Humanities & Social Sciences 4 (2016 9) 1007-1013 ~ ~ ~ УДК 130.2 Antique Ideas about Imitation and Perfection Viktor N. Pronkin* Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities 15 nab. <...> There is a lot of evidence that in antiquity the phenomenon of imitation was perceived not only as natural but also as bringing undoubted social benefi t. Analyzing the works of Homer, Plato, Isocrates, Plutarch and others, the article shows that for antiquity own propensity to imitate others is one of the ways to evaluate our success in moral development. <...> In the technical sense «imitation» means a reproduction of a model of action in a way that implies the achievement of the same goal. <...> Thus, we will use the term «imitation» rather in its wide than in a technical sense. <...> Antique Ideas about Imitation and Perfection philosophy In the historical tradition of the European of education, human perfection can be classifi ed into reasoning about two main conceptual categories. <...> Secondly, there is a tradition that emphasizes a nonimitative role of specimens of human perfection in human development. <...> Studying both sides of the tradition shows a variety of productive ways of thinking about samples of human perfection. <...> With Homer, an ethereal fi gure standing behind any reasoning of education, the discussion about the history of human perfection should be opened. <...> An educational value of human lives in the Homeric epos focuses on their use as samples, which one should imitate. <...> Actually, even when the actions of Homer's heroes was reinterpreted allegorically in order to avoid controversial moral assumptions of their behavior, their role as models of imitation were kept in the abstract form. <...> It can be found everywhere, from the moral biographies after # 1008 # Viktor N. Pronkin. <...> It occurs so often that we would call it ‘the standard model’ of comprehension of human perfection and imitation. <...> Plato's dialogue s imply that we should imitate Socrates, leading an austere life of the philosopher. <...> Philosophers in this sense retain the Homeric way of thinking about education. <...> Standard model of education was spread from poets to philosophers and historians. <...> One of the most famous ancient teachers of rhetoric Isocrates adapts the use of the examples of human perfection to rhetoric and often applies the standard model of imitation <...>