Throughout the tradition of classical education, the cultivation of virtue consistently has been understood to be education’s chief end. That is to say, the primary goal of classical education is the cultivation of human beings, characterized by moral and intellectual virtue, who fulfill their purpose as they live in accordance with their nature. 

The concept of “virtue” throughout the tradition of classical education is broader in meaning than how it often is used today. For example, the Greek word “arête,” typically translated as “virtue” or “excellence,” refers to the capability of a thing to fulfill its purpose. Thus, as Aristotle explains in the Nicomachean Ethics: 

Every virtue causes its possessors to be in a good state and to perform their functions well. The virtue of the eyes, for instance, makes the eyes and their functioning excellent, because it makes us see well; similarly, the virtue of a horse makes the horse excellent, and thereby good at galloping, at carrying its rider, and at standing steady in the face of the enemy. If this is true in every case, the virtue of a human being will likewise be the state that makes a human being good and makes him perform his function well.  

To be virtuous, in other words, is to fulfill one’s purpose or function. Our English word “virtue” comes from the Latin “virtus,” which is derived from the word “vir,” meaning “man.”  Thus, etymologically, to be virtuous is to be an ideal man–to be a human being who lives a fully human life. As Josef Pieper explains, “Virtue is the ultimum potentiae, the most a man can be. It is the realization of man’s potentiality for being.” To say that the primary purpose of education is to cultivate people who are virtuous, then, is to say that education seeks to help students to fulfill their purpose as human beings. Thus, as Jacques Maritain defines it, the final end of education is “the fulfillment of man as a human person.”   

Throughout the history of classical education, many thinkers have described the primary goal of education in terms of virtue. Endless examples could be given, but a few salient ones will suffice to show that from ancient Greece onward this has been the common understanding of education’s purpose. Plato explains in the Laws, for example, that what he means by “education” is not training for a particular trade or occupation but rather “education from childhood in virtue.” The Roman philosopher and orator Cicero writes, in his Pro Archia, of famous Roman heroes that they valued their education in literature precisely because it assisted them “in the cultivation and practice of virtue.” The Italian Renaissance thinker Petrus Paulus Vergerius writes in De Ingenuis Moribus that liberal studies are those “by which we attain and practice virtue and wisdom.” Noah Webster similarly writes in “On the Education of Youth in America” that, “The virtues of men are of more consequence to society than their abilities, and for this reason the heart should be cultivated with more assiduity than the head.” Finally, 20th-century mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead claims that, “The art of education is never easy. . . . It is the training of souls.” Consistently, then, the chief end of education has been taken to be the holistic flourishing of virtuous human beings who fulfill their purpose as they live in accordance with their nature.  

It is important to recognize that this understanding of education as the cultivation of virtue is not mere moralism. In other words, the goal of education is not just to form people who do the right things. What matters is not merely what they do but who they are. Education is about helping them to become fully human. As Pieper explains, “Virtue is the perfecting of man for an activity by which he achieves his beatitude. Virtue means the steadfastness of man’s orientation toward the realization of his nature.” Obviously, such virtue involves action, but the virtue classical education seeks to cultivate is much broader than mere moralistic behavior modification.

It also is important to recognize that classical education’s goal of cultivating virtuous people is not merely individualistic. Part of being virtuous, of living well in accordance with human purpose, is living in community. Thus, classical education is concerned not merely with the virtue of students as isolated individuals but as people who live within the context of their families, religious communities, and civic structures. Any individual’s ability to live well depends in part on the wellbeing of these broader entities. The cultivation of healthy families, religious communities, and civic structures is therefore of paramount importance for classical education, given the pivotal role they play in providing a context in which human flourishing can be obtained.    

Classical education’s focus on the cultivation of virtue as its chief end is a key differentiator between classical education and other educational paradigms. Whereas many approaches to education teach students to value education as a commodity that they can use to obtain some extrinsic end, such as career readiness or social mobility, classical education works to form students who will live virtuously regardless of the practical benefits their education might provide. As Arthur Holmes explains, “The question to ask about an education is not ‘What can I do with it?’ but rather ‘What is it doing to me—as a person?’” Education has to do with the making of persons.” The tradition of classical education has long understood this truth, and for that reason it consistently has held the cultivation of virtue to be the chief end of education.

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David Diener, PhD, is an assistant professor of education at Hillsdale College and the executive director of the Alcuin Fellowship.

https://www.hillsdale.edu/faculty/david-diener

https://alcuinfellowship.com

 

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