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INTRODUCTION
Endnotes
TRANSLATOR’S PREFACE
THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION
CHAPTER - I INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER II - PHYSICAL EDUCATION
CHAPTER III - INSTRUCTION (CULTURE)
CHAPTER IV - CULTIVATION OF THE MIND
CHAPTER V - MORAL CULTURE
CHAPTER VI - PRACTICAL EDUCATION
Endnotes

Man is the only being who needs education. For by education we must understand nurture (the tending and feeding of the child), discipline (Zucht ), and teaching, together with culture(1). According to this, man is in succession infant (requiring nursing), child (requiring discipline), and scholar (requiring teaching).

2. Animals use their powers, as soon as they are possessed of them, according to a regular plan—that is, in a way not harmful to themselves.

It is indeed wonderful, for instance, that young swallows, when newlyhatched and still blind, are careful not to defile their nests.

Animals therefore need no nurture, but at the most, food, warmth, and guidance, or a kind of protection. It is true, most animals need feeding, but they do not require nurture. For by nurture we mean the tender care and attention which parents must bestow upon their children, so as to
prevent them from using their powers in a way which would be harmful to
themselves. For instance, should an animal cry when it comes into the world, as children do, it would surely become a prey to wolves and other wild animals, which would gather round, attracted by its cry.

3. Discipline changes animal nature into human nature. Animals are by their instinct all that they ever can be; some other reason has provided everything for them at the outset. But man needs a reason of his own. Having no instinct, he has to work out a plan of conduct for himself. Since, however, he is not able to do this all at once, but comes into the world undeveloped, others have to do it for him. continua >>>