Educational Philosophy in Plato's “The Republic” – Implications for Educational Development in Vietnam Today

Abstract

Objective: To present an overview of the subject and role of education as well as to study more thoroughly into the philosophy of education in “The Republic” with main contents such as: Preschool education, comprehensive education, ethics education and education in each stage. Applying these ideas to understand education in Vietnam, which we can see the meaning of this educational philosophy for the development of education in Vietnam today.   Methods: Researching Plato's educational philosophy for the development of education in Vietnam today requires an interdisciplinary scientific approach such as philosophy, ethics, literature, psychology and sociology. In the process of approaching the problem, the authors use research methods such as generalization-abstraction; analysis of works; logic - history; analysis-synthesis...   Results: Through studying Plato's educational philosophy in “The Republic”, we can see Plato's great role in building an ideal state with progressive education. Plato’s philosophies still have great value for humanity, however, there is very little access and application to educational development in Vietnam. Therefore, in this article, in addition to generalize the main contents about the subjects and roles of education, the authors focus on clarifying some basic issues from preschool education and comprehensive education, ethics education to education in each stage. Then we draw the meaning of this educational philosophy for the development of education in Vietnam today.   Conclusion: Although Plato's philosophy of education in “The Republic” was aimed at the high class and minorities in society, he directed people to access an education that was natural and suitable to their inherent natural abilities. Promoting character education and ethics education is also one of the progressive philosophies that contribute to build and develop people. Those contents not only have contemporary value but still have their value and have great significance for the educational development of many countries in the world in general and Vietnam in particular.