play and education in Plato教程.docxVIP

/wcp/Papers/Educ/EducKren.htm ABSTRACT: This paper focuses on the connection between play (paidia) and education (paideia) in Platos Republic. The dialogue presents two opposing pedagogical approaches to the education of political leadership: first, the approach of a Socratic-like lover of wisdom, who seeks to free citizens through philosophical play for lives of excellence (arete) and for the application of their leadership skills to the construction of a just society for the public good; and second, the approach of tyrannical sophists who educate and rule in the city by coercive force for private advantage and the enslavement of citizens for a rulers own personal ends. Platos Republic aims to show that philosophical play is the best pedagogical means to educate a just citizenry and to prepare philosophical leaders to govern. bluered.gif (1041 bytes) This paper traces a central connection between play (paidia) and education (paideia) in Platos Republic. (1) In this dialogue play is presented as the best pedagogical means in the education of a just citizenry and the cultivation of philosophical leaders who can apply their knowledge and experience to establishing a just city (polis). My hermeneutical approach to the Republic is shaped by more recent approaches to Platos dialogues that consider the dialogue form as significant for an understanding of the content of the dialogues. Specific to the connection between play and education in the Republic is the dramatic context which identifies a life-and-death struggle between philosophy/freedom and sophistry/tyranny in terms of their respective approaches to education/culture and leadership in establishment of a just city. Education/Play in the Context of the Dialogue, the Characters, and the struggle between Philosophy/Free-Play and Sophistry/Tyrannical Control. The dramatic form of the Republic, the character of the participants, and the social-political context of events in Athens and Greece during the time of Socrat