The Role of Education for the Society and the Individual - Research Paper Example

?Submitted How Socrates, Plato and Aristotle view the role of education for the society and the individual The Greek philosophy focuses largely on many certain aspects of life and society. One of these factions or aspects is that of education. The Greek philosophers over the time established different points of view with respect to education and to whom it should imparted on. Not only that, but the Greek philosophers, namely Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, also highlighted the areas of subjects that need to be taught to the people, furthermore finding links between the politics, economics and societies with the subjects being taught. The accumulation of philosophies relating to education in Greek culture became known as the Educational Theory. The mentioned Educational Theorycan be regarding as a hypothetical educational assumption, or a thought, which acts a guide in explaining and the description of the practice of education. Socrates was one of the earliest Greek philosophers who can be credited for being one of the originators of the modern Western philosophy. It also believed that Socrates was a thinker and not a writer as the evidence suggests that he had minimal written accounts of this thoughts and philosophical processes. Despite these, Socrates is known as the Father of Modern Philosophy and is considered as one of the greatest thinkers of all time. Socrates, very aptly and very strategically divided his views about the imparting of education and knowledge. Socrates stated that as long as the goals of education are fulfilled, it is indeed worthwhile to gain knowledge and education. According to Socrates the goals of education were to realize what an individual can do and what an individual cannot do. Furthermore, the great philosopher did not discriminate when it came to the imparting of knowledge and believed that there was no regular authority for that. Throughout his theories, Socrates, in numerous attempts has disowned and dishonored his theories, ideas and methods, which nevertheless can be one of his strategies to engross the deliberators and furthermore sanction them to have an open, fearless and a constructive deliberation and an argument. “The Socratic method is one in which a teacher, by asking leading questions, guides students to discovery. Socrates devoted himself to a free-wheeling discussion with the aristocratic young citizens of Athens, even though he often offered them no clear alternative teaching” (New Foundations - Educational Theory of Socrates, 2011) . Another very important figure in Greek philosophy and one of the few philosophers who contributed to their fullest to the notion of education was Plato. According to Plato, education was one of the most important achievable goals in the society. He believed and stressed greatly on the imparting and receiving of education. Plato wanted the identification of a specific skill set and aptitude possessed by the children. He believed that if appropriate education with respect to that specific skill set or aptitude is given to the child, the child may be able to fulfill his or her duty in the society and moreover, the social responsibility. Plato was also one of the most learned individuals of his time and wrote down his thoughts, unlike his predecessor, Socrates. Plato was considered an authority in numerous fields such as music, drama, metaphysics, art, architecture as well as poetry. Plato’s views on education were also revolutionary and were a source of inspiration for many. Plato model for education was considered as the most organized and systematic and introduced a hierarchical level of education, starting from elementary school level and leading to higher education, with two years of military training in between. Plato’s educational models and policies were regardless of any sort of discrimination and he believed that each and every individual had a right to receive education. Plato was of the view that there existed equilibrium between men and women, despite the women being weaker, physically. “In his book Republic Plato describes how male and female receive the same education and be given the same duties in society as given to the male member. These people are the ones who will be in charge his republic which would be an ideal society. In other words, which know what is good for the people and for the mankind and take their decisions based on that knowledge” (Muhammad, 2008). Through this manuscript of Plato, he brought forth a whole new concept under which men and women were treated with equality and they were given employment opportunities, equally as well, which was a huge structural reformation in a society of that time. It must be noted that the society of that time was very traditional and conventional, which did not believe in granted equality to the females. Aristotle was also one of the later Greek philosophers but is considered amongst the greats. Unlike Socrates and Plato, Aristotle had a different point of view and opinion about the impartment of education. Through his philosophical works, Aristotle not only proved that he was an elitist but his model on education shows that as well. Aristotle considered that a politician had the right to receive education. Aristotle’s ideas revolved around the individual and the state. He believed that the state was a university that was responsible for disseminating the education and the individual was to gain it via observation. Furthermore, he also considered women to be inferior to the men and stated that women were to control the family only, hence did not have any right to education. With respect to the content, he presumed, that “education must not serve any mean or vocational activity. These activities are the functions of slaves. The subject material must train the future rulers in the use of reason. Future rulers must learn obedience and responsibility before they rule” (Aristotle). The links between the democratic structure and the views of these philosophers are very obvious. Where the structure is supported by the views of Plato and Socrates, it is completely disrupted by those of Aristotle, who did not believe in having an egalitarian society. The world today views the notion of democracy as a rule by the people, for the people and from the people, which stands contrary to beliefs and practices of the Greek philosophers. This is greatly because of the reason as some of them enforced upon their people, the practice of education, while Aristotle limited education to a specific class only, without giving the people, the right to choose, which the first basic right is granted to people in a democracy, making it clear that the educational theories presented forth by the Greek philosophers do not respect the notions of democracy, which was one of the stressed upon aspects of governance of the state by them. If the educational policies and thoughts of these philosophers are looked into in depth, it can also be comprehended that they contradicted their own beliefs, indirectly through their educational beliefs, which can certainly put their credibility at stake. Works Cited New Foundations - Educational Theory of Socrates. (2011, August 18). Retrieved October 8, 2012, from http://www.newfoundations.com/GALLERY/Socrates.html Aristotle. (n.d.). Retrieved October 7, 2012, from http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/aee501/aristotle.html Muhammad, S. (2008, November 18). Education and Awareness - Plato and Education. Retrieved October 7, 2012, from http://research-education-edu.blogspot.com/2008/11/plato-and-education.html Read More