A Return To The Life Of Virtue

Facing the variation of teaching with a long history, we are gradually aware enough of the fact that teaching itself is moving towards alienation. As so-called "anti-teaching" phenomenon, it is really difficult for teachers and students to handle, which as a result leads to "one dimensional man". Fundamentally, the alienated human teaching derives from the loss of spiritual freedom of teachers and students, as well as separation of knowledge from morality, even teaching from life. What teaching loses is just what it needs.Recent years, researches on such question represent different objectives, as a whole, two research modes can be induced from them. One focuses on teaching effect and tries to perfect teaching by more techniques, that is the way towards effective teaching; the other begins with teaching ethics and tries to build up and perfect ethical norms, which can be used to strengthen the order of teaching. Nevertheless, after a period of time that more than half an century, the trend of teaching alienation has not been forcefully held back. Now we can say the crucial reason is the failure of understanding the nature of teaching. In other words, the correct way to reconstruct teaching is back to the starting point, that means to recover teachers' and students' spiritual freedom in teaching. Then the topic on the virtue of teaching is presented.Gaining enlightenment from Aristotle's ethical thought, the author first differs virtue of things and activities from man's morality. The two are interrelated but not the same, as the latter, which is connected with existence in a broad sense, it means a commendatory when people praise someone's work that is well done, and it also means the character that keeps something in good condition as well as working well.In view of above-mentioned reasons, we intend to refer the virtue of teaching to some kind of purity, which ensures the realization of the aim of teaching, and only then teaching can be called teaching itself. So the understanding on the virtue of teaching is in the ontological dimension of teaching. It is somewhat similar to the word of goodness. According to this, only teachers and students have spiritual freedom in teaching that can we call it good teaching.The terminal aim of teaching lies in creating meanings of life and fostering individual happiness. So the starting point is dominant for teaching. We should therefore arouse, uphold and guide the spiritual freedom well.In this thesis the starting point of teaching is used as a clue to probe into the virtue of teaching. In the first part it tracks back into history in order to represent some inner characters under different culture tradition, and it also explores the possibilities and limitations of the virtue of teaching, etc. In the second part, it tries to use hermeneutic phenomenology method to gain a lived experience on the virtue of teaching, for this reason two dimensions are selected for discussing, that is concept and interaction of teachers and students. In the third part, based on above analysis, it probes into the reason which leads to the loss of starting point of teaching, and further does harm to the virtue of teaching, and it also reflects the real conditions teachers and students face and some measures. In the fourth part, a new concept "life of virtue" is brought forward, as a kind of possible life of teaching, it provides the perfect field for teaching reconstruction. In nature the life of virtue means freedom, as well as rational life ways with moral creativity. Understanding teaching as the life of virtue amounts to find a feasible way to overcome "anti-teaching" phenomenon. In the last part, it forecasts the vision of return to the life of virtue. Fundamentally, two possible ways are put forward.