There is a relationship between politics and education in ancient Greece. At Politics of Aristotle, man is defined as a civil being who is by nature led to live in society. Man will only have full life if he is inserted in a city-state, as this is an indispensable condition for his existence. THE polis it is a living organism, whose purpose is to ensure the material needs for human survival and a better intellectual life. Therefore, every individual has its ultimate end linked to Polis, since it is within this that its activities will be determined. There is an organic unity between the political nature of the individual and the state.
Within this political physiology of Aristotle, education is capable of developing the necessary conditions for the security of the regime and for the health of the State. It is education that provides the State with organic unity; it must occupy the entire life of the citizen, from its conception. Only those capable of legislating should contribute to education. Therefore, education cannot be neglected, being left to each citizen. It is the responsibility of the legislator, the only one who can establish general laws and principles. It is only through education that man will develop what is considered by Aristotle to most important of the sciences, precisely because its object is the common well-being, that is, the Politics. Such education will be promoted through a set of coordinated pedagogical activities, with a view to a perfect city and a happy citizen.
The functions of the legislator are:
- Guide citizens to practice the virtues;
- Take care of the education of young people;
- Establish laws that promote education according to morality and linked to political life in the State, which establishes the political balance within it;
- Make education a public affair;
- Promote the end of the individual that must coincide with the end of the State.
The State, with the help of parents, will seek the realization of political good through family education, private and public, according to the following periods of instruction:
- Procreation and prenatal period, in which care is taken with the feeding of pregnant women;
- Nutrition (1 year), early childhood (from 2 to 5 years), early childhood (from 5 to 7 years), in which the child must get used to movement and lessons;
- Education (from 7 to 14 years old), adolescence (from 14 to 21 years old), based on literature and science;
- And the age of majority, in which military service will be rendered until 35 years of age.
After this period, the man, well formed, will be able to legislate, as he has already proved to have control of himself and the needs of the city. For Aristotle, happiness is defined in a perfect action and in the exercise of virtue. The happiness of the State is linked to the knowledge and will of citizens. It is the activity towards which virtue tends, it is the result of human virtue and, as such, belongs to the category of divine goods par excellence. It is an activity that has its own end, while others tend towards it.
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Virtue is the necessary condition for achieving happiness. It is not an instrument, but a voluntary habit, a consequence of the practice that should be encouraged by education. There is a dichotomy about the soul in this sense:
- The rational (logical) part, which divides theoretical reason from practical reason and
- The private part (feeling, feelings, passion) that must obey logic.
Education must consider the divisions of the soul, cultivating actions that correspond to the higher part of the soul. Thus also arises the division of virtues. Are they:
- Intellectuals: wisdom, intelligence, common sense, justice;
- Morals: generosity and temperance.
The former are linked to teaching and therefore need experience and time. The second comes from habit and is not innate. Virtues, therefore, are qualities of the soul acquired only through activity and effort, and this is precisely where education comes into play.
By João Francisco P. Cabral
Brazil School Collaborator
Graduated in Philosophy from the Federal University of Uberlândia - UFU
Master's student in Philosophy at the State University of Campinas - UNICAMP
Would you like to reference this text in a school or academic work? Look:
CABRAL, João Francisco Pereira. "Aristotle and education"; Brazil School. Available in: https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/aristoteles-educacao.htm. Accessed on June 27, 2021.
