Slave-owner democracy
The so-called wise men (also known as sophists) mainly refer to itinerant teachers who take charge as their profession in the late 5th century. As a group of wise men, the common ideological characteristics are relativism, individualism, sentimentality and skepticism.
Representative figures: protagoras, gorgias, Prodikus, Hippias, Antiphon, etc.
In the eyes of the wise, all knowledge, truth and morality are relative, depending on the specific perceiver. The truth in a person's eyes is what he says is true. There is no objective truth, only subjective will. Protagoras pointed out: "For you, things are presented to you; for me, they are presented to me." From this, he put forward: "Man is the measure of all things, the measure of the existence of the existence, and the measure of the non-existence of the non-existence."
It should be pointed out that the individual in protagoras's proposition that "man is the measure of all things" mainly refers to individual and concrete people, that is, individuals. Taking the individual as the only criterion to judge whether things exist, whether they are true or false, whether they are good or evil, in fact, it puts forward a simple humanistic value orientation centered on people. This was of great ideological enlightenment significance at that time.
The emergence of the school of the wise occupies an important position in the history of Greek education development.
First, the wise promoted the spread of culture, expanded the scope of educational objects, and thus promoted the flow of society.
Second, the wise not only expanded the field of academic research, but also expanded the scope of educational content. The wise men have adapted to the extensive needs of the times for debates and speeches, and studied grammar, rhetoric, philosophy and other subjects directly related to debates and speeches with practical purposes, and passed on these knowledge to others.
Third, the wise are most concerned about moral and political issues, and take systematically acquired knowledge and political knowledge as the main educational content. It not only enriches the content of education, but also provides a new type of education-preparatory education for politicians or rulers.
Although the wise men did not leave a very systematic educational work or form a systematic educational thought, from the fragments of some wise men's works, the wise men thought extensively about education.
The emergence of wise men shows that in Greece, professional teachers gradually replaced the original "mass teachers" (such as poets and drama writers), and education began to be professional. This is undoubtedly of great significance to improve the status of teachers and the effectiveness of education. Because of the emergence of professional teachers, the contents and methods of educational activities are gradually standardized, which is also conducive to the progress of education.
As professional teachers, wise men have clearly realized the particularity of educational activities and began to consciously distinguish educational phenomena from social phenomena such as political phenomena and moral phenomena. They regard the education process as a process of using talents and practicing. On the other hand, they also clearly realize that education is closely related to politics and morality, and education plays a decisive role in national life. Protagoras pointed out: "All citizens in a reasonable country, including bad citizens, are better and more upright than those in a country with no culture, no justice, no laws and no compulsion to form the habit of justice. Their superiority is attributed to the laws, education and culture of their country. " On the other hand, wise men (especially protagoras) oppose the theory of moral genius and emphasize that morality is possible for everyone and can be acquired through study and training.
The wise men have made outstanding contributions to the development of Greek educational thought. It is precisely because of the emergence of wise men that Greek educational thought really took shape. This is mainly manifested in the fact that most of the basic problems discussed in Greek educational thought were put forward by wise men and discussed in different degrees in theory. In a word, all the basic clues and directions of the development of Greek educational thought are contained in the educational thought of the wise.