How to understand kalokagathia?

Abstract

We encounter the word "kalokagathia" in different contexts and different meanings. The aim of this text is to present various concepts of the ancient Greek ideal of kalokagathia, which we presently find in academic texts. First, the understanding of kalokagathia from the point of view of history is described (kalokagathia conceived as a historical fact). Then we turn to a conception of the ideal of kalokagathia understood within the context of the education of the whole human being (kalokagathia conceived as an educational ideal). However, even though this conception of kalokagathia points towards an ideal, a detailed discussion of it is absent in the educational literature. For a more thorough treatment, we must turn to two further conceptions - first, kalokagathia conceived as an ideal of harmony of the body and mind, which deals with the topics of wholeness and harmony of the human being; and second, kalokagathia conceived as an ideal of a beautiful and good human being, in which a deeper account is given of what this actually means. Finally, we present the understanding of kalokagathia conceived as a unity of beauty and goodness from the point of view of ontology.

Keywords

• kalokagathia
• ancient Greek education
• ideal
• harmony
• beauty and goodness