Philosophy of Education

SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 Philosophy of Education

In Plato 's Meno , the cliche starting point for courses in the philosophy of education , there is a basic confrontation , that between knowledge and doxa , or opinion . In fact , this confrontation exits in all of Plato 's dialogues , but it stands out in sharp relief in the Meno because it is primarily a dialogue about education , and , therefore , knowledge . The confrontation is between Socrates , the symbol of stable knowledge itself , and the Sophists , symbols of ever-changing opinion (cf . 95D The opinions of the Sophists

are not arbitrary , but are geared to one thing : the acquisition of power , the vulgar definition of success ' in degenerate societies , both late Athens and the western world in 2008 When education is reduced to the mere teaching of techniques or theories geared towards this sort of success ' education as a discipline is dead , it descends into the realm of formulae and bureaucratic manipulation . To revive it , new approaches , approaches geared to ethical reconstruction , must be laid out . Therefore , the foundation must be virtue and morality , for education on any subject presupposes an end , an end , one might hope , different from the mercenary ends that education in modern life has set for itself . The ends must be service , citizenship and virtue , ends that Plato himself sets as the ends of the dialogues as a genre . Meno says to Socrates , in response to Socrates ' question as to the nature of the good and virtue : Yes , and possession of gold...