The Role of Education in Aristotle’s Politics

Abstract

Aristotle analyzed the problem of education in the seventh and eighth books of Politics. Most researchers interpret his thoughts on education as “the education of the youth”. Some authors try to convince us of the significance of contemplation and the problem of the best possible way of life in analyzing Aristotle’s education theory. We would like to regard the problem of education in another frame. The role of education is exceptionally significant, judging from the central theme of Politics – the political practice of human beings. Therefore, the critical question we want to ask here is – what is the reason for creating a polis? Only when we understand Aristotle’s answer to this question will we know why education plays such an essential role in a polis. Aristotle avoids definitively prescribing and ordering what music children and citizens should listen to. He leaves open the critical question about “how children and citizens should be educated”. Disagreeing on the proper way of education is the very essence of education. No ready-made best way to be educated has to be applied in every case. The best way is only the one that is the outcome of the particular dispute. Just as citizens, while in power, have to think about those who are subordinate because they replace each other, when thinking about the aim of education, they have to think about each other. Outside of that process, there is no ideal form of education, the application of which would improve the political community.

Aristotel problem obrazovanja analizira u sedmoj i osmoj knjizi Politike. Većina istraživača njegova razmišljanja o obrazovanju tumači kao „obrazovanje mladih“. Neki autori, analizirajući Aristotelovu teoriju obrazovanja, pokušavaju da nas uvere u značaj kontemplacije i problema najboljeg načina života. Ovde želimo da problem obrazovanja sagledamo u drugom okviru. Uloga obrazovanja izuzetno je značajna, sudeći po središnjoj temi Politike – političkoj praksi čoveka. Stoga je ključno pitanje koje ovde želimo da postavimo – koji je razlog stvaranja polisa? Tek kada shvatimo Aristotelov odgovor na ovo pitanje, moći ćemo razumeti zašto obrazovanje igra tako bitnu ulogu u polisu. Aristotel svakako izbegava da propisuje i naređuje koju muziku deca i građani treba da slušaju. On ostavlja otvorenim ključno pitanje „kako obrazovati decu i građane“. Neslaganje oko ispravnog načina obrazovanja je zapravo njegova suština. Ne postoji gotov, najbolji način obrazovanja koji se može primeniti u svakoj situaciji. Najbolji način je samo onaj koji je rezultat sporenja na ovu temu. Kao što građani, dok su na vlasti, moraju misliti na one koji su podređeni jer jedni druge smenjuju, isto tako kada razmišljaju o cilju obrazovanja jednako moraju misliti jedni na druge. Izvan tog procesa ne postoji idealan oblik obrazovanja čijom bi se primenom mogla unaprediti politička zajednica.