Aristotle and Ancient Educational Ideals Part 1

Aristotle and Ancient Educational Ideals.

by Thomas Davidson.

PREFACE

In undertaking to treat of Aristotle as the expounder of ancient educational ideas, I might, with Kapp's _Aristoteles' Staatspaedagogik_ before me, have made my task an easy one. I might simply have presented in an orderly way and with a little commentary, what is to be found on the subject of education in his various works--Politics, Ethics, Rhetoric, Poetics, etc. I had two reasons, however, for not adopting this course: (1) that this work had been done, better than I could do it, in the treatise referred to, and (2) that a mere restatement of what Aristotle says on education would hardly have shown his relation to ancient pedagogy as a whole. I therefore judged it better, by tracing briefly the whole history of Greek education up to Aristotle and down from Aristotle, to show the past which conditioned his theories and the future which was conditioned by them. Only thus, it seemed to me, could his teachings be seen in their proper light. And I have found that this method has many advantages, of which I may mention one. It has enabled me to show the close connection that existed at all times between Greek education and Greek social and political life, and to present the one as the reflection of the other. And this is no small advantage, since it is just from its relation to the whole of life that Greek education derives its chief interest for us. We can never, indeed, return to the purely political education of the Greeks; they themselves had to abandon that, and, since then,

A boundless hope has pa.s.sed across the earth--

a hope which gives our education a meaning and a scope far wider than any that the State aims at; but in these days, when the State and the inst.i.tution which embodies that hope are contending for the right to educate, it cannot but aid us in settling their respective claims, to follow the process by which they came to have distinct claims at all, and to see just what these mean. This process, the method which I have followed has, I hope, enabled me, in some degree, to bring into clearness. This, at all events, has been one of my chief aims.

In treating of the details of Greek educational practice, I have been guided by a desire to present only, or mainly, those which contribute to make up the complete picture. For this reason I have omitted all reference to the training for the Olympic and other games, this (so it seems to me) being no essential part of the system.

It would have been easy for me to give my book a learned appearance, by checkering its pages with references to ancient authors, or quotations, in the original, from them; but this has seemed to me both unnecessary and unprofitable in a work intended for the general public. I have, therefore, preferred to place at the heads of the different chapters, in English mostly, such quotations as seemed to express, in the most striking way, the spirit of the different periods and theories of Greek education. Taken together, I believe these quotations will be found to present a fairly definite outline of the whole subject.

In conclusion, I would say that, though I have used a few modern works, such as those of Kapp and Grasberger, I have done so almost solely for the sake of finding references. In regard to every point I believe I have turned to the original sources. If, therefore, my conclusions on certain points differ from those of writers of note who have preceded me, I can only say that I have tried to do my best with the original materials before me. I am far from flattering myself that I have reached the truth in every case, and shall be very grateful for corrections, in whatever spirit they may be offered; but I trust that I have been able to present in their essential features, the "ancient ideals of education."

THOMAS DAVIDSON.

"Glenmore,"

Keene, Ess.e.x Co., N.Y.

October, 1891.

BOOK I

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

CHARACTER AND IDEAL OF GREEK EDUCATION

Nothing in excess!--Solon.

No citizen has a right to consider himself as belonging to himself; but all ought to regard themselves as belonging to the State, inasmuch as each is a part of the State; and care for the part naturally looks to care for the whole.--Aristotle.

Greek life, in all its manifestations, was dominated by a single idea, and that an aesthetic one. This idea, which worked sometimes consciously, sometimes unconsciously, was PROPORTION. The Greek term for this (_Logos_) not only came to designate the incarnate Word of Religion, but has also supplied many modern languages with a name for the Science of Manifested Reason--Logic. To the Greek, indeed, Reason always meant ratio, proportion; and a rational life meant to him a life of which all the parts, internal and external, stood to each other in just proportion. Such proportion was threefold; _first_, between the different parts of the individual human being; _second_, between the individual and his fellows in a social whole; _third_, between the human, as such, and the overruling divine. The realization of this threefold harmony in the individual was called by the Greeks WORTH (??et?, usually, but incorrectly, rendered Virtue). There has come down to us, from the pen of Aristotle, in whom all that was implicit in h.e.l.lenism became explicit, a portion of a paean addressed to this ideal.

It may be fitly inserted here, in a literal translation.

TO WORTH.

O Worth! stern taskmistress of human kind, Life's n.o.blest prize: O Virgin! for thy beauty's sake It is an envied lot in h.e.l.las even to die, And suffer toils devouring, una.s.suaged-- So well dost thou direct the spirit To fruit immortal, better than gold And parents and soft-eyed sleep.

For thy cause Jove-born Hercules and Leda's sons Much underwent, by deeds Thy power proclaiming.

For love of thee Achilles and Ajax to Hades' halls went down.

For thy dear beauty's sake Atarneus' nursling too widowed the glances of the sun.

Therefore, as one renowned for deeds and deathless, him the Muses shall exalt, The daughters of Memory, exalting so the glory of Stranger-guarding Jove, and the honor of friendship firm.

With regard to this ideal, four things are especially noteworthy; _first_, that it took an exhaustive survey of man's nature and relations; _second_, that it called for strong, persistent, heroic effort; _third_, that it tended to sink the individual in the social whole and the universal order; _fourth_, that its aim was, on the whole, a static perfection. The first two were merits; the second two, demerits. The first merit prevented the Greeks from pursuing one-sided systems of education; the second, from trying to turn education into a means of amus.e.m.e.nt. Aristotle says distinctly, "Education ought certainly not to be turned into a means of amus.e.m.e.nt; for young people are not playing when they are learning, since all learning is accompanied with pain." The first demerit was prejudicial to individual liberty, and therefore obstructive of the highest human development; the second encouraged Utopian dreams, which, being always of static conditions, undisturbed by the toils and throes essential to progress, tend to produce impatience of that slow advance whereby alone man arrives at enduring results. To this tendency we owe such works as Plato's _Republic_ and Xenophon's _Education of Cyrus_.

CHAPTER II

BRANCHES OF GREEK EDUCATION

With thee the aged car-borne Peleus sent me on the day whereon from Phthia to Agamemnon he sent thee, a mere boy, not yet acquainted with mutual war or councils, in which men rise to distinction--for this end he sent me forth to teach thee all these things, to be a speaker of words and a doer of deeds.--(_Phnix in_) Homer.

Above all and by every means we provide that our citizens shall have good souls and strong bodies.--Lucian.

Life is the original school--life, domestic and social. All other schools merely exercise functions delegated by the family and by society, and it is not until the latter has reached such a state of complication as to necessitate a division of labor that special schools exist. Among the Homeric Greeks we find no mention of schools, and the only person recorded as having had a tutor is Achilles, who was sent away from home so early in life as to be deprived of that education which he would naturally have received from his father. In what that education consisted, we learn from the first quotation at the head of this chapter. It consisted in such training as would make the pupil "a speaker of words and a doer of deeds"--a man eloquent and persuasive in council, and brave and resolute on the field of battle. For these ends he required, as Lucian says, a good soul and a strong body.

These expressions mark the two great divisions into which Greek education at all periods fell--MENTAL EDUCATION and PHYSICAL EDUCATION--as well as their original aims, viz. goodness (that is, bravery) of soul and strength of body. As time went on, these aims underwent considerable changes, and consequently the means for attaining them considerable modifications and extensions. Physical education aimed more and more at beauty and grace, instead of strength, while mental education, in its effort to extend itself to all the powers of the mind, divided itself into literary and musical education.

As we have seen, the Greeks aimed at developing all the powers of the human being in due proportion and harmony. But, in course of time, they discovered that the human creature comes into the world with his powers, not only undeveloped, but already disordered and inharmonious; that not only do the germs of manhood require to be carefully watched and tended, but also that the ground in which they are to grow must be cleared from an overgrowth of choking weeds, before education can be undertaken with any hope of success. This clearing process was called by the later Greeks _Katharsis_, or Purgation, and played an ever-increasing part in their pedagogical systems. It was supposed to do for man's emotional nature what Medicine undertook to do for his body. The means employed were mainly music and the kindred arts, which the ancients believed to exert what we should now call a daemonic effect upon the soul, drawing off the exciting causes of disturbing pa.s.sion, and leaving it in complete possession of itself. It would hardly be too much to say that the power to exert this purgative influence on the soul was regarded by the ancients as the chief function and end of the Fine Arts. Such was certainly Aristotle's opinion.

When purgation and the twofold education of body and mind had produced their perfect work, the result was what the Greeks called _Kalokagathia_ (?a?????a??a) that is, Fair-and-Goodness. Either half of this ideal was named ??et? (_arete_), Worth or Excellence. We are expressly told by Aristotle (_Categories_, chap. viii.) that the adjective to ??et? is sp??da??? (_spoudaios_), a word which we usually render into English by "earnest." And we do so with reason; for to the Greek, Excellence or Worth meant, above all, earnestness, genuineness, truthfulness, thoroughness, absence of frivolity.

CHAPTER III

CONDITIONS OF EDUCATION

Some hold that men become good by nature, others by training, others by instruction. The part that is due to nature obviously does not depend upon us, but is imparted through certain divine causes to the truly fortunate.--Aristotle.

It is not merely begetting that makes the father, but also the imparting of a n.o.ble education.--John Chrysostom.

There are two sorts of education, the one divine, the other human.

The divine is great and strong and easy; the human small and weak and beset with many dangers and delusions. Nevertheless, the latter must be added to the former, if a right result is to be reached.--Dion Chrysostom.

The same thing that we are wont to a.s.sert regarding the arts and sciences, may be a.s.serted regarding moral worth, viz. that the production of a completely just character demands three conditions--nature, reason, and habit. By "reason" I mean instruction, by "habit," training.... Nature without instruction is blind; instruction without nature, helpless; exercise (training) without both, aimless.--Plutarch.

To the realization of their ideal in any individual the Greeks conceived three conditions to be necessary, (1) a n.o.ble nature, (2) persistent exercise or training in right action, (3) careful instruction. If any one of these was lacking, the highest result could not be attained.

(1) To be well or n.o.bly born was regarded by the Greeks as one of the best gifts of the G.o.ds. Aristotle defines n.o.ble birth as "ancient wealth and worth," and this fairly enough expresses the Greek view generally.

Naturally enough, therefore, the Greek in marrying looked above all things to the chances of a worthy offspring. Indeed, it may be fairly said that the purpose of the Greek in marriage was, not so much to secure a helpmeet for himself as to find a worthy mother for his children. In Greece, as everywhere else in the ancient world, marriage was looked upon solely as an arrangement for the procreation and rearing of offspring. The romantic, pathological love-element, which plays so important a part in modern match-making, was almost entirely absent among the Greeks. What love there was, a.s.sumed either the n.o.ble form of enthusiastic friendship or the base one of free l.u.s.t. In spite of this, and of the fact that woman was regarded as a means and not as an end, the relations between Greek husbands and wives were very often such as to render the family a school of virtue for the children. They were n.o.ble, sweet, and strong,--all the more so, it should seem, that they were based, not upon a delusive sentimentality, but upon reason and a sense of reciprocal duty.