著者

石田 治頼

出版者

教育史学会

雑誌

日本の教育史学 : 教育史学会紀要 (ISSN:03868982)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.57, pp.97-109, 2014-10-01

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Emile Durkheim pointed out that the factor of Jesuit schools' success was their revolutionary training system based on observation and competition. However, regarding the Jesuit Order's support of classical education, Durkheim's opinion is somewhat insufficient. As shown in Constitutiones, the fundamental purpose of Jesuit is amimas iuvare (helping souls), and on this account, they formulated vitae exemplum (exemplary life) and doctrina (learning) as their educational purpose. To accomplish this, the Jesuit Order issued Ratio atque Institutio Studiorum Societatis Iesu (1599) as a manual of educational practice, and attached much importance to classical education. However, they were well aware of the potential harm of pagan gods to Christianity, so it was necessary to reform classical education in order to align it with Christian doctrine. In order to accomplish this revision, the Jesuits developed the educational practice that united vitae exemplum and doctrina, or virtue and learning. It has been claimed that the Modus Parisiensis had an impact on these practices, however Thomas Aquinas' concept of habitus had become an important organizing principle in the conduct of the Jesuit program. Jesuits highly respected Aquinas as a doctor without peer. Aquinas defined habitus as virtues, ranked prudentia in the first place among them, and assumed memoria as one of its components. Memoriae Exercitatio (memory exercise) formed the core of Ratio, composed of the writing and recitation of classical texts.