An Aristotelian Approach to Education in Nonideal Circumstances

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Virtue and Education

Abstract

This paper contributes to the literature on the respective roles of ideal and non-ideal theorizing in philosophy of education. Drawing on Kraut's interpretation of the respective roles of Books IV-VI and Books VII-VIII in Aristotle's Politics, I argue that Aristotle's political philosophy provides a useful framework for understanding how ideal theorizing can inform non-ideal theorizing. I argue that Aristotle's specification of the conditions necessary to realize the ideal help us to understand where we fall with respect to the ideal and when we should abandon the ideal as our aim in practice.

Author

• Macy M. Salzberger, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill