education in the republic of plato

"Allegory of the Cave" sketch by Dr. Tom Stockmann

What is education? What is its goal, its primary purpose in our lives? And how should it be accomplished? While the major theme of Plato’s Republic is centered around justice, a powerful underlying current of the importance of a true education weaves in and out of almost every conversation. In the course of the dialogue, Plato defines education, explains its purpose and demonstrates how it can be lived out. 

Plato describes education as a lifelong quest to seek out and know the truth. It is not a simple process of learning facts for the sake of succeeding in life, but rather a journey that transforms the soul and fills it with an understanding of and desire for knowledge. Its purpose in our life is to bring us to know and love what is just, beautiful and good, and to enable us to live a life guided by devotion to the truth. This form of education  requires an eager desire for the truth and an enduring passion for knowledge.

Plato teaches that “instruction must not be given the aspect of compulsion to learn” and that education is most effective when it is enjoyable and freely chosen. The human mind engages with what it loves in a way that it cannot engage with what it disdains, and “forced labors performed by the body don’t make the body any worse, but no forced study abides in a soul.”

In this light, proper instruction cannot be seen simply as teaching facts and working through an academic regime. The primary focus on the instructor’s part must be to cultivate a love of a subject and a love of learning, and to encourage students to engage with their studies based on a personal interest and motivation. This desire to learn not only makes studies more enjoyable, but it is fundamentally essential to the very act of taking in information and enables a student to genuinely benefit from their education. Finding great delight in the process of learning and the knowledge it gives is the key to helping studies “abide in the soul.”

This joy of learning alters the way a student approaches education. Learners who find no delight in their studies take a passive approach. They may listen to lectures, take notes and even receive good marks on tests, and yet make no effort to instill what they have learned into their minds and progress continually on the journey of knowledge. A delight in learning creates active, engaged learners. They deeply desire to learn, and will seek out the truth at all costs. They do not simply take facts in, but contemplate them, speak about them, and actively seek further enlightenment. They take the knowledge they have acquired with them beyond the classroom and apply it to their lives. The love of learning creates an unquenchable thirst to know, understand, and see the truth. An active pursuit of learning, where the mind “fixes itself on that which is illumined by truth and that which is” is the true form of learning, by which a soul ”intellects, knows, and appears to possess intelligence.” 

This active, delight-filled form of education does not rest lightly on the learner. It is not transitive, but has a lasting, transformative effect on the soul. Plato describes it as a “turning around” of the soul to look at the “brightest part of that which is.”

The fundamental function of education is not “to put sight into blind eyes”, but to turn the eyes of the soul around and direct them to look at the light. Education causes us to see and think differently, and to perceive the world in the bright light of truth. It changes our very tastes and desires and encourages us to wholeheartedly love and actively pursue that which is true, beautiful and good.

Education is a quest for wisdom and virtue. Its goal is to cultivate a longing for and understanding of the truth, and to enable us to choose what is good “not as a result of moral principle, but as a matter of taste.” [1]

How is this turning around of a soul to be accomplished? To cultivate a deep love of learning, to transform tastes, to direct the soul to gaze on and love the light instead of the dark. This is a beautiful thing indeed. Education is the nurturing of the soul and the conversion of desires, and is best accomplished when the process is engaging, progressive and unified by a central focus on what is good.

One clearly visible aspect of this style of learning is how engaging it is. Unlike many educational styles where an instructor delivers facts for students to receive, this model forces students to reach out and seek for the truth themselves. Throughout the dialogue, Plato continuously demonstrates this engaging teaching style. He uses piercing questions to guide his readers towards the truth, but never hands it to us easily. He does not attempt to “put sight into blind eyes”, rather he turns us gently to focus on the truth and arrive at understanding on our own and in our own way. The primary function of education is “not to give us truths but to dispose us towards the truth.” [2] An educator’s purpose it to act as a guide, engage interest, cultivate enjoyment and make the truth accessible. The students must be responsible for actively reaching for that truth and making it their own. 

Secondly, Plato encourages a progressive approach to learning. Throughout the dialogue, he shows that even the wise instructor (Socrates) is not at the end of the path of knowledge. He yearns to see and know what is, but recognizes that this quest is an endless road that not even philosophers can reach the end of. He listens to questions put to him by his interlocutors with interest, and shows a willingness to learn alongside them and entertain new ideas. Education is not a program for children that ends when the student begins a career. For those who will take it, it is a lifelong journey. Some are further along and some are just beginning, but we are all on the road together. Instructors need to be actively pursuing further enlightenment and higher skill levels, providing a living demonstration of the learning process. This creates a bond of excitement between teacher and student. Students can watch and be inspired by the growth of their instructor, learn along with them, and be inspired to live in the same manner. Instructors likewise can openly learn alongside their students and teach with passion and true enjoyment. This progressive nature of education creates a positive, active environment that stimulates the mind and gives studies life and vibrancy.

Perhaps the most beautiful and essential aspect of this style of learning is its central  principle and culminating goal. Above all else, Plato makes it clear throughout the dialogue that his great desire, that the great desire, is to see and know what is good. He explains that “that what provides the truth to the things known and gives the power to the one who knows, is the idea of the good”, and that the good must “receive still greater honor” than truth, knowledge and justice. Plato equates the good to the sun, it radiates light, gives life and illuminates the truth. Without this central focus on the good, the soul “fixes itself on that which is mixed with darkness”, and truth and justice are dimmed and lost to the realm of opinion rather than knowledge. Discovering this “idea of the good” and seeing, knowing and living by it are held as the central object of education and the principle that unifies every branch of study.

For Christians, the “idea of the good” is already made known. It is Christ, and Him crucified. While we are no longer searching for what is good, we have the great privilege of seeking a deeper understanding of Christ and living lives that glorify Him. This then should be the primary focus of our education—knowing, glorifying and enjoying Christ. This applies to every branch of study. Natural sciences help us better understand who God is by inquiring about the beautiful world He has made. Human sciences show us the unending mercies of God throughout history, and enlighten our understanding of virtue and moral order. Liberal arts enable us to develop skills to better glorify Him. Christ is the “logos” of a Christian education—the central, unifying principle that ties every study together. His glorification is the clear objective of learning, and we honor Him by cultivating wisdom, virtue and a love of the truth.

Though Plato lived in a time and country of darkness, before the Son of God brought truth into the world, his approach to learning beautifully aligns with Christ’s commandment “to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light.”

[1] Allan Bloom, Interpretive Essay on The Republic

[2] Anam Lodhi, Education and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

[3] Acts 27:18