FLOURISHING VS. MARKET: TOWARDS THE ARISTOTELIAN CONCEPT OF EDUCATION

In this paper the author shall investigate the nature of education as seen from the neo-Aristotelian perspective. His thesis is that education should be seen as a part of political activity in the source sense of the term, that is, as an element of human development rooted in the idea of the good, which makes this concept at odds with the modern concepts of politics and education. The author starts with a brief discussion of the classical concept of politics with special attention being paid to the relation between ethics, education and politics. He then addresses the changes in the philosophical background of this concept of politics introduced in early modernity, in order to indicate the consequences of this process for education as subordinated to an economy-influenced politics. Following is the discussion of some aspects of contemporary Aristotelianism. He argues for the thesis that education is the basic form of policy understood along Aristotelian lines.