Democracy and Education · Chapter
The Historic Background of Humanistic Study explained
This chapter traces the historical development of humanistic study from Greek philosophy through the Roman and medieval periods, showing how the original Greek integration of natural and humanistic knowledge was gradually replaced by a focu
What happens
This chapter traces the historical development of humanistic study from Greek philosophy through the Roman and medieval periods, showing how the original Greek integration of natural and humanistic knowledge was gradually replaced by a focus on literary and linguistic studies based on authority and tradition rather than direct inquiry into nature and society.
Themes in this chapter
Critique of Traditional Curriculum
The chapter critiques the historical shift from inquiry-based learning to the study of authoritative texts, which became the basis of traditional curriculum.
Unity of Knowledge and Action
The Greek ideal integrated knowledge of nature with humanistic aims, a unity lost in later educational traditions that separated literary from natural studies.
Characters to notice
- Socrates
Socrates appears as the philosopher who thought science of nature was not attainable or important, focusing instead on the nature and end of man.
- Plato
Plato is discussed as making right knowledge of man and society depend on knowledge of nature, subordinating literary studies to mathematics and physics.
- Aristotle
Aristotle is noted for subordinating civic relations to the purely cognitive life, with the highest end of man being participation in pure knowing.
Key passages
“Greece on one hand had lost political power, and on the other possessed in her splendid literature an inalienable heritage. … It was natural that she should turn to letters.”
Because Greece had lost political influence but retained a rich literary tradition, it was natural for education to focus on literature.
This explains the origin of the literary emphasis in Western education.
“So far as schools still teach from textbooks and rely upon the principle of authority and acquisition rather than upon that of discovery and inquiry, their methods are Scholastic—minus the logical accuracy and system of Scholasticism at its best.”
Modern schools that rely on textbooks and authority instead of discovery are essentially using Scholastic methods, but without the rigorous logic of medieval Scholasticism.
This critique connects medieval educational methods to contemporary practices.