Aristotle and Plato put education in a very important position by discussing the relationship between education and political system, citizen occupation and ethics. This understanding has also become one of the important sources of western emphasis on education.
It can be seen that in ancient Greece, politics, education and ethics were regarded as an inseparable whole, which together formed the foundation of the whole city-state and even the common lifestyle, and worked together to pursue the ideal society and human development.
Politics has eight volumes. The first and second volumes start with the formation of the home country and the predecessors' exposition of the ideal city-state, forming a gentle slope of "ascending" ideologically.
The third volume discusses the natural nature of citizens as the political basis from the philosophical point of view, thus laying the foundation of their political philosophy and reaching the first ideological peak. Subsequently, the fourth to sixth volumes, which discussed the specific regime, became the "plateau area" after the first ideological peak.
The seventh volume entered the second ideological peak from the beginning, discussing the lifestyle and moral and ethical issues as individuals, that is, personal happiness, and closely linked it with the ideal city-state, that is, the happiness of the city-state.
The second half of the seventh to eighth volumes is another "plateau area" after the second ideological peak, which discusses the ways to realize the common goal of individuals and polis, that is, the education of citizens' souls and the cultivation of political virtues.
After discussing physical education and music education, the discussion of this book came to an abrupt end, but its internal logic led to the theme of ethics, and then led to the book Nicomachean Ethics. Finally, Nicomachean ethics also leads the discussion of virtue to regime and legislation, thus forming an end-to-end structure with political science.
This is also the embodiment of the overall vision. "This means that' political learning' without soul and virtue learning is only an incomplete learning. By the same token, a political system that is indifferent to the shaping of citizens' soul virtues may just be an incomplete political system. The job of political skills is to educate the soul. "
In Aristotle's time, the glorious Greek city-states came to the end of history because of mutual conquest, internal party struggle and the corruption of the rulers themselves, and the military invasion of Macedonia by the north also came to an end, although the city as a form and expression has disappeared.
However, as the spirit of moderns in human history, it is indeed the ideological source and system blueprint of later generations, and as the carrier of this spirit and one of the representatives of human rational achievements, it is the Politics written by Aristotle in the last years of Greece, and its influence on later generations needs no elaboration, because most of today's political mainstream values come from this.
As a famous scholar living in the city-state, as a citizen living in the city-state, influenced by the actual life and living environment, the book mainly expresses the author's thoughts within the scope of a city-state, which serves as the basis for the author to consider various problems and the influence of his thoughts at that time. All issues are discussed from the perspective of a citizen.
In other words, the author's problem solving excludes the efforts and opinions of foreigners. In this context, the author first describes the essence, purpose and formation of the polis through analysis and tracing.
Aristotle demonstrated the essence of the city-state, analyzed the constituent elements of the city-state, and extensively discussed the element of "citizen". In a city-state composed of citizens, the author defines "citizen" as "a person who has to participate in judicial affairs and governance institutions", which is different from today's age division.
The participation and decision-making of these people is the highest right and the most important thing of the city-state. People who enjoy equal political rights constitute a city-state, so the essence of a city-state is a citizen community under a democratic system.
On the purpose and formation of the city-state, the author tries to realize three kinds of "good deeds" in human society, namely, material abundance, physical health and good morality. Among them, good morality is the essence of good deeds of the soul, and it is also the key to distinguish people from animals, and only the city-state can realize these three kinds of "goodness".
Aristotle believes that "human beings are naturally animals that tend to live in the city-state" or "people are political animals", and this city-state of human community is to achieve the goal of "perfection". "The polis is the noblest and most authoritative, including all other communities, so the polis pursues perfection."
Aristotle believes that "human beings are naturally animals that tend to live in the city-state" or "people are political animals", and this city-state of human community is to achieve the goal of "perfection". "The polis is the noblest and most authoritative, including all other communities, so the polis pursues perfection."
The process of its formation First of all, there are inevitable combinations in the world, and once separated, they cannot exist. That is to say, men and women must be combined in order to reproduce and continue human beings. The natural rulers and the ruled also set up a consortium to preserve them. This combination of the two will inevitably form a family first.
The conclusion is that the family is a natural community to meet the needs of daily life. Then, through reproduction, a family formed the oldest and most natural form of the village. This also explains why the earliest city-states were ruled by kings.
When many villages unite for a better life and are large enough to be self-sufficient or almost self-sufficient, the city-state is formed. "If the early community form is natural, then the polis is also natural, because this is their purpose." The author's definition of polity is: "The functional organization, the highest ruling institution and the arrangement of political power of a city-state are determined from this, and the purpose prayed by all the elements of the city-state is also established."
The division is also based on different standards, whether a regime only cares about the purpose of the ruler or the purpose of the citizens of the whole city: authentic regime and abnormal regime. The other is based on the number of rulers who hold the highest power: one person rules the minority and the majority rules. There are also the above two standards: monarchy, aristocracy and Republic.
The authentic regime that regards the public interests of the polis as the ruling goal, and the oligarchy, civilian regime and tyrant regime that regards the interests of the rulers as the main abnormal regime. Although the author discusses and discusses various forms of government, he does not think which one is necessarily the best, but thinks that all governments are problematic.
The most important thing is how to adhere to the "golden mean" principle. The author's criticism of Plato's Republic is not only undesirable but also impossible. At the same time, it puts forward different understandings of Plato's "overall happiness", and holds that happiness should be the happiness of all or most people, and some people should not be excluded.
The construction of an ideal city-state cannot be separated from education. He believes that the purpose of education is not only to train educated citizens and talents for the country, but more importantly, to develop individual nature, so that the younger generation can develop and prepare for a better life in the future. In order to achieve this educational goal, he advocates conforming to the three parts of mind and educating people from three aspects: body, morality and intelligence.
Regarding sports, he believes that the purpose of sports is to make children healthy, brave and strong-willed. Among the three aspects of education, physical education should be put in the first place, because a healthy body is the basic condition for city-state citizens to participate in political activities, participate in wars and live a better life. Regarding moral education, Aristotle believes that the purpose of moral education is to cultivate people's virtue.
When people's natural functions are satisfied and developed harmoniously and fully under the control and guidance of reason, people are virtue. In other words, when a person's feelings and desires are controlled by reason, he produces virtue. He also believes that the characteristic of virtue is the "golden mean".
The so-called "golden mean" means "feeling these feelings at the right time, at the right thing, at the right person, with the right motivation, in the right way. This is both the golden mean and the best, which is what virtue has".
Regarding intellectual education, Aristotle believes that the purpose of intellectual education is to cultivate "rational soul". He advocates that the younger generation should learn a wide range of knowledge. He believes that the purpose of learning is not only to be useful, not only to do a good job, but also to make people make good use of their leisure.
To this end, he put forward the theory of "free education"; He believes that if we simply pursue usefulness, we cannot form a noble and free mind. This is quite similar to the history of scientific and technological development in the west, and it is a natural state of development that pursues skills and practical principles. "All public affairs that belong to the largest number are often the least concerned things".
It has been more than 2000 years since, and the historical rings are deeply imprinted on the history of human civilization. However, this kind of ideological phenomenon still exists widely in our contemporary life. The real gradual change of a person's concept is change, but it must not be completely unaffected by the previous concept!
Imagine a thinking habit of human beings more than two thousand years ago, which was not only discovered and noticed by a wise man, but also its possible influence was grasped by preparation. Seeing this, we have to admire from the heart and respect the wisdom of the ancients from the heart.