The Educational Process According to Plato

Abstract

The study of pedagogical and formative structures of the Ancient World can throw light on the essential human educational aspects, echoing in many ways, in contemporary times. A concise but insightful look into the educational process in the Ancient World reveals tensions that still exist at the present time, such as the clash between idealism and relativism: a conflict that in the course of human history, insists on not being captured in a single point of reconciliation. The highest representative of such confrontation is Plato, who in the Theaetetus, establishes a framework for argumentative evidence that gives voice to those poles. But this is not merely to explore different philosophies and some of their most obvious consequences. From the opposition between relativism and idealism, Plato outlines a strong educational‑pedagogical program, in which the image of an illustrated man, with philosophical training, overlaps that of a man of the people, formed by the uncritical demands of the unreflective daily life.
Here, we intend to analyze the theoretical framework of the Platonic analysis and the pedagogical structure resulting from it. Thus, we investigated the key‑texts of the written corpus of this Athenian philosopher, as well as secondary literature regarding this topic.