隐含在史诗《失乐园》里的教育哲学

The philosophy of education implicit in paradise lost

约翰·弥尔顿在书信《论教育》中对教育目的做了两种界定,在史诗《失乐园》里则通过两类天堂教师和三种话语主题、多幅启示性幻景对教育目的进行了哲学意义上的思考。拉斐尔借助天使堕落、创世和天体运行的话语主题将教育目的界定为上帝般理性力量的培养,米迦勒则借助人类未来的幻景将其界定为理智与情感的同步训练。两种界定实则相辅相成、互为补充:一种在将理性力量强化,另一种则是为善与恶的思考提供素材。二者之间又暗含某种一致:都是为了培养美德,强化意志,提升理智并使所有的官能都始终处于合适的关系之中。两类天堂老师都无意去压制感觉,而是要将感觉来培养,以便让人在造物主的形象中健康成长。这正是英国文艺复兴最后一位人文主义者的教育哲学。

John Milton has given two definitions for the purpose of education in his epistle Of Education.In his well-known work Paradise Lost,he does much philosophical reflection on the problem of education by the form of a literary epic and makes use of three discourse-subjects and two angelic teachers.Raphael defines the purpose of education as the cultivation of godlike rational power by means of the discourse themes of the fall of the angels,the creation of the world,and the operation of the heavenly bodies,while Michael defines it as the simultaneous training of reason and emotion by means of the vision of the future of mankind.The two definitions are in fact complementary:one reinforces the power of reason,the other provides material for thinking about good and evil.There is also an implicit agreement between the two:they both aim at cultivating virtue,strengthening the will,elevating the reason and keeping all the faculties in a proper relationship at all times.Both types of heavenly teachers do not intend to suppress the senses,but to cultivate them so that man may grow in the image of his Creator.This is precisely the educational philosophy of the last humanist of the English Renaissance.