Part C (30%) – 10 pages

The following are FOUR statements made by various philosophers on education.

Statement 1: “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man”

- Vivekananda
- 2.5 pages (7%)

Statement 2: “The perfect human being is one who has acquired both
theoretical virtues and practical virtues” – al Farabi

- 2.5 pages (7%)

Statement 3: “Education should aim to raise the level of individual morality if

the moral level of society is to be raised” – Confucius

- 2.5 pages (8%)

Statement 4: “Education should free people from false opinions and students
should learn the truth on their own rather than by force” – Plato
– Analogy of the cave.

- 2.5 pages (8%)

Explain each of the statements above with specific examples.
 According to Wikipedia about Swami Vivekananda was a Hindu monk from India. He played
significant role in the growing Indian nationalism of the 19 th and 20th century, reinterpreting and har-
monizing certain aspects of Hinduism. His teachings and philosophy applied this reinterpretation to
various aspects of education, faith, character building as well as social issues pertaining to India, and
was also instrumental in introducing Yoga to the west. According to Vivekananda a country's future
depends on its people, stating that "man-making is my mission." Religion plays a central role in this
man-making, stating " to preach unto mankind their divinity, and how to make it manifest in every
movement of life.

In education we always need to search for something new and always be open to learn some-
thing new. As Swami Vivekananda says: “Education is the manifestation of the perfection already
present in man”. In the present scenario, everyone thinks that education is simply forming a time table
to which we stick to in which you need to get up early in the morning study something then pack up
your bags go to a place to learn something and then come back home and remain to the same time ta-
ble every day. Ultimately your efforts get rated one fine day in the form of marks or grades which
given by the educators or the institute.

Is this real education that we think it is? Probably not I think. Education is much beyond it. In
education we always need to search for something new and always be open to learn something new.
As Swami Vivekananda says. So education is something which is there within us it’s just how much
we strive for it and how much we desire to learn something new everyday with every new people we
see. In order to learn something we should convert ourselves into a disciple rather than being just a
student. Always we need to listen to what our inner soul says because your inner self will never do in-
justice to you. Unfortunately in recent time’s education is nothing more than a degree and marks.
Marks have spoiled the true performance of the generation. So I think we need to reform education
system which focuses only on marks and degree.

The benefit of attending educational institutions is largely literacy and less education. Learning
is something, which is not bound by time, place or age. If a person intends to learn, then every moment
is a learning opportunity, when one can gain knowledge and experience. The outlook of a person is of
primary importance in respect of learning and acquiring knowledge.
 I would like to state a small example which states as to how we should behave in order to re-
ally educate ourselves, “Always learn to live like a elephant and not like a dog! because when an ele-
phant walks elegantly a dog seeing it starts barking but then too the elephant does not seem to get dis-
tracted but keeps on moving elegantly” What we understand from this is that an elephant knows its
power and that is why it does not care about that dog. Likewise we need to know our strengths and
keep on moving who so ever comes in between to distract us from our path.

According to Al-Farabi, he is considered as one of the great Arab philosophers. He studied

Greek philosophy, especially Plato and Aristotle, whose works he translated, transposed in aphoristic
form and imitated them. Following the tradition of later Greek commentators of Aristotle, he believed
that Aristotle and Plato in essential matters were in solidarity with each other, and vigorously tried to
reconcile those moments in which they disagreed. In contrast to empiricism of Razi, Al-Farabi re-
mained true deductive method; he believed that the world is not eternal, but was created, and sought to
prove that Aristotle had same view and that the gap between the absolute unity of God and the multi -
plicity of the real world is filled with a series of successive emanations. Humanistic principles of the
great scientist always attracted special attention because they are still relevant and in demand in our
modern globalized world.
Al-Farabi accepted the Aristotelian principle of eternal and not generated world. The task of
philosophy he thought a description and explanation of existing forever and eternity of existence
through a qualitative analysis of the various parts of the universe, a qualitative description of the pro-
cesses in detail in it, understood as the actualization of potential though, but the existing one. Ethics in
the modern sense of the category of "virtue" for Al-Farabi is the key to the teleological interpretation
of being as the universe and human itself, and human in society, as a virtue is a way of thinking,
knowledge.
In fact, education is one of the most important social phenomena in Al-Farabi's philosophical
system. It is concerned with the human soul and makes sure that the individual is prepared from an
early age to become a member of society, to achieve his own level of perfection, and thus to reach the
goal for which he was created. However, while it is true that there are no writings specifically devoted
to education in al-Farabi's books, anyone who follows his writings with care will come upon various
texts scattered here and there containing clear educational elements corresponding to his overall philo-
sophical views, which incline to integrate separate concepts and thoughts into a ‘unified world view’.
 The goal of education is to lead the individual to perfection since the human being was created
for this purpose. The perfect human being (al-insan al-kamil), thought Al-Farabi, is the one who has
obtained theoretical virtue thus completing his intellectual knowledge and has acquired practical moral
virtues thus becoming perfect in his moral behavior. Then, crowning these theoretical and moral
virtues with effective power, they are anchored in the souls of individual members of the community
when they assume the responsibility of political leadership, thus becoming role models for other peo-
ple. Al-Farabi unites moral and aesthetic values: good is beautiful, and beauty is good; the beautiful is
that which is valued by the intelligentsia.
So this perfection which he expects from education combines knowledge and virtuous behav-
ior, it is happiness and goodness at one and the same time. Al-Farabi concerned not only personal, but
also social perfection and his "virtuous city" (madina fadylya) built on principles borrowed primarily
from Platonism, Neo-Platonic and Aristotelian although construction elements of his teaching cannot
be underestimated. The political philosophy of Al-Farabi had little to do with the political theory in the
Arab-Muslim culture, which was focused on the realities of the Islamic state.
True happiness Al-Farabi considered achievable only in the afterlife. Happiness is good in its
absolute sense, but an absolute good it is absolute being. Such has the first principle, understood in the
spirit of neo-Platonic, but often referred in Aristotelian terms as an effective mind. The dichotomy of
body and soul is very clearly stated in Al-Farabi: the soul is tormented by a "prison", composed of the
four elements, and its only hope of release - wisdom (hikma), true and complete knowledge that will
cause "unity" (it- tihad) soul with the metaphysical principles of the universe.

Evaluating the outcomes of teaching was an important aspect of teaching and Al-Farabi was
well aware of it. He emphasized that a learner’s level in the field of study should be examined. After
completing the course of a particular discipline, the learner should be tested to know the level of his
learning. In this regard the question may be asked either an educational or an experimental type. In the
first case, it is directed at the pupil who is supposed to know something so as to demonstrate that
knowledge. A person can also test himself to know if he has made a quantitative or methodological
mistake. For this purpose, instruments are made available to help us check the compass, the ruler, the
scales, the abacus, astronomic summary tables.
 Al-Farabi classified among the rules which are few in number but applicable to many things.
If these are learnt and remembered we can also learn many matters incorporated in them (Al-Farabi,
1968c, p. 58). In the same way that knowledge is tested, so is intelligence: the ability to discriminate;
the capacity for deductive and critical reasoning. Understanding the relationship between isolated
pieces of information and grasping the links between them is Mathematical ability which is one of the
important way of recognizing intelligence.
He has integrated the three basic issues, God, the emanation and hierarchy of beings and the in-
ternal structure of beings. According to Farabi, the concept of perfect human being is the one who has
great intellectual knowledge and sound moral behavior. This should be one of the main goals of educa-
tion. The second major aim of education is to produce political leaders. These political leaders can ex-
ploit their skills for the welfare of the society. Al-Farabi considers a person intelligent if has wisdom,
common sense, cleverness temperance, courage, generosity and justice.

Confucius took lifelong delight in learning as well as teaching, and lived to see his reputation
as an accomplished polymath spread far and wide. Before his time, under the Zhou Dynasty, schooling
took place within government offices and was dispensed by public officials. General education, the
prerogative of the nobility, was denied to the common people, and there was no such thing as a full-
time teaching profession. Young aristocrats received a civil and military education based on the ‘six
arts’: rites, music, archery, chariot driving, calligraphy and mathematics. The end of the so-called
Spring and Autumn Period, with which Confucius’ life coincided, was marked by violent upheavals as
Chinese society based on slave-ownership was transformed into a feudal society; the political and eco-
nomic underpinning of ‘education for and by the administration’ was collapsing and culture was ac-
quiring a more popular base. In breaking the aristocratic monopoly of learning and setting up a private
academy that was accessible to rich and poor alike, Confucius was moving with his times. ‘My teach-
ing’, he declared, ‘is open to everyone, without distinction.’

In the course of this half century, Confucius, not content to give excellent training to a large
number of students, constantly distilled his own teaching experience, thus developing his own educa-
tional doctrine. The teacher’s first task is to identify his audience. In this connection, Confucius stated
that his lessons were destined for all men, without exception (Analects, Wei Ling gong).
 His pupils came from the lowest as well as the highest levels of society, and access to educa-
tion was thereby broadened considerably. Opening the doors of learning more widely, he hastened the
development of general education in Ancient China, thus contributing both to political reform and to
the dissemination of culture. At the same time he helped to reveal the humanist character of Confucian
teaching, which was to have an unquestionable influence on the private schools and academies of feu-
dal society. This approach also helped to create the conditions whereby the emergent land-owner class
could accede to the authority conferred by learning and produce talented men from its midst.

Confucius demonstrated that education plays a fundamental role in the development of society
and of individuals alike. Not only does it offer a means of ensuring the supremacy of virtue; it can also
alter human nature and improve it in qualitative terms. By raising individual moral standards, it ren-
ders society in its entirety more virtuous: the kingdom is well administered, orderly and law-abiding,
to the extent that all within it follow the path of righteousness. Although it may be an exaggeration to
state that the supremacy of virtue can be guaranteed by education alone, special concern for the latter,
and the notion that action at the level of individual morality is called for if the moral level of society is
to be raised, remain topical today. The teachers and political leaders of the feudal era were all imbued
with these principles; most of them emphasized that education had an improving effect on individuals,
and promoted order and security throughout the land; hence it should be developed. Confucius was at
the origin of that concern for education, which gradually became one of the great traditions of China’s
feudal society.

Moral instruction, which had to take pride of place, since what was needed were individuals of
outstanding virtue who would assist the prince in governing with integrity, thus became the basis of
Confucian teaching. In deference to the interests of the feudal landowning class, Confucius reshaped
the moral concepts of the past, and proclaimed a series of new rules designed to put an end to the polit-
ical chaos and moral decadence of the times.
His ethics, philosophy and politics are in dissociable, the first of these being characterized by a
rare vitality which was the driving force of feudal morality and civilization for more than two millen-
nia and which was centered on ‘humanity’ or ‘benevolence’, which also signifies love for one’s neigh-
bor. This virtue manifests itself in all types of relations between human beings and contains the germ
of other qualities.
 It also helps in avoiding all forms of excess, promotes fearlessness in the face of difficulties,
assists in distinguishing what is to be cultivated from what is to be eschewed, and encourages honest
and righteous conduct. All these qualities stem from ren, which enjoins human beings to show mutual
sympathy, solicitude and respect, and to watch over one another. In order that all these precepts might
serve to enhance the responsibility of individuals and society alike, Confucius stressed that each man
should cultivate virtue and should receive a moral education.

Thanks to individual efforts in that respect, there would be order in family affairs, the country
would be well governed, the people would live in security, and peace would everywhere prevail.
Moral education was thus for Confucius the means whereby his ideas concerning virtue might be ma-
terialized. As the founder of feudal China’s education system he defined its basic content by working
out his concept of moral instruction, and established guidelines for its further development. His ethics
can, moreover, be said to have codified the whole network of social relationships in feudal China.
However, Confucius was equally concerned with the intellectual development of his disciple, that is to
say with the inculcation of culture, abilities and skills. In order to instill the moral values of feudal so-
ciety in them, the basics of an all-round culture and the capacities required to exercise official respon-
sibilities

Plato continually reminds us concern with this sort of education gives rise to the famous im-
ages of the sun, the divided line, and the cave. Although I am primarily concerned in this essay with
the cave image and its educational implications, occasionally this will require a look at the sun and the
line and other contiguous passages. The cave image is offered as an analogy for the human condition
for our education or lack of it. Imagine prisoners in a cave, chained and unable to turn their heads; as a
result they see only what is directly in front of them. What they see are shadows cast by objects behind
them which are illuminated by firelight further behind and above them. The objects are carried along
and extend above a low wall behind the prisoners. The bearers of the objects are hidden behind the
wall and so cast no shadows but occasionally they speak, and the echoes of these words reach the pris-
oners and seem to come from the shadows.
 The prisoners can talk among themselves, and they naturally assume that the names they use
apply to what they see and hear the shadows passing in front of them. Socrates offers a grim assess -
ment of their plight "The shadows of artifacts constitute the only reality people in this situation would
recognize". As we observes, this is a weird image, and these are weird prisoners. Nevertheless,
Socrates says, they are like us. Of course we do not really spend our time chained and looking help-
lessly at shadows produced by those intent on deceiving us. Yet for Plato something about our condi-
tion makes the cave an apt image.

The prisoners see only shadows, and these shadows are cast by artifacts, likenesses of animals and per-
son. So the prisoners are, in Plato's view, at least two removes from truth or reality, although they do
not realize this and would object if the suggestion were made to them. If they were freed and made to
turn around towards the firelight, the prisoners would be dazzled and unable to make out the objects
that cast the shadows on the wall.

The visible realm comprises ordinary perceptible things the intelligible realm comprises what
Plato calls the forms or idea. The bound prisoner and by implication the ordinary uneducated person
has no access to intelligible forms. In fact, he has no idea there are such things. Worse yet, his access
not to perceptible things themselves, but only to shadows of those things.

The objects here are more real or true than the artifacts in the cave, since they are the originals
of which the artifacts are likenesses. The upward journey out of the cave into daylight is the soul's as-
cent to the intelligible realm. Having distinguished these realms earlier in the sun simile and said
something about their relations in the divided line analogy, Plato now explicitly intimates that one can
move from one realm to the other. This is precisely the movement to be effected by Platonic education
although what is being moved is not the eye but the soul. I shall turn shortly to the nature of this move-
ment and how Plato thinks it is best accomplished.

Before turning to the process, however, recall briefly what Plato sees as the end result of such move-
ment, the epistemic condition of the philosopher-ruler. Such a person Plato is willing to credit with un-
derstanding. Such a person has a secure grasp of the forms, not just in the abstract but as they manifest
themselves in things around us . Such a person's view of things is synoptic: he "sees things whole" or
"has a unified view of things. It is Plato's bold claim that only when such people are allowed to rule
will a community flourish. The stakes involved are very high, and the value of any process that can re-
liably produce such people is obviously very great.
 The most important stage of any enterprise is the beginning, especially when something young
and sensitive is involved. That's when most of its formation takes place, and it absorbs every impres-
sion anyone wants to stamp upon it. Stories and songs affect the student's desires, and do so in ways
that do not rely on reasoning. Music does so especially directly: "rhythm and harmony sink more. The
goal he aims for with this physical exercise and effort is the spirited part of the student's nature. This is
what he wants to wake up. The educator "wakes up" the spirited part of the student's soul the same
verb is used when Jesus tells his disciples to go out and raise the dead.

As we have seen, the purpose of Platonic education is to free the soul of the things that turn its
sight downward and to reorient it towards the truth. Such education is liberating. It is also liberal Plato
insists that studies in the mathematical sciences not be compulsory, on the grounds that compulsory in-
tellectual work never remains in the soul. Aristotle suggests a similar distinction between the liberal
sciences and those he calls vulgar. The latter are under taken because they are useful and necessary;
the former contribute to one's happiness by making it possible for one to do something worthwhile
with one's important time. It is doubtful whether Plato's discussion of education had any direct influ-
ence on Aristotle's discussion but together these views exerted a profound influence on subsequent
thinking about education.
 References

 Al-Farabi, Talkhis nawamis Aflatun, edited by ‘Abd al-Rahman Badawi, in: Aflatan fi l-islam,
Beirut, Dar al-Andalus, 1982, p. 54.

 Al- Farabi, The Fusul al-Madani, ed.by D.M.Dunlop. Cambridge, 1961, p.39.

 Al-Farabi.Treatise on the views of the residents of the virtuous city. Alma-Ata, 1970, p.318-
319.

 Al-Farabi. Book of happiness achievement. Hyderabad, 1926, p.44-46. Satybekova S.K. Hu-
manism of Al-Farabi. Alma-Ata.1975, p.136-138.

 Eastern and Western Disciples, Life of Swami Vivekananda, Two Volumes, Kolkata:Advaita
Ashrama.

 Romain Rolland, The Life OfVivekananda, tr.E.K.Malcolm Smith. Kolkata:Advaita Ashrama.

 Teaching of Swami Vivekananda.Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama.

 Smeyers, P., 1994, “Philosophy of Education: Western European Perspectives”, in The Inter-
national Encyclopedia of Education (Volume 8), T. Husen and N. Postlethwaite (eds.), Oxford:
Pergamon, 2nd. Edition, pp. 4456–61.

 Smith, B., and Ennis, R. (eds.), 1961, Language and Concepts in Education, Chicago: Rand
McNally.

 Snook, I., 1972, Indoctrination and Education, London: Routledge.

 Stokes, D., 1997, Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation, Washing-
ton, DC: Brookings.

 Stone, L. (ed.), 1994, The Education Feminism Reader, New York: Routledge.

 Ulich, R., 1954, Three Thousand Years of Educational Wisdom, Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press, Revised Ed.
 Winch, C., and Gingell, J., 1999, Key Concepts in the Philosophy of Education, London: Rout-
ledge.