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Preface
The modern concept of education focuses on the cultivation of personal ability and thinking, and often ignores the vivid side of life practice.
At the heart of education in ancient Greece was the development and nurturing of character, which was not only the task of the family, but also the concern of legislators in the political community.
Unlike Plato, Aristotle emphasized the public good as well as the personal good or happiness.
Like the family, the polis is a community in which people can live happily, and friendship unites people to form families, partnerships, and polis.
Fraternity as a virtue needs to be Xi through the experience and training of living together, and the conclusion and maintenance of fraternity keeps the city-state peaceful and stable.
Political fraternity in a polis is the agreement between its members, that is, the unity of its members in the polis.
Aristotle's concept of fraternity provides a rich theoretical resource for the solidarity needed in modern society.
Civilisation, liberal education, and people in the community
The German word for indoctrination has a rich and broad connotation, and it refers to the shaping of a person.
"Bildung" is translated as "education" in a general context, as in the term "Bildungsministerium" (Education Bureau); In the philosophical context, especially in the context of German epistemology, it is often translated as "edification".
In Hegel's view, indoctrination enables the individual to acquire his sociality, while a higher level of indoctrination enables self-consciousness to overcome the alienation and specialization of the individual due to socialization, and thus to obtain a complete understanding, embodied in the "spirit of consciousness of truth and concept" of itself.
Or, in MacDowell's words, the indoctrination of German philosophy is a kind of cultivation of practical reason based on the shaping of Aristotle's ethical character.
It can be seen that a more holistic sense of education or indoctrination involves the shaping of human character in social relations.
But what kind of education do we need in today's world? The famous classical philosophical scholar Martha Nassbaum made a series of recommendations based on the ancient Greek tradition.
She argues that modern society needs a Socratic philosophy of education that encompasses all citizens: everyone reflects and asks autonomously, and uses logic to engage in rational arguments, with the aim of eliminating prejudices and respecting and understanding different cultural traditions.
Through a liberal education with cross-cultural connotations, including literature and history, people should acquire a position of global citizenship that embraces multiculturalism, rather than becoming followers of narrow identity politics.
As a Western intellectual, she specifically mentions that "this assumption of the superiority of the West requires critical scrutiny".
She sums up such an education as the cultivation of the ability to discern Xi and tradition on his own, and to perceive which of them can be rationally defended.
Both Nussbaum and Hegel continued the rationalist tradition of the Enlightenment. Hegel's edification is an important link in awakening man from his natural nature, into self-consciousness, and finally to the self-prescribed spirit.
Among them, people get rid of the master-servant relationship and gain the consciousness of equality and mutual respect for everyone.
Nussbaum's educational philosophy is in line with the tradition of education to a certain extent: the ability to reflect and rationally recognize social reality is the core content of education.
In her view, the purpose of cultivating citizens with these abilities in modern society is of social significance, that is, to enable citizens to respect each other, recognize each other's equal status, and achieve a healthy interaction through rational dialogue on the basis of mutual understanding.
Although both Hegel and Nussbaum emphasized the important role of education in how people become mature citizens, they were more concerned with personal Xi, especially the development of thinking Xi.
Hegel classifies indoctrination as the "subjective spirit", pointing out that it is the shaping of individual subjectivity, enabling man to express his or her particular desires, demands, and beliefs in a conceptual and universal way, thus achieving the purpose of communicating with other individuals.
In this way, there is a mediator between the individual and the universal, and in the ethical life of the state in the form of a state composed of citizens, an identity between the individual and the state is mediated.
The rationalist tradition of ethics can be traced back to Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle in ancient Greece.
For Aristotle in particular, virtue can be divided into intellectual virtue and moral virtue, and the development of the latter is not only an activity of thinking, but also of doing the right thing, that is, practice.
Community and fraternity education
Continuing the ancient Greek tradition, Nussbaum emphasized that liberal education was education in the public education system, rather than private self-cultivation.
Jaeger makes it clear that education is not an individual affair, but is essentially communal.
The ancient Greek word "paideia" can be translated as "education", but it is also sometimes translated as "edification".
After the formation of the polis (c. 7th to 4th centuries BC), education arose from the need for legislation in the polis and served the life of the polis, with the aim of producing people with public virtue, that is, people who could serve the community.
The cultivation of the soul was at the heart of Socrates' education, but Socrates' education was communal, and his way of educating the Athenians was dialogue, usually in the homes of friends or in public in the city-state.
He guided the young people of Athens in the way of a friend, reaching a consensus on the most important values of life through dialogue, which is a kind of education in fraternity.
Fraternity and education are therefore of paramount importance to the community.
Jaeger even sees Socrates as the master of a new kind of fraternity, which is based not on mutual benefit between people, but on mutual respect.
He pointed out that the need for fraternity is based on human nature, and that man has the gift of compassion; Friendship is the fundamental form of human relations, and people will help others and will be grateful to others.
Aristotle regarded the education of young people as the most important concern of the legislator, and in his view, the political system of a city-state that neglected education would be ruined. The polis should teach its citizens to adapt them to the political system and way of life of the polis.
Friendship is the bond that binds the city-state, and legislators should value fraternity over justice, and true justice includes friendliness.
Voegelin pointed out that love is the vitality of all societies, and fraternity is the essence and emotional bond of all human relationships. Perfect fraternity was defined by Aristotle as "the fraternity between a good man and a man who is similar in virtue".
Friendship between people should be based on self-love, that is, a good person's concern for the perfection of his own virtue.
The cultivation of virtue brings the life of the soul into harmony with reason, which is also the source of the social order of mankind. A perfect society is made up of people with a rational order.
In a harmonious society, the individual agrees with the self, the individual realizes his own rationality, and can choose and live according to rational moral judgments, so that the potential of his soul is realized, and at the interpersonal level, good people can trust, help, cooperate with each other, and agree with each other.
This unanimity is a kind of political fraternity, which refers not to the agreement of views between strangers, but to the unity of civic interests, policies, and actions.
City-state, family and political fraternity
In Eudemtius Ethics, Aristotle sees fraternity among citizens in a community as a fraternity based on interests: people are united by a common good, that is, to live well in the division of labor and cooperation of the polis.
In every kind of common life between people, there is a certain justice, and there is also a certain kind of fraternity.
The interests of the political community are concerned with the interests of life as a whole. But in Eudysmetric Ethics, Aristotle also says that goodwill exists only in fraternity based on virtue.
Here we must ask: Does fraternity in community require goodwill between people?
This can be analysed in terms of the nature of the city-state: Chapter 9 of the Politics chapter emphasizes that the unity of men requires virtue in order to become a city-state, in addition to the common defense against foreign enemies, the division of labor and cooperation, and the exchange of goods.
The purpose of the polis was to enable members to live well in their homes and clans. For this, the necessary and basic conditions are that people live together in the same place and intermarry with each other.
Modern Reflections on Aristotle's Concept of Friendship
The family and the city-state are both forms of common life that conform to human nature, and their existence is to provide a good life for people, and at the same time, they are also the space for their own development.
Among them, through the education acquired in common life, people Xi ethical and political virtues. The purpose of human life is to live well, that is, to be happy.
Aristotle defined happiness as "the fulfillment of the soul's virtuous activity," and happiness is attained through virtue or Xi. Virtue is not purely a personal quality, but also a matter of how each person behaves in a common life.
Throughout Aristotle's descriptions of specific virtues, such as generosity, honesty, fraternity, justice, etc., all involve human activities in common life.
Virtue enables him to make rational and correct choices in the common life.
Xi of virtue needs to be acquired through practice, for example, it is not enough to tell children in class that they should love each other. The ultimate goal of morality is to be practiced, and the mere acquisition of knowledge of the "moral imperative" in Kant's sense is not enough to guarantee the right action.
In Aristotle's view, the cultivation of virtue as a quality (or Xi) is crucial, because it is a moderate control of the emotions, after which the virtuous person can spontaneously do the right thing in a specific situation.
Friendship as a virtue is acquired in a common life of mutual kindness and mutual help, and through this practice, a fraternal relationship with a common purpose is also established.
People gathered together in the same city-state for a common purpose: to create and maintain a common living space and order that would guarantee the well-being of their members.
This common purpose or common good is also the basis of fraternity among citizens in the polis.
Fraternity among citizens enables them to reach an agreement, unite and assist each other on matters of common interest, and fraternity between citizens removes internal strife in the polis and thus serves as the bond that binds the polis together.
The city-state is made up of different groups of people, and it is through education that the city-state is united, and that solidarity and political fraternity can be established and maintained through practical education.
People grow into citizens in public life, that is, they are aware that they are members of the city-state, sharing the same mission with the other members, that is, to maintain the common good and practice it.
The common activities of the city-state, such as rituals, built a platform for people to socialize and make friends with each other.
In the political fraternity of the polis, people can build fraternity based on happiness, profit, and virtue.