Sophists Theories On Education And The Philosophy Of Education

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Theories about education took place around the fifth century B.C., particularly in Athens, Greece. With these theories, came the so-called Sophists, a new generation of professional teachers, whose goal was to train its students, usually very young, into a new world of personal and intellectual freedom. Sophists switched the focus of education from traditional to more physical and engaging activities but included traditional religious and moral values as part of education; Plato established the basic goals for education, but both sophists and technology increased our capacity to reach these goals.
The Sophist’s goal was to develop students to succeed in society under any circumstance. Sophists used new methods, focused on the power of the mind, speech and reason: “The Sophists revolutionized higher education. Their Goals was eminently practical” (Gordon 414). Socrates and his most famous student, Plato, were part of the same movement as Sophists. Both of these philosophers contributed enormously to the fundamentals of teaching and had an impact on educational theory; these philosophers made their goal to take education on a new level where it could perfect the mind of the students, so then they could find their truth and right thinking. Socrates introduced a new fabulous innovation, “what Aristotle called the use of inductive arguments” (Gordon 415). It was a dialect or also called a Socratic conversation which consisted of asking questions to the students, setting problems and analyzing and criticizing the answers, which at the end took them to a conclusion, which part of the time did not reach a firm base. It was a disconcerting method for students; the goal was to train students to boost their intellectual capacity making them...

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... time to develop critical abilities of students, guiding them in developing not only knowledge and skill but also qualities of mind that they will use throughout their lives; as well as intellectual challenge and the responsibility of defending their own truth. As a student I certainly agree with these beliefs but as the education has evolved since Greek and Roman times the essence of education has switched inevitably due to the massive development of universities in a short period of time. The idea that attending a university is the key to professional success and technology and the way we gather information now is much different than when we face a challenge or a question coming up in our minds. We misuse technology, and we make it a way of obtaining answers and information without even trying to develop our own critical thinking abilities and mental stimulation.

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