SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS

PLATO

EARLY LIFE

He was born in Athens, Greece (between 428 to 423 BC)

• Ariston & Perictione

• Glaucon, Adeimantus & Potone

• Charmides & Critias

• “THIRTY TYRANTS”

Aristocratic and Influential family.

• The Greek god Apollo appeared to Ariston in a vision.

• Perictione married Pyrilampes.

• Antiphon, the half-brother of Plato, appeared in Parmenides.

“Plato's dialogues are not only a memorial to Socrates, but also the happier days of his own family.”

-Burnett

YOUNG PLATO

Quickness of MindModest"first fruits of his youth infused with

hard work and love of study.“Grammar, Music & GymnasticsIsthmian Games

PHILOSOPHY

PLATO: A Philosopher

> founder of the Academy in Athens(the first institution of higher learning in the Western world.)

>He laid the very foundations of Western Philosophy, Science & Mathematics.

>“Platonism for the people.”

The State(*The Republic)

“… societies have a tripartite class structure corresponding to the appetite, spirit, reason structure of the individual soul.”

*(assumption may not be true in all cases)

Governing (Rulers or

Philosopher Kings)

Protective (Warriors or Guardians)

“Spirit”Productive (Workers) “Appetite”

“Reason”

PLATO’S MAJOR CONTRIBUTION TO

EDUCATION

• Plato regards Education as “a means to achieve justice, both Individual justice and Social justice.”

• Justice means EXCELLENCE.

Therefore:

“Knowledge is required to be

just.”

According to the Greeks & Plato:

“Excellence is Virtue.”

According to Socrates:

“Virtue is Knowledge.”

PLATO’S 3 DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF KNOWLEDGE

• Knowledge of One’s Own Job

• Self-Knowledge

• Knowledge of The Idea of the Good

“Social justice can be achieved when all social classes in a society workers, warriors, and rulers are in a harmonious relationship.”

“ALL people can easily exist in harmony when society gives them equal educational opportunity from an early age to compete fairly with one another.”

-Plato

Platonic Theory of Education

• provide a comprehensive vision to solve those problems in education.

“BUSINESS is concerned mainly with profit.whereas

“TRUE EDUCATION is concerned with the common good based upon the rational principle of individual and social justice.”

Education for All State Education

Organization and Curriculum

1. Elementary School

Co-education at elementary level and teach them mathematics, poetry, music and literature till the age of eighteen years.

2. Military Training

After elementary education two years of Physical education should be given to them and select best of them for higher education; to prepare for the future guardians of the state.  

3. Higher Education

Higher education should be given from twenty to thirty-five years of age, he will study the subjects mathematics, literature and philosophy at this stage.

Women Education Teaching Methods

Play Method

Students

should learn by doing.

Train them in the processes of thinking and abstracting.

“The most effective kind of education is that a child should play amongst lovely things.”

"The most important part of education is proper training in the nursery.“

-Plato

HIGHEST GOAL OF EDUCATION?

The Knowledge of

Good

“The object of education is to turn the eye which the soul already possesses to the light. The whole function of education is not to put knowledge into the soul, but to bring out the best things that are latent in the soul, and to do so by directing it to the right objects. The problem of education, then, is to give it the right surrounding.”

-(Plato’s Republic, Book vii, 518)