What would the world be without Aristotle?

Answer 1

ARISTOTLE

(384-322 B.C.)

Charles Hummel1

We are familiar with Aristotle the researcher, the founder of sciences, the logician and the

philosopher, 'the master of those who know'. But we know little of Aristotle the educator.

Historians have not been greatly interested in what he has to say about education. The opinion

expressed by H.I. Marrou in his Histoire de l'éducation dans l'Antiquité (History of Education

in Antiquity) is indicative: 'Aristotle's work on education does not seem to me to be as original

and creative as that of Plato or Isocrates.'

Yet Aristotle devoted as much time to teaching as to research. He is the prototype of the

'professor'. His teachings and lectures are the part of his work that has been handed down to us

over 2,300 years. A pedagogical concern and an educational dimension are present throughout

his writings. It is high time a study was made of Aristotle's approach to education as revealed in

his lectures. This would highlight his characteristic manner of posing a problem and then

discussing it by approaching it from different angles, probing it. We can discern here the didactic

method of the Socratic and Platonic dialogues. Unfortunately the dialogues that Aristotle wrote

to popularize the fruits of his research have all been lost. Such a study would also point out the

way in which he illustrated his lectures with examples, quotations, references and images. On

several occasions he declared that 'it is impossible to think without images'.2

Aristotle was an academic throughout his career. At the age of 18 he entered one of the

most renowned centres of learning of his day, Plato's Academy, where he became noted for the

passion with which he devoted himself to his studies, particularly to reading, a trait which won

him the nickname of 'reader'. He then built up the first great library which served as a model for

the libraries of Alexandria and Pergamon.3 He became a privatdocent in rhetoric and a rebellious

one too, openly and passionately criticizing the doctrines of Plato, his master and forerunner,

who reportedly said of him: 'Aristotle has kicked me just as a colt kicks it mother.'4 After

Plato's death, Aristotle left Athens for Assos in Asia Minor and three years later settled at

Mytilini on the island of Lesbos. There he engaged in many types of research, particularly in

Biology. It is not known for certain whether he established schools or study circles at that period

of his life but it is quite probable. In 342, at the age of 41, he was invited by Philip of Macedon

to his court to become the tutor of the young Alexander.

Unfortunately, we know practically nothing about the relations between Aristotle the

educator and his pupil Alexander. Yet what an extraordinary event it was! Jacob Burckhardt

considered that it was through the education of Alexander that Aristotle exerted his greatest

influence on history.5 Peter Bamm has described the encounter in the following words:

Aristotle, that man who with his thoughts constructed a dwelling so vast that it accommodated Western science for

2,000 years, helped, through the ideas he inculcated in Alexander, to create the conditions necessary in order that the

West itself might come into being. If it had not been for Alexander we should hardly know the name Aristotle.

Without Aristotle, Alexander would never have become the Alexander we admire.6

2

Again, we know practically nothing for certain about the education that Alexander received from

Aristotle. It seems likely that Aristotle prepared for his pupil an annotated version of the Iliad

which was to accompany the conqueror to the limits of the known world. Aristotle may

conceivably have written for Alexander one book on monarchy and another on the colonies.

None of these works has survived to our times and, surprisingly, there is no mention of

Alexander in any of the works that have been preserved except, perhaps, for several very vague

allusions when Aristotle speaks of the king who is a perfect man. It is quite likely that Aristotle

introduced the young Alexander to the natural sciences. And it could well have been Aristotle

who aroused in Alexander that sense of curiosity, that passion for discovery and new experience

which took him as far as India and would most probably have led him to explore Africa had he

not died prematurely. Was it the education he received from Aristotle that made Alexander as

much an explorer as he was a conqueror?

In 334 Aristotle returned to Athens and established his own school, the Lyceum.7 This

was a type of university where research was pursued as an extension of higher education.

Courses for the enrolled students were held in the morning, while the school was probably open

in the afternoon to a wider public and thus performed the function of an open university. It

seems that Aristotle entrusted the running of the Lyceum to the various members of the teaching

staff in turn, each assuming this responsibility for ten days at a time.8 Can this be said to

foreshadow the democratization of education?

Scientific research, philosophical reflection and educational activity were intimately

linked in Aristotle's life and work. It is therefore not surprising that Aristotle, whose passion for

methodical analysis extended to whatever attracted his inquiring mind, also analysed the

problems posed by education. He refers to the subject in practically all his writings.

Unfortunately, the works in which he systematically developed his ideas on education have

survived in only fragmentary form. Of his book On Education there remains only the merest

fragment. The exposition of his education system to be found in the Politics terminates abruptly:

a good half of it must have been lost. Using these few pieces of mosaic we shall try to sketch an

outline of Aristotle's paideia.

The goal or purpose of education

For Aristotle the goal of education is identical with the goal of man. Obviously all forms of

education are explicitly or implicitly directed towards a human ideal. But Aristotle considers that

education is essential for the complete self-realization of man. The supreme good to which all

aspire is happiness. But for Aristotle the happy man is neither a noble savage, nor man in his

natural state, but the educated man. The happy man, the good man, is a virtuous man, but virtue

is acquired precisely through education. Ethics and education merge one into the other.

Aristotle's ethical works are teaching manuals on the art of living.

In the first book of The Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle asks in an unequivocal manner

'whether happiness is to be acquired by learning or by habituation or some other sort of training,

or comes in virtue of some divine providence or again by chance'.9 The reply is equally clear:

'virtuous activities [...] are what constitute happiness'.10 There are two categories of virtue:

intellectual and moral.11 'Intellectual virtue in the main owes both its birth and its growth to

teaching (for which reason it requires experience and time) while moral virtue comes about as a

result of habit.[...] None of the moral virtues arises in us by nature.'12 We shall return to the

distinction made here between 'teaching' and 'the result of habit' when we come to discuss

Aristotle's pedagogy. He concludes: 'It makes no small difference, then, whether we form habits

of one kind or of another from our very youth; it makes a very great difference, or rather all the

difference.'13 The point could not be more tersely made.

3

Towards the end of The Nichomachean Ethics, Aristotle returns to the question in almost

identical terms: 'The man who is to be good must be well trained and habituated.'14

In Book VII of the Politics, where Aristotle discusses the ideal state and, in particular,

education in that state, he returns to the question, 'How does a man become virtuous?' The

reply15 is similar to the one given in The Nichomachean Ethics. Three things make men good

and virtuous: nature, habit and rationality. Everyone must be born a man as distinct from the

brute beasts; and he must have certain qualities both of body and soul. But there are some

qualities with which it is useless to be born, because habit alters them: nature implants them in a

form which is susceptible of change, under the impulse of habit, towards good or bad. Brute

beasts live mostly under the guidance of nature, though some are to a small extent influenced by

habit as well. Man alone lives by reason, for he alone possesses rationality. In his case, therefore,

nature, habit and the rational principle must be brought into harmony with one another; for man

is often led by reason to act contrary to habit and nature, if reason persuades him that he ought to

do so. We have already determined what natures will be most pliable in the legislator's hand. All

else is the work of education; some things are learned by habit and others by instruction.

Hence certain attributes are necessary in order to achieve happiness, the full development

of the human being. One must be fortunate enough to possess from birth certain natural gifts,

both physical and moral (a healthy and beautiful body, a certain facility, intelligence and a

natural disposition towards virtue). But these are insufficient. It is only through education that

potential happiness can become truly accessible. Education is the touchstone of Aristotelian

ethics. The virtues, wisdom and happiness are acquired through education. The art of living is

something to be learned.

Aristotle's ethics are based on such concepts as happiness, the mean, leisure and

wisdom, which we also encounter in his theory of education.

Clearly in Aristotle's view all forms of education should aim at the mean.16 The eighth

and final book of the Politics (following the traditional order of the text) ends abruptly with a

reference to this principle. 'Clearly, then, there are three standards to which musical education

should conform. They are the mean, the possible, and the proper.'17 The concept of the mean

does not only apply to the ends of education, it is also an instrumentality, a pedagogical

imperative to which we shall return later.

The goal of human action is leisure;18 moreover, 'happiness is thought to depend on

leisure'.19 And one of the essential goals of education that should always be borne in mind is

precisely leisure20 or schole (which is the etymological root of the word 'school'). In the

Aristotelian philosophy of education a central position is occupied by education for leisure. This

is an essential part of the training for the 'business of being a man'. Tricot rightly emphasizes

that leisure is not to be confused with idling,21 with a kind of dolce farniente. It is the faculty of

being able and knowing how to use one's time freely. Freedom is one of the ultimate goals of

education, for happiness is impossible without freedom. Such freedom is achieved through

contemplation or the philosophical life, that is to say, in the activity of the mind relieved of all

material constraints. This is why it is particularly important that education should not have the

character of vocational training. For 'the meaner sort of artisan is a slave, not for all purposes but

for a definite servile task'.22 Furthermore, 'the good man, therefore, the statesman, and the good

citizen certainly should not learn the crafts of their inferiors, except occasionally and for their

own advantage'.23 The same remarks also apply to tradesmen. Aristotle illustrates this point of

view in his extremely detailed account of musical education in Book VIII of the Politics. He

says, for example, that 'neither the flute nor any other instrument requiring abnormal

skill[...]should be made part of the curriculum'.24 And he ends with the categorical statement

that:

4

accordingly, we reject the professional instruments; and we reject also the professional mode of education (by

'professional' I mean such as is employed in musical contests) in which the performer practises his art not for the

sake of improving himself, but in order to provide his audience with entertainment---and vulgar entertainment at that.

For this reason we consider that the performance of such music is beneath the dignity of a freeman; it belongs rather

to hired instrumentalists, who are degraded thereby.25

Leisure, or schole, which should be the goal of education, is the freedom to apply oneself to

essential matters. It is this form of freedom that leads to wisdom: a life devoted to philosophy

and contemplation, that is true happiness. Through leisure, which is an indication of freedom,

education should lead to man's ultimate goal, an intellectual life rooted in the mind. That is the

true 'business of man' which it is the function of education to teach. And man can only learn it

through education.

But man is essentially a political animal, according to Aristotle's celebrated definition.

'A man who cannot live in society, or who has no need to do so because he is self-sufficient,

either a beast or a god; he is no part of a state.'26 Man can only achieve fulfilment in the

community of the polis. Only there can he find happiness. (It should always be borne in mind

that in his treatment of politics Aristotle is thinking exclusively of the polis, the city-state with

precisely defined limits.)

If our thesis is correct and all Aristotle's practical philosophy rests on his theory of

education, then we should find a genuinely political dimension as well as an ethical dimension in

his concept of the goal of education. This is indeed the case. Just as education leads the

individual to virtue, which is the essential source of happiness, so also it creates the conditions

necessary for the establishment and stability of the virtuous polis, that is to say, the polis that

ensures the happiness of its citizens. It is through education that a community is formed. 'The

state [...] is a plurality; it should be formed into a social unit by means of education.'27

At the beginning of his Politics, Aristotle declares that 'the state is a creation of

nature'.28 But when he describes the ideal state, he emphasizes that 'a good state, however, is not

the work of fortune, but of knowledge and purpose'.29 And this is the sentence with which he

introduces his discussion of education in Books VII and VIII of Politics. But education does not

only create society, the community which constitutes the city, it also guarantees its stability:

The most powerful factor of all those I have mentioned as contributing to the stability of constitutions, but one which

is nowadays universally neglected, is the education of citizens in the spirit of the constitution under which they live.

You may have an unsurpassed legal system, ratified by the whole civic body; but it is of no avail unless the citizens

have been trained by force of habit and teaching in the spirit of the constitution.30

Thus education has a conservative role, as Aristotle rightly recognizes. Today's advocates of

social progress tend to criticize education for resisting change. But in Aristotle's view change is

not desirable in itself as any change may lead to 'corruption'. What he seeks is an achievable and

stable ideal. For each society and each form of government there exists a system of education.

There is a system of education that corresponds to democracy, another which is appropriate for

an oligarchy.31 It is for that reason that education is the primordial task of the legislator:

No one can doubt that it is the legislator's very special duty to regulate the education of youth, otherwise the

constitution of the state will suffer harm. The citizen should be trained in accordance with the particular form of

government under which he is to live; for each type of constitution has a distinctive character which originally

formed it and makes possible its continued existence...again some preliminary training and habituation are required

for the exercise of any faculty or art; and the same, therefore, obviously applies to the practice of virtue.32

There is one final feature which I wish to include in this sketch of the Aristotelian concept of the

goal of education. If leisure is to be the goal of education for the individual, education at state

level must be an education for peace. Just as leisure is the goal of occupation, so peace is the

goal of war.33

5

Again, life as a whole is capable of divisions: activity and leisure, war and peace. [...] War must be looked upon

simply as a means to peace, action as a means to leisure, acts merely necessary or useful as a means to those which

are good in themselves. The statesman should bear all this in mind when he drafts his laws. [...] It is with these ends

in view that children, and indeed adolescents at every stage of education, should be trained.34

The education system

In view of the essential role which education is required to play in the development of the

individual and of society, Aristotle devotes a great deal of space to the development of an

education system in his description of the ideal city. Unfortunately, only a fragment of this

description has survived. A good many questions therefore remain unanswered.

Aristotle believed that, contrary to the common practice of his day, education was a

responsibility of the state. What he works out is therefore a genuine education policy.

Like Plato, Aristotle devises a veritable system of continuing education. Education is not

limited to youth; it is a comprehensive process concerning the whole human person and lasting a

lifetime. This process is organized in periods of seven years (just as in Plato's system). The first

period is that of pre-school education. This is the responsibility of parents and more particularly

of the father, who is 'responsible for the existence of his children, which is thought the greatest

good, and for their nurture and upbringing'.35 Upbringing begins well before birth: `the legislator

must decide how best to mould the infant body to his will'.36 With this end in view, Aristotle

indicates the best age for father and mother and even the best period for conception, namely

winter. During pregnancy 'pregnant women also must take care of their bodies',37 they should

'take exercise and eat nourishing food [and] keep their minds as tranquil as possible'. The newborn

should have 'food with the highest milk content' and 'the less wine the better'. Children

must exercise their bodies and become accustomed to the cold from their earliest years. Up to

the age of 5 they should be trained through games, 'but they must not be vulgar or exhausting or

effeminate'.38 All indecent language and improper pictures should be banished completely as

children must be protected from all shameful sensations so that all morally blameworthy

phenomena are foreign to the spirit of young people. 'Between the ages of 5 and 7 they must be

spectators of the lessons they will afterwards learn.'39

At the age of 7, the children enter school. Schooling continues up to the age of 21. It is

divided into three periods of three years each. As only fragments of Aristotle's work have

reached us we cannot know in detail the features and structure of these three cycles of study. Nor

do we possess any specific knowledge about adult education. However, the texts tell us

explicitly that education is not completed at the age of 21:

But it is surely not enough that when they are young they should get the right nurture and attention: since they must,

even when they are grown up, practise and be habituated to them, we shall need laws for this as well, and generally

speaking to cover the whole of life.40

Aristotle's education system is thus clearly a system of continuing education. We should also

note that in Aristotle's view 'the body reaches maturity between the ages of 30 and 35; the soul

by the age of 49'.41 It seems probable that these thresholds also marked stages in the

comprehensive system of education devised by Aristotle.

When considering Aristotle's system of continuing education one must not forget that

his ideal city---like the Greek polis in general---is an educational city. Its citizens are required to

perform different functions in the course of their lives; they must obey, order and judge. They

participate in the service of the gods which is linked to initiation rites. They attend performances

of tragedies. These go to make up a set of elements that contribute to continuing education. As

we have seen, education was for Aristotle the affair of the state. Schools should be public. Here

Aristotle, like Plato, was far ahead of his time. For the education of children in the Greek polis

6

was a matter for the family. With the exception of physical education and military instruction, all

forms of tuition were private. The introduction of public education always indicates a certain

democratization of education. 'Education must be one and the same for all.'42 But up to what

age? Twenty-one? The texts do not tell us. But at no point does Aristotle mention selection,

though he repeatedly emphasizes that moral and intellectual gifts are unevenly distributed. It is

remarkable that Aristotle seems not to have prescribed any form of selection or competition in

his system of education in a Greece which set a high value on all forms of competition.

Nevertheless, this democratic form of education has its limits in that it is reserved for the

children of citizens. Although Aristotle does not say so explicitly, this seems obvious if we take

into account the whole of the Ethics and the Politics. There is no access for the children of

agriculturalists, artisans or retail traders. As for slaves, they are not considered as complete

human beings in any case. But it seems probable that Aristotle prescribed some sort of

vocational training for tradesmen as he quite frequently refers to the importance of a good

apprenticeship for the proper practice of a trade. And in certain conditions he even prescribes a

form of education for slaves: 'Since we observe that education shapes the character of young

persons, it is also essential, when one has acquired slaves, to provide education for those who are

destined for liberal occupations.'43 The question of education for girls remains an open one. In

Aristotle's view, women are certainly not the equals of men. By their very nature they are

destined to obey and are therefore not free. Their bodily and moral virtues are not the same as

those of men. However, 'individuals and the community should similarly endeavour to develop

each of these [physical and moral] qualities in boys and girls'.44 It thus seems that Aristotle also

envisaged public education for girls. Such education would be directed towards 'beauty and

greatness, chastity and a liking for work without greed'.45

We conclude, therefore, that education must be regulated by law, and that it must be controlled by the state. We must

now deal with the nature and methods of public education. At present there is some difference of opinion about the

subjects to be taught [...]neither is it clear whether education should be more concerned with intellectual or with

moral character!46

Aristotle thus poses the question of the content of education. Once again his answer has reached

us only in fragments. And it appears that the parts which have been lost are precisely those

which are the most original. In principle, young people should be instructed in 'such useful

acquirements as are really necessary. Occupations are divided into liberal and illiberal.'47 By

'useful acquirements' Aristotle means such subjects as grammar, arithmetic, drawing and

physical training, but certainly not manual work or anything that could lead to paid work, which

is described as menial. Furthermore, young people must be taught to fill their leisure time nobly.

Hence:

there are branches of learning and education which must be studied simply with a view to leisure spent in cultivating

the mind. It is likewise clear that these studies are to be valued for their own sake, while those pursued for the sake of

an occupation must be looked upon as no more than necessary means to other ends.48

Aristotle recognizes at least four subjects for instruction: grammar, physical training, music and

drawing. In Politics he elaborates his ideas on physical training and above all on music. He

discusses drawing briefly but the section which should be devoted to grammar is completely

absent. Yet this section must have been particularly interesting in view of the role played by

language in Aristotle's thought. We may suppose that grammar included the history of literature

in addition to reading and writing (bearing in mind that Aristotle prepared a commentary on the

Iliad for the young Alexander and that his texts abound in literary references). Did his grammar

also contain the fundamentals of logic and mathematics? And what about the teaching of the

natural sciences and philosophy? We have no clear answers to any of these questions. All we

7

know for certain is that he was concerned with the teaching of the sciences, since he mentioned

it on several occasions. We shall come back to this point.

Aristotle is faithful to his principle of the mean in what he says about physical training.

This does not involve over-rigorous training or a brutal upbringing. Neither is it a matter of

paramilitary instruction. For Aristotle physical training is not simply a matter for the body: it

must help to form character, that is, courage and a sense of honour.

Clearly inspired by Plato, Aristotle deals at length with musical education. Even more

than physical training, music is a means of influencing moral character. For this reason it is

essential. Obviously one must be sure to concentrate on good music, for certain musical modes,

rhythms and melodies are harmful to character. Like Plato, Aristotle analyses the Greek

tonalities in this connection and expresses a preference for the Dorian mode, 'that is the most

solemn and sturdiest of modes'.49 It also stands midway between the other modes. Musical

education is also important as pupils learn thereby to judge the beautiful. And it has a general

educational value since it teaches them to listen. But music is the means par excellence of

education for leisure. 'Cultivation of the mind is universally acknowledged to contain an

element not only of nobility, but also of pleasure, because felicity is compounded of both. Now

all men agree that music [...] is one of the greatest pleasures.'50

Teachers are an essential part of any education system but one about which the

Aristotelian texts have nothing to say. It is particularly curious that when Aristotle lists the

various public functions of the ideal state he makes no reference to the teacher. Likewise, when

describing the general plan of the city, he has nothing to say about the location of the school.

Pedagogy

Politics ends abruptly with a remark on education: 'Clearly, then, there are three standards to

which [musical] education should conform. They are the mean, the possible, and the proper

[...].' Like all his practical philosophy, Aristotle's theory of education is grounded in good sense.

Extremes and excess are above all to be avoided. The purpose of physical training should not be

to produce champions at all costs. And musical education should be more concerned with the

pleasure of listening to music than with virtuosity. The next point is that pupils should not be

asked to do more than their ability permits. Thus young men should not be given lessons on

political science as they have no experience in practical matters.51 In general, it is necessary to

take account of the intellectual level of pupils as 'argument [is] not powerful with all men'.52

Lastly, education should be limited to what is appropriate for the pupil, taking account of his

age, character, and so on.

In accordance with man's nature, which is composed of the body, the soul and reason,

education should proceed in stages. 'Care of the soul should be preceded by that of the body,

which must be followed immediately by training of the appetites. This training, however, should

be directed to the benefit of the mind, and care of the body to that of the soul.'53 Reason and

intellect only begin to develop in the child from a certain age. Education should therefore begin

with physical training, continue with music and conclude with philosophy.

Aristotle identifies two complementary educational categories: education through reason

and education through habit. For Aristotle 'education through habit' does not mean a sort of

training involving automatic repetition. What he understands by this expression is what we today

would call 'active learning'. Moreover, in the Nichomachean Ethics he emphasizes that 'for the

things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them, e.g. men become

builders by building and lyre-players by playing the lyre'.54 This is also true of moral education:

'We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave

acts.'55 It is through habit or active learning that natural dispositions develop. But education

through habit is not limited to the learning of arts and techniques, and to the development of

8

moral attitudes, but also concerns scientific education. 'It is through the practice of science that

the possessor of science becomes learned in actuality.'56

For Aristotle, then, education is not something to which the pupil must passively submit.

On the contrary, it is action that counts. Here too the theory of education faithfully reflects the

main lines of Aristotelian philosophy as a whole. And this action is a source of pleasure for the

pupil. Aristotle is clearly enough of a realist to see that young people are to be governed not only

by pleasure but also by pain.57 There can be no doubt that Aristotle was a rather authoritarian

educator!

Education through habit is connected with three notions which should be mentioned:

imitation, experience and memory. Man likes to imitate; all the arts are based on an imitation of

nature. But imitation is also an essential source of lessons and education. 'Imitation is a

distinctive feature of man from his childhood: imitation separates him from the animals and it is

through imitation that he acquires his earliest knowledge.'58 But a good example is needed if

imitation is to serve the cause of moral education: 'Without a good example there can be no

good imitation and that is true in all areas.'59 Some virtues and types of knowledge can only be

acquired through experience. This applies to prudence, for example, but also to physics:

While young men become geometricians and mathematicians and wise in matters like these, it is thought that a

young man of practical wisdom cannot be found. The cause is that such wisdom is concerned not only with

universals but with particulars, which become familiar from experience, but a young man has no experience. [...] one

might ask this question too, why a boy may become a mathematician, but not a philosopher or a physicist. Is it

because the objects of mathematics exist by abstraction, while the first principles of these other subjects come from

experience, and because young men have no conviction about the latter, but merely use the proper language, while

the essence of mathematical objects is plain enough to them?60

The effect of habit is based on the phenomenon of memory to which Aristotle devotes a text

included in the Parva Naturalia.61 He underscores the imaginative nature of memory and the

importance of repeated acts of recollection.

Education through reason complements education through habit. It is education in the

proper sense of the term including, specifically, the teaching of the sciences. Its aim is to impart

an understanding of causes: 'To teach is to indicate the causes of all things.'62 Education through

reason is concerned with the universal, which surpasses experience. 'Men of experience know

that a thing is, but they do not know why it is, whereas men of learning know the reason and the

cause.'63

Language is the essential instrument of education: 'Language is the cause of the

education which we receive.'64 For that reason, hearing has an important role. 'The faculty of

learning belongs to the person who possesses the sense of hearing as well as memory.'65 One

recalls the role which Aristotle attributes to music in education. He draws a curious conclusion

from the link between hearing and education, observing that it is for that reason that 'blind

people are more intelligent than the deaf and dumb'.66 The place of the problem of language in

Aristotle's philosophical thinking is well known. To a large extent his philosophy amounts

simply to an analysis of the functions of language.

Education through reason is characterized by two methods: epagoge, or learning by

induction, and learning by demonstration: 'Indeed, we learn only through induction or by

demonstration. [...] Demonstration proceeds on the basis of universal principles and induction on

the basis of particular cases.'67 Epagoge is the path that leads from experience to knowledge.

Examples are particular experiences. Aristotle's 'epagogic' pedagogy is a form of teaching

which proceeds from examples to an understanding of causes, as in science, which is always a

knowledge of the universal. For Aristotle 'all teaching given or received by means of reasoning

derives from pre-existing knowledge'.68 But this pre-existing knowledge is quite different from

that discussed by Socrates. It is not the result of a prior vision of ideas. It is the perception of a

9

concrete fact or knowledge of the term that signifies that fact: 'The fore-knowledge required is

of two sorts: sometimes what has to be presupposed is that the thing actually exists; sometimes it

is the meaning of the term employed, which has to be understood; and sometimes both at

once.'69 Education thus consists in learning the meaning of words, that is, of language, and

advancing towards knowledge by studying examples.70

The theoretical sciences---mathematics, physics and theology---are chiefly taught by

demonstration, that is, not on the basis of examples but starting from universal principles. That

is the highest level of education through reason, which proceeds by means of syllogisms.

Thus, to a great extent, education through reason coincides with the scientific approach

or theoretical philosophy just as education through habit coincides with ethical action or

practical philosophy. But the goal remains the same: happiness, the convergence of virtue and

wisdom, the contemplative life of the philosopher or sage.

Conclusion

Although Aristotle's work has reached us in incomplete form and many important texts are

missing, his theory of education can be seen to occupy an important place in his philosophical

thinking as a whole. If the goal of man is one of his essential concerns, it is only through

education that man fulfils himself completely. Human beings possess specific natural aptitudes

but it is only through education that they learn the business of being human and become truly

human: 'It is precisely [nature's] deficiencies which art and education seek to make good.'71 It is

through education that culture is created.

Aristotle's theory of education has lost none of its relevance. His observations on

educational policy and its role in society, his concept of a system of continuing education and

education for peace and leisure, and his educational ideas have much in common with the

concerns of those responsible for education today.

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