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Preface
The concern of education lies in the care for the meaning of human existence, so the philosophy of education itself should have the basis of survival theory.
The existential turn of contemporary educational philosophy means that human existence is consciously expressed in education and the dialectical thinking spiritual temperament of self-criticism and self-transcendence formed thereby.
This kind of thinking and temperament can be reduced neither to the pure 'Logos' spirit in the history of Western philosophy, i.e., the spirit of rationalism, nor to the 'Nuss' spirit outside the 'Logos', that is, to the narrow sense of 'existentialism' (irrationalism), but to a dialectical synthesis of the two".
In fact, the tension between reason and survival has long been embedded in the ancient Greek philosophy of education, as the famous experts on the history of education Boyd and King said: "Indeed, there are only three major periods of educational theory in the history of education in Europe, the first, and in many respects, the greatest is the Greek period." ”
The theoretical basis of the ancient Greek philosophy of survivalism and education
In the original intuitive understanding of the ancient Greeks, reason was both an epistemological and an existential concept. When rationality is transformed from an existential meaning to an epistemological and technical meaning, a rupture between rationality and existence is created.
For this, Tilrich distinguishes between "existential rationality" and "technological rationality": "We are able to make a distinction between the concept of existential rationality and the rationality of technical theory. ......
In some schools of logical positivism, philosophers refuse to 'understand' anything beyond technical reason, and therefore make their philosophy unrelated to existential concerns.
Technical rationality, detached from existential rationality, no matter how logically and methodologically distilled, dehumanizes people. ”
Thirich mentions the concept of reason alongside the concept of human nature, implying that the extension of rationality as an existential theory is far greater than the technical rationality of mathematical and logical reasoning.
True rationality does not confront the aesthetics, passions, and intuition of human nature, but on the contrary, it embraces the factors rejected by today's technical rationality, and it inherently accommodates the metaphysical and the metaphysical, the cognitive and the moral, the logical and the aesthetic, the prescriptive and the creative, the deterministic and the non-deterministic.
(1) Socrates' existential philosophy of education
It is not the end of life in the usual sense, but the realization of the value of a certain "good" of life.
Because of this, the burning process of life is by no means arbitrary, but there is an internal order and law. Thus, Logos is both exalted from the process of life, and at the same time constitutes the essence of all life processes, showing the thoroughly active nature of life.
But since Aristotle, Logos, with its existential significance and rich vitality, has been abstracted into a definite and rigid formal logic rule "as the measure of objects".
As Aristotle replaced the poetic language of the early philosophers with dry, pedantic prose (the written language...... Logos loses its rich suggestive meaning and becomes a dry meaning of 'definition' and 'formula'".
Even from the very beginning, Logos had the meaning of focusing on "scale" and "law". But in ancient Greek thought, reason was not only expressed by Logos, but also by Nus of Anaxagoras.
Nuss refers to the transcendence of the mind over perceptual experience, the constant breakthrough of prescriptiveness. It shows that survival is not only to maintain oneself as one, but also to understand the world, arrange the world, and make the world a beautiful and good world.
In Anaxagoras's view, this is the way of being, that is, reason, that runs through the human soul and the whole world. The search for universal prescriptiveness and the continuous breakthrough of the existing prescriptive tension run through the intellectual history of ancient Greece, "the entire history of Greek philosophy has an ontological impulse of existentialism underneath the relatively obvious and superficial pursuit and establishment of Logos."
The combination of "Logos" and "Nus" constitutes a complete concept of rationality, and this true rationality constantly constructs and breaks through this prescriptiveness on its own.
"Reason, on the one hand, has the advantage of survival, because it does not sink on the basis of survival; On the other hand, it in turn makes the truth of existence possible; to make it realize itself, to make it manifest itself. ”
In other words, rationality and survival are in a certain tension balance, and true rationality does not lie externally in human existence, but inherently contains the dimension of survivalism; True survival does not exclude reason, but inherently embraces reason.
Theoretical Interpretation of the Ancient Greek Philosophy of Survival, Education
The reason why Socrates was able to lead a generation of educational masters is closely related to the fact that his educational thinking has shifted from "animism" to "the theory of the purpose of existence", "man's survival is not a blind impulse, but a conscious creative process with its own end."
In order to realize this process, man must transcend the finitude of individual life and realize the commonality of all human beings, initially of the common 'divinity' endowed in each person, so that the individual's goal in himself is manifested as the purpose of God, the divinity in himself, and the purpose of 'kind', and the teleology of existence becomes the pursuit of goodness."
This educational philosophy of "living a living" advocates that through dialectics, individuals can "know yourself" and discover the "goodness" latent in the soul, so as to regulate individuals to live a meaningful life.
If education allows individuals to live such a "life", education will also "stop at the highest good". Socrates, according to Socrates, has the characteristics of "goodness".
"Goodness" is not external to human existence, it itself is the fundamental regulation of human existence, and human survival activities have their own internal purpose (goodness), and tend to "goodness" through their own life activities.
Education is generated, and it is the process of actualizing the good, which is still a principle; Education is the clarity of existence, and people's pursuit of knowledge, virtue, and justice is not to obtain a kind of "knowledge", but to achieve self-understanding, that is, to achieve the awareness of their own existence.
"Knowledge is virtue", because "knowledge" directly means the search for "survival wisdom".
Correspondingly, "virtue is knowledge", because the process of doing good is itself a rational application of "knowledge", which is man's experience and reflection on the meaning of his own existence. On his subject list, the focus is on ethics rather than theory.
When one can think correctly and accurately about these aspects of things. He will be able to do the right thing, do good things, and behave sensibly, and he will become a good man, a just man."
This is the "irony" teaching method pioneered by Socrates: it is not only a method of seeking knowledge, but also a way of life that transcends oneself, that is, through irony, young people can "know that they are ignorant," bravely remove the "dirt" that covers the surface of knowledge, and guide people's survival practice in a defined way.
Jasbeth argues that the best educational paradigm is the Socratic "irony" education, which is "the education of the human soul, not the accumulation of intellectual knowledge and knowledge".
It is "the activity of the exchange of soul and flesh between the subjects of man and man (especially the older generation to the younger generation), including the teaching of knowledge content, the comprehension of the connotation of life, the regulation of volitional behavior, and through the function of cultural transmission, enlightening their free nature and enabling them to generate freely".
The three parts of the soul are like the three elements of a chariot, passion and desire are indispensable to life, and education cannot ignore the emotional desires of the individual, but must meet their requirements.
Education must "teach students according to their aptitude", taking the individual from "being underground, being shaped, and being formed...... sent to broad daylight". How do you "send an individual into broad daylight"?
Plato said that children do not always have the same qualities as their parents, and that "if their children are born an alloy of iron or copper, without any mercy, they must send him to a place that is in harmony with his nature, throwing him among the peasants and artisans".
Similarly, if a child of gold or silver is born into a family of artisans, " they will elevate him according to his value".
This shows that the individual also has a unique gift for the individual in relation to the sacredness of the animal and the finitude of the Creator, and that education must be oriented to the specific individual in order to transcend the present nature of existence and make its own contribution to the prosperity of the nation.
Therefore, Plato's philosophy of education represents the highest rational intuition of early human civilization, and has become the culmination of the ancient Greek philosophy of survival.
(2) Plato's existential philosophy of education
Socrates' philosophy of education, on the one hand, seeks human rationality through individual reflection, and on the other hand, guides people's perceptual activities with inner order, which undoubtedly represents an ancient existential educational philosophical tradition.
This tradition was developed by Plato to be so fascinating that Rousseau called the Republic "the best treatise ever written on education."
According to Plato, man is like a "prisoner" living in a dark cave, producing false knowledge in an ambiguous world, but enjoying the "pleasure" of being enslaved.
Only education can free man from the chains of ignorance," who was violently forced to stand up and turn around...... Lift up your eyes and walk towards the light".
It is the function of education to guide individuals out of the "cave" and into the "world of light". Education is transformation, that is, a radical shift from the world of ideas to the world of ideas.
The "transformation of the soul" is not "implanting the ability to see in the eyes of the soul, which already has it, but to ensure that it is not looking in the wrong direction, that it is going in the direction it should be heading." ”
Education cannot use "normative" means, but allows individuals to freely follow, hear, and experience the greatness of "God".
When an individual acts according to God's will, God's wisdom is reflected in his rational use and labor.
Therefore, Plato's philosophy of education has the characteristics of survival-practice, that is, education leads people to true existence, not only to transcend the current perceptual world, but also to participate in the perfection of society with rational practice.
Therefore, education is the process of "standing", "blooming" and "revealing" what the soul once knew through recollection, and it is an art that guides people to have an epiphany and turn back. Because education plays such an important role, Plato regarded education as the fundamental means to achieve the ideal state.
However, when one looks up to education, one will have a "rational madness" in one's heart, "a rush to fly high." But the heart is more than enough, but the strength is insufficient."
The reason why the soul is "more than enough but not enough" is because the human soul is made up of desires, passions, and reason, and desires always tempt people to indulge in material pursuits.
Therefore, the purpose of education is to maintain harmony between the various functions of the human soul, so that the soul is subject to the guidance of reason.
(3) Aristotle's existential philosophy of education
Aristotle, starting from the basic principles of biology, believed that education is first and foremost confronted with a living individual.
It is only from the actual situation (material) of these children that their "potential" can be fully developed in the "form" of adults.
The generation of the individual does not combine the formless material with the form of the material, on the contrary, the generation always takes place in the individual where the form and the material are already combined, i.e. the child is potentially an adult.
The so-called education is the "promoter" of the "potential" of the child to the "reality", and the process of self-realization of the "goodness" of the "immovable promoter - God".
So how to realize the generation of "potential" into "reality"? Aristotle abandoned Plato's doctrine that "the body is the prison of the soul" and believed that the soul is closely related to the body.
An Analysis of the Ancient Greek Philosophy of Survival
In the contemporary anti-rational educational trend, it seems that only by eradicating the "weed" of rationality can we rejuvenate the vitality and vitality of education.
Husserl pointed out that reason can never be eradicated, and it has penetrated deeply into human existence.
The crisis of reason is not caused by reason itself, but by the external form of reason, and only by returning to the source of human reason can the true charm of reason be restored.
From the perspective of ancient Greek educational thought, there is indeed no duality faced in later education, such as the opposition between body and soul, cognition and transcendence, fact and value, being a person and adulthood, discipline and inducement, technology and wisdom.
Under the "traction" of the ancient Greeks' concept of harmonious survival, there is a certain tension between "rationality" and "survival", which makes this kind of educational thought so profound: education shows that the education of the individual ignores the historicity and richness of the individual's sensibility from another perspective, and the life and emotional value of the individual are in the marginalized area of the educational theory.
Third, Plato and Aristotle did interpret the status of the city-state and the state from the perspective of the individual, but in the end, the freedom of the individual disappeared in the flood of satisfying political needs.
"The city-state is inherently ahead of the family and the individual," education has gradually become a political and economic subordinate; the individual's creativity and transcendence are confined to the social "chain," and man has become a "screw" of the entire social machine, continuing to live a "one-way" life in a mediocre, mechanical, and helpless manner.
It can be said that the materialized understanding of survival in later generations is closely related to the incomplete opening of their "survival theory", and this is precisely the theme of today's educational philosophy.