플라톤의 『국가』에 나타난 도덕교육론

Abstract

This article aims to deal with two levels of ethics education in Plato’s Republic, and look for significant implications upon interdisciplinary approach which has been applied to approach method to ethics education, but has some limitations. We can consider Plato’s Republic as a kind of education theory. Futhermore it can be looked upon as theory of ethics education in that it pursues ultimately the good itself(the idea of the good). Plato’s system of disciplines can be revealed in detail through analogies of the sun, the line. And the problem of praxis can be scrutinized through analogy of the cave. Problematic point to be solved is how the turning from opinion(doxa) to knowledge(epistēmē) in the curriculum on the basis of Plato’s disciplinary system. In Plato’s paideia, education through poetry and art(mousikē) enables children or adolescents to form good opinion, and dialectical method(dialektikē)enables them grasp idea or form. Mousikē and dilalektikē consist of two levels of Plato’s ethics education. The meaning of the turning from ‘education through poetry and art’(mousikē) to ‘dialectical method’(dialektikē) in the context of ethics education can be addressed as a conversion form moral socialization to moral autonomy, from good opinion & character to reason. The point we should pay attention to is that application of reason may be destructive without the foundation moral socialization or good character. We call the problem between ‘tradition and habit’(socialization) and ‘reason’(moral autonomy) as the paradox of moral education. Plato’s mention that “the reason mixed with mousikē is the best guardian of virtue” stands for harmony between moral socialization and moral autonomy. The approach to ethics education in Plato’Republic can contribute to solving the problems of interdisciplinary approach. We can derive anthropological premise of interdisciplinary approach from Plato’s theory of ethics education : humans by nature want to pursue the good. From that premise, each discipline has its raison d’etre as far as the premise of each discipline pursues the good itself in a direct or an indirect way. And moreover,Plato’s theory of ethics education proposes a dialogue method, that is, dialectical method which can mediate disagreement between the normative aspect and the descriptive/motivational aspect of morality.