knowing the concrete beautiful things in the real world, but not the beauty in the conceptual world, can only be said to have beautiful opinions, not beautiful knowledge; Only by recognizing the concept of beauty can we have the knowledge of beauty. Plato took the concept of extrasensory perception as the object of cognition, which was obviously idealistic.
How to know the idea? Plato thought it necessary to study. What is learning? Plato said that learning is memory. In Plato's view, the soul, as one of the components of human beings, existed in the conceptual world before the body and knew everything about the conceptual world for a long time. ? The soul existed outside the body long before it became human, and it possessed knowledge? (Selected Readings of the Original Works of Western Philosophy, Volume I, page 8 182). However, after the soul became a human body, it forgot all the knowledge because of the defilement of the body and the interference of emotions. In order to regain the original knowledge, you need to study. The so-called learning is to recall the knowledge that has been forgotten. Plato said: If we acquire knowledge before birth, lose it at birth, and then use various sensory functions to regain the original knowledge, then this process we call learning is actually to restore our inherent knowledge. We call it memory, right? That's right. Those so-called learners are just memories later, and learning is just memories? (Selected Readings of the Original Works of Western Philosophy, Volume I, page 8 182).
Of course, in the process of recalling transcendental knowledge, sensory functions are not useless. Plato believes that people recall their understanding of things (that is, ideas) through various senses, just as we can remember our friends when we see their portraits, and we can get them from equal wood or stone? Equality? It is the same as itself. So Plato admits: when you feel something with your eyes, ears or other senses, can you evoke another thing that has been forgotten in your heart through this feeling? (Selected Readings of the Original Works of Western Philosophy, Volume I, page 8 182), this thing is an idea. Here, although Plato admits that feeling plays a certain role in the process of acquiring knowledge, he does not think that it is a process from concrete and individual perceptual experience to abstract and general concepts, but only regards feeling as a condition and an inducement of memory. At the same time, Plato tried to belittle the meaning of feeling, emphasizing that the soul can only think well and gain wisdom if it gets rid of the interference of body and feeling; The closer you get to feeling, the more confused you get, and the less you can get complete knowledge. In his view, the highest philosophy of knowledge (that is, dialectics) should completely abandon feelings and rely on reason to reflect, meditate, recall and meditate, so as to know everything in the conceptual world until the highest concept? Okay？ .
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How to completely put aside emotional things to reflect, meditate, recall and meditate? Plato thinks that it mainly depends on the method of question and answer. Starting from the concept, inspire students to think through questions and answers, understand the relationship between concepts (that is, ideas), and further understand goodness. From this perspective, Plato's cognitive method of memory is actually Socrates'? Knowledge midwifery? Our development is a purely speculative method.