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Plato's Pedagogy

Plato distinguishes between education as pedagogy—the art of teaching—and the desire for learning. As far as education is concerned, truth (alētheia) is unveiled in a three-step process. First, there is the example of the person whose soul boldly faces the sun, and to whom truth addresses itself. This person has no difficulty ascertaining the Good. This individual is a self-motivated seeker of truth. This mode of self-awareness is intuitive. Secondly, there is the person who has their back turned to the “light,” and who, as a consequence, requires education to make them “see.” It is probably correct to assume that this is where Socrates’ analogy of philosophy as a midwife is best exemplified. Thirdly, there is the person who, for as long as they live, will remain a voluntary prisoner in the darkness of the cave. For such a person, education will merely amount to training. This is the rationally blind person who cannot be helped, because no one can furnish his eyes with sight.
Knowledge and virtue are dominant themes in Plato’s work. In the Meno, Socrates and Meno discuss the question whether virtue can be taught. This question is important to Plato’s thought because he argues that knowledge and virtue cannot be separated. Knowledge and intelligence without virtue lead to despotism.
Plato’s theory of forms is forged from Parmenides’ notion of Being, as static, and Heraclitus’ Becoming, as fleeting. In addition, Plato was also influenced by Pythagoras’ mathematics and the latter’s conception of the soul. Parmenides’ influence on Plato offers us a telling clue to Plato’s theory of forms. Parmenides begins his treatise On Nature by relating a story of a seeker of truth who is guided by two mares. The mares represent the irrational appetites of the soul. The path they travel symbolizes reason. The two forking paths, from which the seeker of truth must choose, are: 1) The one, that “it is” (Being), and 2) The other, that “it is not” (Non-Being). It is from this ontological distinction that Parmenides draws his dual notions of alētheia and dóxa.
The intrinsic value of truth, according to Plato, degenerates when viewed solely in terms of utility. Hence, education allows us to live a life that is aligned to the Good. The role of education is to free us from the ignorance of the cave, which is part of the human condition. Learning guides a person with their back turned to the light into the realm of Being. The person who has an intuitive understanding of the Good uses the senses as a starting point.

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