what is the education?... it is, of course, gymnastic for bodies and music for the soul

by Silas Kiehn 7 min read

Socrates is implying that political ability is directly linked to a solid education. "What is the education?... It is, of course, gymnastic for bodies and music for the soul."

Education in music for the soul and gymnastics for the body, Socrates says, is the way to shape the guardians' character correctly and thereby prevent them from terrorizing the citizens.

Full Answer

What is the importance of Music and gymnastics in education?

Socrates is implying that political ability is directly linked to a solid education. "What is the education?... It is, of course, gymnastic for bodies and music for the soul." (376e) Definitely not the most specific educational curriculum we've encountered, but it's a start. Socrates really does care about the mind-body connection.

Why did the ancient Greeks study gymnastics?

Grammar, Music, and Gymnastics, then, comprised the whole curriculum of study which was prescribed to the Athenian boy. There were not separate and distinct learned professions, or faculties, to so...

What is the role of Music in the guardians'education?

Gymnastics is one of the three foundational modalities of CrossFit. If gymnastics movements are performed properly, they influence every aspect of your life and have a dramatic effect on your fitness. Gymnastics assist in development of many of the 10 components of fitness: accuracy, agility, balance, coordination,

What is a gymnasium?

Education is to determine and thereby make the individuals to know their nature on the one hand and also train them towards perfection of it.He draws a …

What is the education in Plato's Republic?

In the Republic, Plato outlines the normal education of a Greek boy, which he also received – learning to read and write and study the poets. Education began in Athens around 640-550 BC with Solon's edict that every boy should be taught to swim and to read in schools and palestras, or the gymnastic schools.Apr 25, 2015

What is education for Plato allegory of the cave?

So, the teacher in the allegory of the cave guided the prisoner from the darkness and into the light (light represents truth); education involves seeing the truth. Plato believed that you have to desire to learn new things; if people do not desire to learn what is true, then you cannot force them to learn.Jun 21, 2017

What function does music and gymnastics serve in Plato's Republic?

Plato's education of music, gymnastics, mathematics and dialectics in the Republic helps to ensure that these three components of the soul are in harmony with each other. If the appetitive component is too strong, we would have an unhealthy soul with too much greed and lust.Oct 23, 2013

What did Socrates say about education?

Socrates' main focus throughout his public teaching life is the acquiring by the individual of self-knowledge. He believes that goodness and truth, positive essences and pure ethical and moral instincts are placed there divinely in the soul.

What is this education?

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, habits, and personal development.

What does allegory of the Cave teach us?

What Does The Allegory of the Cave Mean? Plato uses the cave as a symbolic representation of how human beings live in the world, contrasting reality versus our interpretation of it. These two ideas reflect the two worlds in the story: the world inside the cave, and the world outside.Feb 25, 2022

What does Plato mean by musical education and how does it work?

Education refers to the molding of the soul along good lines with regard to pleasure and pain; virtue adds understanding to good habits of pleasure and pain,4 Plato speaks of music as educating "through habits, by imparting by the melody a certain harmony of spirit that is not science, and by rhythm, measure and grace. ...

Who gets education in Plato's Republic?

Socrates insists that recipients of an education in mathematics and dialectics must have a suitable nature. They must be steady, courageous, good looking, noble, tough, and quick learners (355). But above all, they must love hard work.

What is the aim of education according to Plato?

The aim of education, according to Plato, is the welfare of both the individual and the society. His guiding principle is that, “Nothing must be admitted in education which does not conduce to the promotion of virtue. Moreover, Plato's treatment of education in the “Laws” is different from that of his “Republic”.

What is education according to Vivekananda?

According to Swami Vivekananda 'Education means that process by which character is formed, strength of mind is increased, and intellect is sharpened, as a result of which one can stand on one's own feet'. Swami Vivekananda always believed that the development of a nation is not possible. without real education.

What is education and types of education?

Education refers to the development of the learning and thinking process. It goes beyond the four walls of the classroom. It is all about gaining experience and therefore we can divide education into three main types: Formal Education. Informal Education.

What did Aristotle believe about education?

Aristotle's definition of education is the same as that of his teachers, that is, the “the creation of a sound mind in a sound body”. Thus to him the aim of education was the welfare of the individuals so as to bring happiness in their lives.

Why is Socrates' preferred method of education difficult to identify?

Instead, the two accounts of education must be patched together and evaluated in relation to each other and the dramatic context of the dialogue in order to discover Socrates' preferred method of education.

What is Plato's Republic?

Although Plato's Republic is best known for its definitive defense of justice, it also includes an equally powerful defense of philosophical education. Plato's beliefs on education, however, are difficult to discern because of the intricacies of the dialogue. Not only does Socrates (Plato's mouthpiece in the dialogue) posit two differing visions of education (the first is the education of the warrior guardians and the second is the philosopher-kings' education), but he also provides a more subtle account of education through the pedagogical method he uses with Glaucon and Adeimantus. While the dramatic context of the dialogue makes facets of the Republic difficult to grasp, in the case of education, it also provides the key to locating and understanding Socrates' true vision of education. Socrates' pedagogical approach with the interlocutors corresponds closely with his vision of the education of the philosopher-kings--an overlap which suggests that the allegory of the cave is representative of true Socratic education.

What is the most explicit account of education?

The most explicit account of education arises after Glaucon questions the moderate and plain lifestyle required in Socrates' just city "of speech" (369a). Caught up in the fun of imagining the ideal city, Glaucon cannot fathom that it would be as austere as Socrates suggests and desires that it be more luxurious. As soon as Socrates allows fineries, however, the city quickly becomes rife with potential trouble. More land is needed to hold the burgeoning population and its possessions and a specialized military is needed to carry out conquests and guard the city from its neighbors. With the ever-present danger of tyranny accompanying military rule, efforts must be made to curb the guardians' natural tendency to lord over the citizens. Socrates suggests that the guardians be controlled through an education designed to make them like "noble puppies" that are fierce with enemies and gentle with familiars (375a). Education in music for the soul and gymnastics for the body, Socrates says, is the way to shape the guardians' character correctly and thereby prevent them from terrorizing the citizens. Thus, the guardians' education is primarily moral in nature, emphasizing the blind acceptance of beliefs and behaviors rather than the ability to think critically and independently.

What does Socrates say about imitation?

Socrates says, "Imitations, if they are practiced continually from youth onwards, become established as habits and nature, in body and sounds and in thought " (395d). Therefore, the correct style of narrative for both guardians and poets is mostly non-imitative, but allows for some imitation of good men (396d).

What did Socrates say about philosophers?

Socrates says, "It must also be given gymnastic in many studies to see whether it will be able to bear the greatest studies, or whether it will turn out to be a coward" (503e).

What does Socrates tell Glaucon?

Glaucon wants this illusive, erotic knowledge that Socrates dangles before him, but just as his interest is sparked, Socrates tells him it is too complicated, which arouses Glaucon even more (506e). As a compromise, Socrates agrees to tell Glaucon of something similar to the good but less complicated (507a).

What does Socrates say about the sun?

Socrates says that the sun, like the good, illuminates the true "ideas" behind things. As the sun allows our eyes to use their existing capacity to see, the good allows our existing intellect to know.

What is the second stage of gymnastics?

The second stage (6-18 years) In the first stage of the education the emphasis is to develop the appropriate orientation through music that develops and refines the soul. In the second stage the gymnastic is added to the music for the simultaneous development of body also along with the soul.

What were the two systems of education in ancient Greece?

The Education system. In ancient Greece, two systems of education were prevalent — Athenian and the Spartan. In Athens most lucrative field was politics. The education was private and the Sophists were, as is said, the robing universities, who taught for a fee.

Why was education important to Plato?

Plato’s priority for education can be easily understood as half of the space of the Republic is devoted to education. He considered education to be sure cure of the all ills of the society.

What is Karl Marx's theory of education?

Karl Marx in German Ideology [1] Education is the key to Plato’s scheme of a just and virtuous society. Ruling classes of all the epochs following disintegration of the primitive communism most reliable and effective instrument of producing ideas and thereby creating the form and level of consciousness.

What did Plato talk about?

Plato talks about social justice and individual justice and the just individual is creation of an appropriate and hence just education. The edifice of Plato’s theory of the Ideal State ruled by the philosopher kings/queens rests on the pillars of his theories of education and the communism.

What was Sparta's education system?

Sparta was a military aristocracy and had a state controlled education system that imparted mainly military education and discipline. Plato synthesized the two and added the study of the dialectic at the highest stage of the scheme. Plato divides the education into two parts – elementary and higher.

What is the scheme of education in Plato's time?

The scheme of education is the same for boys and girls both. Education of women is a revolutionary contribution of Plato, as it was unheard of not only in Plato’s time but up to many successive centuries. The first stage of the education of the children, both boys and the girls, begins from the time of birth and lasts up to age of 6 years. Plato is quite correct to note that early childhood is very impressionable age and the children are keen observers; quick imitators with thinking faculty at the early stage of its growth, and also vulnerable to indoctrination. Purpose of education at this stage is to provide appropriate exposure and examples. The teachers must teach by example, same is true for parents outside Plato’s commune. Convinced with correctness of his views of good and bad and the ‘real interest’ of the society at large, Plato overtly-covertly resorts to the indoctrination. In the early stage the children are taught morality and goodness through lyrics, tales and historical or mythological heroic examples.

What is Plato's definition of education?

Plato summarizes this with what is clearly a traditional Athenian definition of education: music—meaning all the cognitive arts presided over by the Muses, including mathematics and poetry—trains the soul. Gymnastics trains the body. These two halves are inseparable and mutually reinforce one another.

What is failure in education?

Failure or success results from the student’s ability or inability, preparation or lack of preparation, vice or virtue—and, to some extent, from chance.

What is Plato's Republic?

Plato’s Republic describes the education of “guardians,” warriors who will selflessly serve their city, ac ting like well-bred sheepdogs who guard the flock from wolves (a catalogue of human types memorably summed up in the 2014 film American Sniper ).

What is cowardice in politics?

Cowardice, a vice especially tempting to those who live comfortably, is a political problem. A cowardly citizenry is no longer a citizenry, but a mass of subjects waiting to be ruled.

Who said the world has lost its courage?

In his 1978 Harvard Address, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn observed a dramatic “decline in courage” in the West. “The Western world has lost its civil courage,” a loss “particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society.”

Is book learning good for free citizens?

As important as good instruction in history, philosophy, and theology are, book-learning itself is insufficient education for free citizens. A human person is an integrated union of mind and body, not a ghost in a machine.

What is the Aristotelian scheme of education?

Aristotelian scheme of education is quite similar to that prescribed by his teacher, Plato, in his “Republic”: He also believes that the education of the early childhood period should be the responsibility of the parents. After this, further education is the responsibility of the state, but it does not mean that parents are free from the responsibility of their children. They are still responsibility for their moral education.

Where did Plato go to school?

Being a physician’s son, he was inspired to his father’s scientific work but didn’t show much interest in medicine. When he turned 18, he shifted to Athens to pursue his education at Plato’s Academy. He left Athens somewhere in 348-347 B.C, spending almost 20 years in the city.

What are the four branches of education?

There are four main branches of education: reading and writing, Gymnastics, music, and painting. They should not be studied to achieve a specific aim, but in the liberal spirit which creates true freemen. Thus, for example, gymnastics should not be pursued by itself exclusively, or it will result in a harsh savage type of character. Painting must not be studied merely to prevent people from being cheated in pictures, but to make them attend to physical beauty. Music must not be studied merely for amusement, but for the moral influence which it exerts on the feelings. Indeed all true education is, as Plato saw, a training of our sympathies so that we may love and hate in a right manner.

Why was the Lyceum called the Peripatetic School?

(It has also been called the Peripatetic School, because of Aristotle’s habit of walking while giving instruction. )

What was Aristotle's contribution to philosophy?

Aristotle is believed to have put together his thoughts during 335-323 B.C . His writings constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy which includes views about morality and aesthetics, logic and science, politics and metaphysics.

How many works did Aristotle write?

Aristotle wrote around 200 works and most of them were in the form of notes and drafts.

Where was Aristotle born?

Aristotle was born in Stagira, Chalcidice, which is approximately 55km east of Thessaloniki, in 384 B.C. His father Nicomachus named him Aristotle, which means “the best purpose”. His father served as a personal physician to King Amyntas of Macedon.

What was the education system in Greece?

Education in Greece was a matter of private individuals. Sophists were considered as educators. These were selling their wisdom, in their schools they admitted only pupils who were able to pay. Consequently poor families could not manage to pay. Sophists moved from one town to another. This situation didn’t please Plato since they were not the best channels of education, neither second best because they desired money and fame rather than knowledge.

What is Plato's philosophy of education?

Plato presented his philosophy of education in his Republic. The basic theme of education is inquiry is justice. The basic question around which the dialog revolves is , ” what is the meaning of justice.”. Socrates defines justice through establishing an analogy between society and individual.

Why is education important?

Thus, the aim of education is to enable a person to acquire the knowledge of this cause of the causes , the absolute good. Education prepares a man for the vision of absolute reality.And that is why, education right from the beginning is a preparation for the future.

What did Plato learn?

Later his wrestling coach dubbed him, “Platon” based on his broad and strong figure. Plato received the common Athenian education, both physical and mental. He was taught grammar, music, painting, and gymnastics by the most distinguished teachers in the Athens. He also attended courses of philosophy.

Why did the early childhood education system not start after birth?

After birth, exercise must be supplemented by various means that will keep the child from becoming frightened or emotional. This was followed by supervised play, instruction for both boys and girls; although they were supposed to learn the same disciplines and sports, it was suggested to be done separately.

What is the process of learning?

The process of learning, was suggested to be in the form of discussion between students and teachers. Plato’s idea of education was primarily intended for those who were to be statesmen.

What age did Plato believe in education?

Plato believed that education began from the age of seven and before this children should stay with their mothers for moral education and genders should be allowed to plays with each other.

Themes

Philosophy

  • Socrates says that those fit for a guardian's education must by nature be \"philosophic, spirited, swift, and strong\" (376 c). The guardians must be lovers of learning like \"noble puppies\" who determine what is familiar and foreign by \"knowledge and ignorance\" (376 b). Unlike the philosopher-kings appearing later in the book, these philosophically natured guardians approve …
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Introduction

  • Education in music (which includes speeches) begins with the telling of tales in the earliest years of childhood because that is when people are most pliable. Tales must be strictly censored because young children are malleable and absorb all to which they are exposed. Socrates claims, \"A young thing can't judge what is hidden sense and what is not; but what he takes into his opini…
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Contents

  • The content of tales is meant to instill virtue and a certain theology in the hearers. Instead of giving examples of appropriate tales, Socrates attacks the great poets, Hesiod and Homer, for creating inappropriate tales. He says that these poets' tales include bad lies, which further unrealistic images of the gods and heroes (377e). Gods must never be shown as unjust for fear …
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Music

  • Although music is the most important component in the guardians' education, equilibrium between music and gymnastics is important for the production of moral guardians. Because a solely gymnastic education causes savagery and a purely musical education causes softness, the two must be balanced. Socrates says,
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Quotes

  • When it fixes itself on that which is illumined by truth and that which is, it intellects, knows, and appears to possess intelligence. But when it fixes itself on that which is mixed with darkness, on coming into being and passing away, it opines and is dimmed, changing opinions up and down and seems at such times not to possess intelligence (508d). The good is a higher reality and is r…
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Definition

  • When a man tries by discussion--by means of argument without the use of any of the sense--to attain to each thing itself that which is and doesn't give up before he grasps by intellection itself that which is good itself, he comes to the very end of the intelligible realm just as that other man was then at the end of the visible (532b).
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Plot summary

  • And, lifting up the brilliant beams of their souls, they must be compelled to look toward that which provides light for everything. Once they see the good itself, they must be compelled, each in his turn, to use it as a pattern for ordering city, private men, and themselves for the rest of their lives. For the most part, each one spends his time in philosophy, but when his turn comes, he drudges …
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Significance

  • When Socrates introduces the cave analogy, one cannot help recognizing the similarities between it and his own actions in the dialogue. Finally, it seems as though Socrates is being genuine. The philosopher's descent into the cave hearkens back the first line of the book, \"I went down to the Piraeus yesterday with Glaucon\" (327a). It is now clear that Socrates himself is down in the cav…
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Criticism

  • Although Socrates found it necessary to drag Glaucon out of the cave and into the light using images, Socrates still prefers that his students do not simply accept the truth, but come to it on their own. Thus, he makes the guardians' revised education implausibly lengthy (it does not culminate until the age of fifty at which point most people are close to life's end) and ends the di…
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