Paiderasteia and Foetal Education: In Search of the Primal Force of Education

Abstract

The word 'primal' used in the title of this paper has a temporal connotation in addition to its ordinary sense, 'fundamental' or 'primary'. This is to say that the 'primal force of education', if there is such a thing at all, is not so manifest in the present educational setting as to be easily discerned by those who are engaged in educational activities, if for no other reason than that it is temporally remote from the present setting. Those who are engaged in the present educational activities may think that there is some fundamental force at work in education, without which education is not possible in the first place. They may sometimes try to Identify and describe it in various ways. But more often they are so involved in the present activities, their eyes are so fixed in here and now, that their search will take a different direction and fall short of the 'primal' force to be identified in this paper.