Philosophical Approach to the Primary Cause of School Violence: Focusing on Aristotle's Philosophy

This article argues for the need for a new conceptualization of the causes of school violence. In doing so, It seeks to deconstruct, analyze, and synthesize the existing concept of violence through a philosophical approach grounded in Aristotle’s inquiry into ‘the primary cause’ (archē). As a result, this article defines power as ‘the movement of capacities generated by intelligence,’ and defines the exercise of power by dividing into two dimensions as ‘the physical transition of intelligence’ in the individual, and as ‘the act of sharing practical wisdom (phronēsis) to perfect intelligence and goodness’ in the social. In this process, the qualities of the intelligence, particularly spontaneity-rationality-necessity are distinguished as voluntary, and spontaneity-arbitrariness-contingency as involuntary, and violence can be redefined as ‘an involuntary act against the intelligence of another.’ Furthermore, the article shows that the exercise of power has been thought as liberty. while this serves as the foundation for today’s understanding of liberty in liberalism, it risks leading to misunderstandings. Accordingly, the article calls for a renewed clarification of freedom, and proposes ways to apply it in education.