The Ancient Greek Iconoclast’s Philosophy of Education

The basic philosophical foundation that supports the Socratic philosophy of education Socrates, in The Republic, begins his query by asking how is it best to live one†s life? He suggests the best life is lived in such a fashion that is conducive to creating a just society. Such a society is the one designed that is most conducive to justice, and therefore to happiness, as opposed to pleasure. Remember that happiness for the Greeks was not a matter of individual self-fulfillment. Rather, Socrates considered happiness as fulfilling one†s most fitting vocational role in society. Socrates defined a society that is best in autocratic terms-a cobbler should not rule, and a potential ruler or philosopher should not make shoes, because this is antithetical to their natural abilities and fitness. But although Socrates advocated oligarchy as the fittest system of governance, he did not advocate aristocracy. In one of his earlier dialogues, called the â€Å"Meno,† Socrates is shown leading a slave boy through mathematical proofs. With correct prompting the boy is thus able to recover innate knowledge about the world. Thus Socrates saw intellectual gifts as intrinsic to the human mind and not necessarily based on the ability of the tutor. This is why Socrates did not charge for his teachings, unlike the Sophists. (Kemerling, 2002,†Socrates,† The Philosophy Pages) But to accept the Socratic doctrine one must also believe that potential intellectual abilities are not democratically bestowed upon individuals as suggested by the Sophists, who aimed to teach all people to rhetorically please the people in the law courts and in the political sphere, by using clever phrases. Socrates believed that there was an inherent paradox in acquring knowledge â€Å"the most fundamental questions about our own nature and function,† are actually unaswerable and undemonstratable by common rhetorical devices, therefore â€Å"it seems impossible for us to learn anything. The only escape, Socrates proposed, is to acknowledge â€Å"that we already know what we need to know.† (Kemerling, 2002, â€Å"Plato: Immortality and the Forms-Doctrine of Recollection,† Philosophy Pages) How does this philosophy define the roles of teacher? From the â€Å"Meno† cited above, it might seem that Socrates saw himself primarily as a questioner and a facilitator of the recollection innate gifts. â€Å"The dialogue form was probably invented by Plato† to portray the Socratic method, otherwise known as the dialectic.† (Huffman, 2005) The method known as the Socratic method of teaching, still practiced in many schools (particularly law schools) today, â€Å"consisted of asking questions like ‘What is courage?† of people who were confident of the answer. Socrates, claiming ignorance of the answers to the questions, would gradually show the people's beliefs to be contradictory. Socrates did not answer his questions, though much could be learned from the course of the discussion.† (Huffman, 2005) How will this philosophy guide the learning expectations in a classroom? Using questions places the teacher in some authority, as the teacher directs the discussion through involved questioning. However, it also demands a great deal of preparedness and attentiveness on the part of the student, combined with a willingness to question what the student†s society may deem to be common sense. Students of innately high ability are supposed to continually excel, to justify the teacher†s expectations of the student's gifts. Ultimately, this questioning of common sense doctrine resulted in the condemnation of Socrates for corrupting the youth of Athens and of questioning the piety of the Greek gods. (Huffman, 2005) How will this philosophy exemplify the high standards of teaching? On one hand, the Socratic dialectic may seem to be an equalizing form of philosophy. Anyone can answer the questions of the teacher. But because the method stresses student recollection, rather than the teacher†s ability to mold or impart knowledge upon a blank slate, it did not function as such in Socrates† actual practice. The Republic, the delineation of the ideal state, advances a tiered division of society, mimicking the division of the body into soul, heart, and lower regions-rulers are innately of the mind, warriors of the heart or hands, and laborers of the lower regions of the body. â€Å"Only those with a philosophical temperament, Plato supposed, are competent to judge between what merely seems to be the case and what really is, between the misleading, transient appearances of sensible objects and the the permanent reality of unchanging, abstract forms.† (Kemerling, 2002, Philsophy Pages, â€Å"Plato: Education and the Value of Justice†) How will this philosophy address public expectations concerning student achievement? Accountability? In the world of the Republic, students of high levels of ability do not necessarily have empowerment over their education. Although they are subjected to rigorous Socratic questioning, they are also kept away from members of other classes of society, and not permitted to be corrupted by fairytales and myths that could take them away from their innate gifts of purely understanding the nature of virtue and the world of the forms. â€Å"Perhaps our best alternative, Socrates held, is to suppose that virtue is a (divinely bestowed?) true opinion that merely happens to lack the sort of rational justification which would earn it the status of certain knowledge,† and therefore virtue is unteachable. (Kemerling, 2002, â€Å"Plato: Immortality and the Forms-Doctrine of Recollection,† Philosophy Pages) Student achievement thus ultimately lies in the ability of the student, and the accountability of the teacher lies in his or her ability to select the correct student for the correct form of learning, rather than his or function as a teacher in the classroom.

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Thomas Jefferson Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Thomas Jefferson - Essay Example In his opinion, Alexander was different from his peers and would relieve the people from oppression. Jefferson believed that the monarchy system was a flawed system, but also understood that not all societies had reached the level required to sustain a republic. He had a great admiration for Tsar Alexander and even wrote to him constantly to commend him for his good character. He believed that Alexander was an enlightened monarch who would alleviate the suffering of his people. He even asked Alexander to mediate the ongoing dispute between the United States and Britain. The author of the ‘Three Emperors’ feels that it is because of this admiration for Alexander that Jefferson accepted the gift. In the parlor, President Jefferson placed the bust opposite the bust of Napoleon to show that the two were totally different. The author of this book feels that these two rulers were not different from each other, but just had different ways of doing the same thing. The author feels that the distinction should have been Jefferson and the European rulers. Jefferson was concerned with access to land and the international trade for the state to flourish. The author states that Jefferson was pragmatic in the means he used to achieve the success of his people, although he was guided by clear ideological visions. Jefferson used statecraft means to achieve his goals of protecting the interests of the people of America from a world that he believed was hostile. Jefferson’s way of leadership showed that he belonged to the idealist school of thought that believes that the policies that determine action in America, should be based on moral principles. Jefferson was able to achieve his long-term diplomatic success by using moral principles and a righteous tone. He envisioned a world where disputes between nations were resolved amicably without resulting in war. He used different means to attain whatever he wanted, but the results were consistent. I would hold

The Internet and Self Employment - Increase of Business Owners because Essay

The Internet and Self Employment - Increase of Business Owners because of the Internet - Essay Example Internet is a technology, which is used by the companies to operate their business online. Without internet facility, it is impossible to reach international markets and introduce products to the international customers. At present, internet has become one of the extensively used technologies, which has made many business reach success in a very short span of time. Facebook, Twitter, and Groupon are some of the major examples of successful online firms (Beer, 2011). E-businesses are based on ideas. An e-business is successful if the idea behind that business makes people save their money (Quittner, 2009). How Well Does Internet Increase The Progress Of Businesses Online? Internet makes small businesses more profitable and efficient as compared to the small conventional style businesses. A company working in the ebusiness environment makes use of website to make people aware of the products and services offered by the company. A good website is very important for the success of an onl ine company because it is the main source of communication between the company and the customers. A website not only helps a company gain exposure in international markets but also attracts a large number of customers towards the products and services of the company. ... ot get much exposure to the outside world which results in decreased levels of productivity whereas online businesses operate in different parts of the world by making use of internet technologies resulting in many benefits, such as, attracting more customers towards the products and services of the company and increasing productivity and profitability of the company. In today’s world, a company can never gain competitive edge over its competitors with low levels of productivity and market share. Efficiency and productivity are the keys towards customer satisfaction and achievement of competitive advantage. Online businesses hold a large number of customers and market opportunities as compared to conventional businesses, which increase their chances of achieving competitive advantage in the markets where they operate their businesses. Exposure to multiple markets is one of main features of online businesses. Today, the world has become a global village where customers are very much comfortable with the use of internet and they can search for their desired products online instead of going to supermarkets physically. Another thing is that the customers look for their desired features in the products, which they look for. If they do not get their desired products from one company, they search for other companies online in order to find their desired products, which results in increasing the business of those companies, which have online presence. Therefore, we can say that online presence of a company results in increasing the productivity of the company. Increase in productivity is not only related to the number of customers of a company but also to the number of markets in which a company operates its businesses. Online companies can reach the customers more