Antisthenes Concept of Paideia :: Philosophy Philosophical Essays

Antisthenes' Concept of Paideia ABSTRACT: Antisthenes of Athens was an older student of Socrates who had previously studied under the Sophists. His philosophical legacy also influenced Cynic and early Stoic thought. Consequently, he has left us an interesting theory of paideia (reading, writing, and the arts) followed by an even more brief one in divine paideia, the latter consisting of learning how to grasp the tenets of reason in order to complete virtue. Once properly grasped, the pupil will never lose it since it is embedded in the heart with true belief. However, there is a danger of being confused by human learning, which may delay or obviate completing divine paideia. Nonetheless, with the help of a teacher who gives a personal example, like Socrates or the mythical Centaur Chiron, the pupil has a chance of reaching his or her goal. Through a series of myths, Antisthenes gives us the foundations of his logical and ethical theory together. Reasoning is both a way to grasp virtue and also to fortify it. Althou gh he would have chaffed under a modern university educational system, we may learn from him to value concise philosophical studies as a necessary adjunct to basic lessons in liberal arts. Antisthenes of Athens (445-360 B.C.) is remembered for being one of Socrates' older pupils. (1) In fact, he was old enough to have first studied under the sophists, before he met Socrates. (2) He thus stands straddling three important periods in the history of Greek philosophy. As a 5th century philosopher, he copied the rhetoric of Gorgias in his famous Ajax and Odysseus speeches and like the sophists, believed that virtue was teachable; surviving into the 4th century, he was taken seriously by Plato and Aristotle, composing essays in which he propounded an individual logical theory of his own; (3) and as precursor of Hellenistic Cynicism, he composed dialogues, teaching new ethical and social norms that resurfaced after his death in the teaching of Diogenes of Sinope and the Stoa. (4) In this paper, I would like to examine some aspects of Antisthenes' educational theory and his concept of paideia. In at least one of his lost Hercules dialogues, Antisthenes seems to have described Hercules' visit to the Centaur Chiron and subsequently to the Titan Prometheus. (5) Both these episodes ascribe to Hercules a different type of paideia. The first episode is often connected with a the mythological theme of Chiron's school, where the just Centaur was said to have taught heroes and demi-gods various branches of paideia: