Education as a Way of Attaining the Highest Moral Values: Plutarch’s Views on the Education Process

Abstract

The paper presents Plutarch’s views on the education process by analysing the contents of three essays: On the Education of Children, How the Young Man Should Study Poetry, and On Hearing. According to Plutarch, the Greek education system was the basis for maintaining Greek supremacy at a time when the Greek world was subject to Roman domination. Despite Plutarch’s favourable disposition towards the Roman authorities, his writings on education suggest that his sympathy was largely conditional on the possibility that the Greek elite could continue, even in the framework of the Roman state, to live by the principles set by the Greek paideía.