The Philosophy of Virtue Education of Socrates---Particularly on 'Protagoras', 'Menon' and 'Gorgias'

• Main Authors: Loh Yip, 羅月美
• Other Authors: Ko-Chuan Chang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2006
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/64431143142304178217

碩士 === 國立中正大學 === 哲學所 === 94 === The main thesis of this paper is to inquire into questions posed by Socrates: ‘What is virtue?’ (tiv ajreth;n ejstiv; Was ist die Tugend?) and ‘Can virtue be taught?’ (didakto;n ajreth; h/;; Mag die Tugend lerhbar sein?) and from these two angles to investigate the inculcation method of education and heuristic method of education between the Sophists and Socrates. The former holds that all our knowledge comes from posterior education; hence it is instilled into our soul by others. Our soul just like a piece of blank paper, it hasn’t anything except for learning after we were born. The latter holds that all our knowledge comes from a prior knowledge; hence it preexists our soul before we are born. As long as we use the method of asking (to; ejrwvthma), the sub-knowledge can be born from our soul. This is because all knowledge is within our minds. This paper starts from the Sophist’s skill of rhetoric to explore how Socrates criticizes Sophists’ education. Socrates maintains that Sophists know well some opinions (dovxai) and transmit these opinions to their students; therefore their students employ these opinions to administer their city-state after they are in power. He states that these in-power politicians use the delicious food to feed the citizens’ stomachs in order to make them unable to distinguish right from wrong nor able to discriminate between the facts, hence they go with the tide and say what the others have said. He further points out that Sophists regard the aim of education as preparation of an occupation, instead of a vocation, so the work of education, as far as Sophist concerned, is only the means of earning money and of winning the fame. Socrates is in contempt of and rejects such an attitude towards education.