On Plato’s Ideas Of Virtue And Indoctrination

Plato’s idea of moral indoctrination is the result of the continuous development of traditional ancient Greek indoctrination thought.His idea of moral indoctrination combines moral virtue and political virtue,that is,it is an indoctrination thought that emphasizes both moral virtue and political virtue cultivation.On the one hand,he directly inherited Socrates’ moral emphasis on human beings;at the same time,he believed that the mere virtue of citizens is powerless,and that only the equal justice of the city-state can sustain and promote the justice of citizens.Therefore,the specific approach of Plato’s idea of moral edification is developed from these two aspects: at the level of cultivating individual justice,Plato advocates education from childhood,cultivating reason,and guiding the eyes of his soul to look at the idea itself,and at this level,edification is a process for individuals to know themselves,because virtue is the original existence of our soul;virtue is not a once-and-for-all existence once acquired,but needs to be constantly reflected and maintained..Cultivating justice in the state is a good way to preserve virtue and create an excellent environment for virtue cultivation.Plato believed that the cause of all the corruption of the justice of the city-state was privatization,and that the ideal state for all states was to have a communal system and to be ruled by philosophers.When moral education and political virtue complement each other,the justice of the individual and the state is achieved.That is,each of the three parts of the individual soul is secure and dominated by the ideal,and each of the three classes of the state is secure and ruled by wise philosophers.Plato’s idea of moral edification has influenced the development of virtue education in later generations and deserves to be studied again and again.