Jaspers is a philosopher who connects the past with the future, an important link in the philosophy of existence, a systematic interpreter of the philosophy of existence (transcendence), an advocate of world philosophy, a promoter of communicative philosophy and a thinker who keeps pace with the times. Based on his existential philosophy of "survival, freedom and transcendence", Jaspers's book What is Education discusses his unique understanding of education in detail and depth, which shows us a very broad vision of understanding and understanding education problems and leads us to trace back to the origin of education and seek its real significance. I. Jaspers' Thought on the Essence of Education In the German cultural tradition rich in humanistic resources, Jaspers reiterated that education is "the education of human soul" and returned to the essence of education as spiritual cultivation. In What is Education, he repeatedly said, "The process of education is a process of spiritual growth first, and then it becomes a part of scientific knowledge." "The purpose of establishing a school is to transform the spiritual connotation of human beings in history into a dynamic spirit at present, and guide all students to master knowledge and technology through this spirit." "If we want to revitalize, we must let the connotation of education go beyond practical technical education and religious restrictions." Specialized technical training will turn people into the most useful tools. Although education is inseparable from knowledge, real education is to fill, serve and inspire people with knowledge. It is by no means to turn people into tools to realize certain knowledge. Education is inseparable from the necessary technical skills training, but training is to cultivate people's overall wisdom, rather than treating people as training machines, making training a heterogeneous activity isolated from people's thoughts. Although imparting knowledge and skills is indispensable, real education must be. He divided education into two levels. First, training it is similar to training animals: first, education and discipline; The third is the communication of existence. "Training is an activity of spiritual isolation, while education is an activity of spiritual integration and cultural transmission. The communication between people is the dialogue and openness between the two sides (you and me). This dialogue between me and you is the core of human history and culture. " Real education is nothing more than "interpersonal communication between subjects". It is young people who "communicate with those who seek knowledge and wisdom with equal personality". Real education is by no means "deaf ears", not slavery, not lessons, not "shaping", not to mention arbitrary "transformation". It must be based on the equality of personality between people, communication, cooperation, participation, creation and sharing. Only in this way can education become the education of human soul. Second, Jaspers' interpretation of the educational process Jaspers' understanding of the educational process can be understood from three aspects: First, education is a process of free communication between teachers and students. In his works, the author talks about the importance of communication many times. He believes that everyone is free, but an individual's freedom can only be realized in the interaction with other individuals, and it is related to their freedom. In the interaction, both sides are free individuals. With communication, "people can learn about others and history as well as themselves and reality through education, and will not become tools of others' will". If there is no communication, "any interruption of this conversation between me and you will shrink mankind." Moreover, in communication, the two sides (teachers and students) are "an open and equal relationship" without authority and center. For this reason, Aristotle especially praised Socrates' educational principle of "oxytocin", which meets the needs of human soul, arouses students' inner potential through dialogue and irony, and urges students to generate an automatic force from their hearts and gradually realize the exploration of knowledge and morality. Aristotle believes that Socrates' dialogue is a dialogue that goes deep into the soul. "Socrates argues that experience does not mean that the knower drives the ignorant casually. Instead, teachers and students seek truth together to help each other, promote each other to find problems in specious self-knowledge, and be forced to think independently in complex confusion. The teacher pointed out the way to find the answer, asked a series of questions and did not shy away from answering questions. " Therefore, dialogue not only forms an interactive relationship between teachers and students, but also transforms knowledge into students' personal understanding through dialogue, enlightening and guiding students' spirit. Second, education is the process of overall spiritual growth. Jaspers believes that education is not only an activity to acquire knowledge and skills, but also a spiritual life in which teachers and students participate together. In other words, the process of education is the process of individual spiritual growth first, and then it becomes a part of the process of scientific knowledge. Because, "there is nothing in science as the basis and ultimate value, so there is no absolute value." As a comprehensive spiritual growth process, education is a process to promote the unified development of people's knowledge, emotion and will. Third, education is a process of individual self-education and self-realization. Jaspers attaches great importance to students' self-education, "I think the real education is self-education". "The process of education is to let the educated practice, learn and grow by themselves in practice." Education helps individuals to be themselves freely, not forcibly. The reason why we attach importance to self-education is because "the purpose of education is to make ourselves clear about the nature of education and our own will, and besides, we can't find the purpose of education." Therefore, in education, the ultimate mission of educators is to guide the educated to the road of self-education. Third, Jaspers' views on education methods Jaspers believes that there are three kinds of education methods so far: one is school education. This kind of education is limited to "imparting" knowledge, teachers themselves have no innovative spirit, and the content of teaching materials has become a fixed form. Its disadvantage is that "people attribute their thoughts to a conceptual system in which they can live, and annihilate their distinctive personality". The second is mentoring education. The characteristics of this kind of education are completely teacher-centered, the authority of teachers has magical power, and students' love for teachers shows absolute obedience. These two educational methods stifle the personality of people (teachers and students) in education and forget what real education is. The third is Socratic education. Jaspers appreciates this way. He believes that in this kind of education, teachers and students are in an equal position. ② Teachers and students can think freely, and there is no fixed teaching method. ③ Teachers use "spiritual midwifery" instead of forced indoctrination to awaken students' potential strength. The process of stimulating students' sense of responsibility to explore knowledge and making them find eternal self in exploration. (4) For students, because this kind of education relies on their own efforts to gradually understand the truth and explore morality, the education they receive is not only to increase their knowledge, but more importantly to increase their whole spirit. It can be seen that Socrates education is suitable for the cultivation of the whole person and should be advocated. Unfortunately, the tradition of school education is still deeply rooted in our current education. Four. Jaspers' view of educational content Jaspers believes that the guiding role of educators to the educated is not only based on their own spiritual strength, but also an indispensable means to choose appropriate educational content. He even thinks: "The key to all education is to choose the perfect educational content, and strive to make students' thinking not go astray, but lead to the source of things" (P4). From the understanding of the essence of education, Jaspers believes that there are three levels of human spiritual development, namely, understanding the universe, experiencing the living self and understanding God. To realize self, an individual must achieve three transcendences: transcending the phenomenal world, transcending the existential self and transcending the spiritual self. To achieve these three transcendences, we must receive education in three aspects: science education, philosophy education and religion education. The choice of school education content in Jaspers' educational philosophy system is based on this. Science education refers to educating students about nature and society. Through it, students can acquire knowledge about the world and the intelligence and ability needed for self-survival. It covers a wide range of contents, such as humanities, history, nature, science and technology. The purpose of philosophy education is to make the educated develop rationality and acquire the ability to know themselves. "philosophy class ... makes people understand the focus of ideological debate between the two sides and how to clarify the problem with" thinking "; (P4) As for religious education, Jaspers believes that "for children, this kind of spiritual wealth will accompany them to be" born and useful "; (page 96). Because this is the main means to achieve self-transcendence. Of course, influenced by his existentialist philosophy, Jaspers' understanding of educational content is biased. However, his understanding reflects Mi's great education view, which traces back to the spiritual level of the essence of education and is really thought-provoking. What is Education embodies Jaspers' educational view and the humanistic tendency of the development of modern western educational thought. Jaspers attaches great importance to the cultivation of "people", advocates holistic education, emphasizes self-education, advocates democratic and equal educational methods, and pays attention to the application of irony and spiritual midwifery in education and teaching. He profoundly criticized the disadvantages of traditional education from all aspects and expounded his personal educational ideal, which is very instructive and instructive for us to continue to explore what real education is and new teaching methods in the future.