Sunday, September 12, 2010
Do we need to be taught, or do we already know?
In the first couple lines of Nic. Ethics, book II chapter 1, Aristotle speaks of the two sorts of virtue. He says, "...excellence of thinking is for the most part, both in its coming to be and in its growth, a result of teaching, for which reason it has need of experience and time...". This reminded me of when we read the Meno, and Socrates spoke of learning simply being recollection, and we arent actually taught anything. "As a result, its being able to recollect what pertains to virtue and other things is nothing to be wondered at, since it also knew them previously" (Meno pg 107 line 81c). To me, this two ways of thinking are contradictory. Aristotle claims virtue can be learned through teaching, yet Socrates states we don't need to be taught, we just need to remember. Do you believe these are contradictory, or do they have the same point? Which do you agree/disagree with?
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Maybe the teaching Aristotle writes about is the recollection that Socrates asserts in Plato's 'Meno'. Maybe the way to teach is to urge a person along into experiences or ways of thinking that will eventually help them recollect something, thus considered 'learning' and having been 'taught'?
ReplyDelete@ Ms. Bissell, I agree with your statement here, that teaching is to urge a person into experiences. My question, however, is who is to say what experiences a person needs in his/her life to learn about virtue or happiness? And also, if we are simply recollecting then why must someone else urge us into these experiences?
ReplyDeleteI don't think the two are contradictory. Because maybe Socrates' idea of reminding is still carried out by people they called "teachers." That is to say, perhaps the act of "teaching" that Aristotle speaks about is simply just that same process of reminding.
ReplyDeleteThe excellent thinking of which Aristotle speaks could come about from simply using one's mind more, just like exercising a muscle makes it perform more "excellently," and one would certainly be using their mind more when they are being prodded and encouraged to remember the knowledge inside them by a "teacher."
Later on in Book II, Aristotle says that virtue is brought about by practice. "But we do take on the virtues by first being at work in them,..." I think this implies the type of thinking Socrates spoke of in the Meno. If we "learn" virtues by first being at work in them, then we must already be "recollecting" them from somewhere in ourselves. This appears to me as though we may be teaching ourselves virtue, and therefore recollecting them from within.
ReplyDeleteIn my understanding, I believe Aristotle to be correct. In order to recollect something, I believe one must be taught. Aristotle asserts "It is clear from this that none of the virtues of character comes to be present in us by nature, since none of the things that are by nature can be habituated to be otherwise" (Aristotle 22, Line 19). Recollection is a natural habit which cannot be taught, whereas virtue is a definable characteristic that can be taught. However, both assumptions don't necessarily conflict. If virtue is to be carried out, one must be taught what virtue is and how to go about and be a virtuous person. As a result, this recollection of what virtue is and how to be virtuous is now present.
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