Comparing and Contrasting Ideas About Education Developed by Al Ghazali and Seneca - Essay Example

Al Ghazali learnt and developed his philosophical knowledge in terms of Islamism. At the same time, he was inspired by ancient Greek philosophers, such as Aristotle. He was focused on the spiritual dimension of education. He developed "Manners to Be Observed by Teachers and Students'" and was focused on promotion of purity of mind and knowledge as the final and the only one goal in life, because it leads to spirituality and closeness to God. His ideas may be interpreted in the following way: both teachers and students are the servants of God, only teachers stay on one step closer to God, then their students.

Teacher’s role in education plays a function of mediation between the spiritual closeness of students to God and God. It is interesting to note that spiritual dimension is the right way to learning or knowledge gaining. It is impossible to reach nothing without it. A role of a student is described as a passive character, who is allowed only to a small portion of knowledge that is enough for his small mind. There is no need for superfluous knowledge. There is an evident subordinate relation between a student and a teacher.

The former should show humility and modesty. Knowledge learning happens as a step-by-step process. There is a need to devote your mind to this process in order to gain the highest knowledge. Teacher is an individual with a pure mind, who is able to select the most appropriate portions of knowledge and teach it to his students. There is a need for him to be sincere with his students and to teach them clear things. At these last two points, we can claim that AI Ghazali ideas are relevant to modern teachers and students only partially.

Anyone nowadays consider knowledge as a means to develop our minds. It is a means to get a better job and to gain much money, as a rule. Nevertheless, there is a need to promote tolerant and sincere relations between the students and the teacher, only it is necessary to underline a partnership nature of this kind of relations. It can be argued that philosopher underlines the necessity of life-long learning, because modern professionals have excellent skills in one or two fields. It is impossible to be professionals in many fields.

It is better to devote one’s life to only one selected occupation. Unfortunately, the contemporaries do not consider the process of education as a way to enlightenment or a way to God. With respect to Seneca’s ideas about learning, we can claim at once that his approach is more up-to-date and interesting for the modern teachers and students. Seneca follows the principle of stoicism, which underline that good life is based on reason and harmony with nature. Therefore, wisdom and virtue are the final goals of education.

Wisdom even not always correlated with education, as the philosopher claims. On the one hand, Seneca underlines that virtue comes from knowledge. We develop our minds in the process of learning and make it opener for new horizons. Every person should study and identify his virtue through knowledge. On the other hand, there is no need to learn the integrative elements of any science, such as syllables, curves or diagrams if there is a closed mind. A free man is able to cognize liberal sciences.

They are developed for him. It is not