Aristotle’s educational politics and the Aristotelian renaissance in philosophy of education

This paper assesses the historical meaning and contemporary significance of Aristotle’s educational ideas. It begins with a broad characterisation of the project of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics and Politics, which he calls ‘political science’ (hê politikê epistêmê), and the central place of education in his vision of statesmanship. It proceeds through a series of topics fundamental to his educational ideas, culminating in the account of education in Politics VIII. A concluding section appraises the uses to which Aristotelian ideas are currently put in philosophy of education, identifying some confusions in the influential literature of ‘practices’.