| Plato was a brilliant educator and philosopher,and his ideas on education are still alive and well today.The Laws is one of the most important of all Plato’s writings,exploring issues of virtue,education and law in a way that can be described as awe-inspiring and spectacular.This article takes Plato’s Laws as the object of study,delving into the work to inquire into the content of Plato’s ideas on moral education and to analyse its features and shortcomings in order to provide ideas for education in China.The thesis is divided into six parts.The introductory part,which clarifies the origin and significance of the study,analyses the current state of research at home and abroad,and points out the research methods and ideas.Chapter 1,which introduces the causes of Plato’s idea of virtue education in The Laws.The idea of moral education in Plato’s Laws is inseparable from his political experience and the social conditions of Athens at the time.Plato,who spent his later years in an Athenian society where virtue was in decline,rituals were in disrepair and wars were common,realised the irreconcilable contradiction between the ideal and reality and so,in the Laws,constructed a system of virtue education aimed at all citizens.Chapter 2,the concepts of virtue,virtue education and the relationship between virtue education and law are analysed.Virtue is the unified whole,the excellence with which things perform their functions.Education is essentially an education in virtue.Virtue education begins in childhood and leads the people to learn to control emotions such as bitterness and happiness and to seek the highest truth,goodness and beauty.The purpose of all rites and laws is to persuade the people,and the law is the means of edification.Chapter 3,deals with the content of the education of the people in virtue.The aim of education is to produce good citizens.There are four categories of educators: mothers and nannies who look after children,legislators who are in charge of educational legislation,educational administrators who are in charge of music and gymnastic education,educational supervisors who are responsible for the education of all men and women and the night councils who protect and save the law.Education consists of four areas,gymnastics,music,subject knowledge and hunting.The methods of education are persuasion,drinking and games.The places of education were in the temples of the village communities and in buildings dedicated to training and public instruction.Chapter 4,deals with the content of the moral education of the rulers.The rulers are primarily the members of the Night Council.The educators were Platonic philosophers and the content of education was the noble knowledge of theology.Chapter 5,evaluates the idea of virtue education in Plato’s Laws.Plato attached importance to the education of virtue,and his idea of virtue education had its distinctive features: firstly,it was aimed at all citizens;secondly,it was aimed at the development of virtue in body and soul;and thirdly,the law was indoctrination.However,Plato’s ideas,more than 2,000 years old,inevitably have their shortcomings: firstly,popular moral education suppresses individuality;secondly,rulers’ moral education is not sufficiently discussed.In this regard,we should look at it in a dialectical way and draw out the essence to provide ideas for our education. |
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