Important educators pre-1750:

Information about (or classic works by) important pre-1750 educators (in chronological order).

 

Confucius | Plato | Aristotle |
Erasmus | Vives | Comenius | Locke | Fénelon | De la Salle | Francke
comenius
Jan Amos Komensky (Comenius)

Confucius (c. 551-479 BC)
The Great Learning (Da Xue).
This brief text commonly ascribed to (but possibly not written by) Confucius does reflect his view on self-education: virtue through insight. English translation at the Art of China / Classic Chinese Literature website of Purdue University.
Confucius and Socrates: The Teaching of Wisdom.
This unconventional but well-documented study by Sanderson Beck compares the educational philosophies and methods of Confucius and Socrates. It is especially interesting because of its detailed treatment of Confucius, who usually gets little attention in Western history of education.
Plato (427-347 BC)
The Republic.
Benjamin Jowett's 1901 English edition of Plato's most education-relevant dialog is online at the ILT (Institute for Learning Technologies) site.
Plato.
A general overview of Plato's life and thought can be found in this section of Christopher's Athens, a website about Greek antiquity by Christopher Planeaux at Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis. Apparently the author doesn't want his site to be used by many: he expects visitors to have the latest in browser software, fonts, Javascript capabilities -- not to mention a high-speed connection.
Plato Bibliography 1992-1994.
Uncommented but very large multi-language bibliography of all kinds of recent Plato editions, interpretations, commentaries etc. Not easy to search (pages by alphabet). By Luc Brisson and Frédéric Plin at CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Paris. Plato Bibliography 1994-1996.
Supplement on this Plato bibliography.
Plato: Education and the Value of Justice.
A brief discussion of Plato's views on education, with several crosslinks to related texts. By Garth Kemerling at his History of Western Philosophy webpages.
Plato and His Dialogues.
Excellent introduction to Plato's educational, political and philosophical thought. Includes links to the E-texts of his dialogues. By Bernard F. Suzanne at the Exploring Ancient World Cultures website provided by the university of Evansville.
Plato's Page.
Another website about Plato, this one includes a usable guide to his Republic. At Andrew Wilson's The Classic Pages website.
Plato's Republic Restated in Plain English.
This site offers an entirely rewritten Republic (the dialogue that has Plato's views on education) claiming it's been made much better suited for the first-time reader. By Ray Woodcock, who asks for a small payment if you download the text -- which I didn't.
Sophistry, Dialectic, and Teacher Education: A Reinterpretation of Plato's Meno.
Annotated article about Plato's indictment of "sophistry" in teaching. By Deron R. Boyles from Georgia State University, in the online Philosophy of Education Society Yearbook, which also includes a comment on this article by Terry Hall (University of St. Thomas).
Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Most Aristotle websites focus entirely on philosophical issues such as his ethics or logic, and have little about his educational relevance. Nevertheless, here are a few sites that may be useful:
Rhetoric.
Online text of Aristotle's Rhetoric, at the Perseus Project of Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts.
Aristotle.
This is a biographical entry at the same Perseus Project, which also provides several links to more of Aristotle's works online.
See also a similar Aristotle page at the ILT website of Columbia University: this is a popup-page that opens when clicking the Aristotle "Quicklink" on their Digital Text Projects page.
Aristotle.
A webpage about Aristotle's life and work, focusing on his importance regarding rhetoric. Lists a few titles for further reading. By Ellen Dickson and Brad Shepherd at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Introduction to Aristotle.
This concise general overview of Aristotle's philosophy is part of a course on this subject by S. Marc Cohen at the University of Washington, Seattle.
Erasmus (1469-1536)
Colloquies.
E-text based on an English 1725 edition. Contains among others Erasmus's treatise on manners, and Admonitions of a Schoolmaster.
The Education of a Christian Prince.
In this 1516 book, Desiderius Erasmus outlined not primarily a Christian prince's education itself, but rather the ideal sovereign's qualities that ought to be the result of such an education. Online (in a 1936 translation) at Ben R. Schneider's Stoic Legacy website, Lawrence University, Wisconsin.
Upon the Right Method of Instruction.
English translation of Desiderius Erasmus's 1511 treatise De Ratione Studii, in which he presented his humanist views on grammar school teaching of Latin and Greek. Online at the Classical America website by William Ziobro, College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Mass.
Erasmus of the Low Countries.
An intellectual biography of Erasmus, viewing his works in the context of his efforts to reform post-medieval society "through a reform of teaching, both from the pulpit and in the classroom". This 1997 book by James D. Tracy is online at the website of the University of California Press.
Who is Erasmus?
As a website about life and work of the famous Renaissance humanist Desiderius Erasmus, these pages could easily have been a little more informative (about many aspects, but certainly about his educational importance). Multi-language site: French / English / Dutch.
Erasmus Text Project.
This is mainly a collection of links to various online Erasmus texts. By Chris Cudabac at The University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee).
Vives (1492-1540)
Von underweysung ayner Christlichen Frauwen.
Excellent (but with 250K pages slow-loading) online facsimile of the 1544 German edition of Juan Luis Vives's book on women's education, at the university of Mannheim.
Juan Luis Vives, spanyol humanista.
Annotated Hungarian-language paper about the 16th century humanist and educator Vives. By Katalin Kéri, who has more Hungarian-language papers online.
Comenius (1592-1670)
Orbis Sensualium Pictus.
A few pages (to be extended) from the original Latin version of this important 1652 book by Comenius: the first book to combine text with pictures for teaching. At Ulrich Harsch's Bibliotheca Augustana, a site collecting Latin and Greek E-texts.
Orbis Pictus Revised.
Account of an experimental exhibition based on Comenius's Orbis Pictus, by Milos Vojtechovsky and Tjebbe van Tijen, for the Waag museum, Amsterdam.
Vorwort zum Orbis Sensualium Pictus.
The whole illustrated book is not online, but at least here is the preface from Comenius's famous Orbis Sensualium Pictus, in early modern German language from the 1658 edition (Die sichtbare Welt). At Franz Peter Waiblinger's Forum Didacticum website, Universität München.
About the Orbis Pictus, see also the great exposition of images and the corresponding informative lecture at the Virtual Museum of Education Iconics, by Ayers Bagley and others at the University of Minnesota.
The Labyrinth of the world and paradise of the heart.
Not his Didactica Magna but a religious and philosophical Comenius book which I add here mainly because of its presentation. The core of this site is a virtual world in the form of a labyrinth corresponding with the parts of Comenius's book. Impressive! Of course you can also just read the book at this site.
Die Bedeutung der Pädagogik des Jan Amos Komensky.
This article (pleading for a return to a truly general pedagogy in the classical sense) includes a good overview of Comenius's educational views. In the online Vierteljahresschrift für Behindertenpädagogik, by Norbert Störmer at the Hochschule für Technik, Wirtschaft und Sozialwesen, Görlitz.
Comenius and the Hidden Seed.
This chapter from J.E. Hutton's 1909 History Of The Moravian Church may serve as an interesting example of how Comenius's educational work was valued a century ago. The book is online at the Revival Library website.
J.A. Comenius, education and the different kind of technologies: a conceptual study.
This annotated conference paper discusses how the works of Comenius may have been an early contribution to developing theoretical thought about technical education. By Esa Pikkarainen at the University of Oulu, Finland.
Ein Theologe als "Lehrer des Volkes".
An article (in German) about the religious background and dimension of Comenius's 17th century concept of popular education. With literature references. By Klaus Goßmann and Christoph Th. Scheilke at the Comenius-Institut for religious education, Münster.
Locke (1632-1704)
Of The Conduct Of the Understanding.
A less well-known Locke text (no, it's not the same as the Essay below). E-text, with a foreword by Lawrence A. Cremin, at ILT, Columbia University.
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
E-text from the 1689 edition of this Locke philosophy classic, at ILT.
John Locke: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
A brief but quite informative discussion of Locke's 1690 Essay: his "tabula rasa" idea, etc. At the Pre-History of Cognitive Science Web, a website about early concepts of cognition, by Carl Stahmer at the University of California (Santa Barbara).
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.
Locke's Essay is on the Web in various E-text editions besides the ILT version, but this is a rather sophisticated alternative: it has a built-in search engine that allows you to locate specific words within this large text easily. Provided by the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Some Thoughts Concerning Education. [at this site]
This important 1693 education manual by John Locke, intended as a practical guide for higher-class parents, is available as an E-text here at The History of Education and Childhood site. Also provided:
A brief introduction to Locke and this book.
John Locke Bibliography.
This large bibliography of "recent publications by and about the English philosopher John Locke" includes a relatively small Education section. By John C. Attig at Pennsylvania State University.
Locke, John.
In a terse format, this page sums up fairly much factual and biographical data about Locke. By Richard S. Westfall from Indiana University.
Fénelon (1651-1715)
Les Aventures de Télémaque.
Online edition (in the original French) of the famous book about good and bad in government and society, written in 1694 by François [de Salignac de la Mothe] Fénelon in his capacity as educator of the French crown prince. Online at Biblionet, a collection of online classics in French literature.
De l'éducation des filles.
This 1687 booklet by Fénelon was a milestone in the history of education: at a time when educators were mainly concerned about boys, he wrote about the education of girls (and it had great influence). Online in the original French (based on a 1851 edition) at Pierre Perroud's Athéna website. This same source text is also available in a version without frames, but that one has all chapters in a single webpage.
Spiritual Progress, Or Instructions in the Divine Life of the Soul.
This E-text, based on an English 1853 edition, is a more religious Fénelon book. Online at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library of Wheaton College, Illinois.
Biography of Fénelon.
This short biography of François de Fénelon, focusing in the first place on his religious views, is presented at the personal homepage of Brian Byrd.
De la Salle (1651-1719)
Conduct of Christian Schools.
Written in 1706 by John Baptist de la Salle, this influential work offered practical advice to Catholic teachers in France and elsewhere. It is now online (English translation based on the 1720 edition), with a good introduction by Dominic Everett. At the site of the Christian Brothers Conference.
Jean Baptist de la Salle.
The De La Salle Christian Brothers offer some pages about life and work of this 17th century organizator of Catholic education.
Francke (1663-1727)
August Hermann Francke, 1663-1727.
When you get to this page, do not click the Francke entry but the arrow next to it. This will download a German-language overview of Francke's life and views, in the form of an 88K Word document. At the Gefährdetenhilfe Scheideweg, an organization for resocializing juvenile offenders.