An Elaboration on the Anthropological Grounds for Maximum Involvement of the Administration in Education with a Focus on Plato’s and Farabi’s Views

• Main Authors: Ali Ali‐Hosseini, Mahmood Fallah, Fahimeh Qaemi
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Qom Islamic Azad University 2014-12-01
• Series: سپهر سیاست
• Subjects: anthropology; education; nature; state; maximum involvement; plato; farabi
• Online Access: http://se.journal.qom-iau.ac.ir/article_540966_92cdc7090da0d863d7eeac20d066e0f3.pdf

Among miscellaneous views on the relationship between people and the <br />state,  there  are  some  that  believe  the  state  must  control  the <br />relations  between  the  human  and  the  soul  with  an  educational <br />purpose to bring about prosperity for human beings; a belief, which <br />was developed by Plato in ancient Greek and was explicated and <br />moderated by Farabi on the grounds he set for its development in <br />Islamic thought. In proposing their political views, Plato and Farabi <br />considered  education  as  an  essential  concept  and  thought  of  the <br />state  as  obliged  to  make  it  come  true  without  any  limitation. <br />However, of the important questions that are posed to investigate <br />those  views  is  how  the  human  and  his  needs  and  abilities  are <br />pictured, on the basis of which requirements are taken into account <br />and  justified  in  the  form  of  politico‐educational  views  to  reach <br />perfection.  Apparently,  that  picture  shows  lack  of  sureness  about <br />humans’ ability to elevate themselves and inequalities among them <br />in using or taking advantage of reason. The purpose of picturing the <br />human being from the standpoint of the thinkers that believe in the <br />involvement of the state in education with a focus on anthropological <br />understanding of the leading pioneers of that view, i.e. Plato and <br />Farabi, is to gain a better appreciation of their politico‐educational <br />measures.  A  comparative  elaboration  on  the  anthropological <br />standpoints  of  those  thinkers  and  their  impact  on  their  politico‐<br />educational  views  will  follow  a  short  introduction  to  Plato’s  and <br />Farabi’s political thoughts and educational prescriptions. This paper <br />will show that the belief in inequality of human beings in using their <br />reason and sensual faculty, distrust in nature and different levels of <br />educability of human beings will necessitate their guidance or control <br />that will result in extremist views on the correction and purification <br />of the human being if followed meticulously.