| （School of Physical Education，South China Normal University，Guangzhou 510006，China） Abstract: The authors compared the theories about the purpose of physical education by Locke and YAN Yuan, and drew the following conclusions: considering moral education, intellectual education and physical education equally important and using physical education as an important means to cultivate students’ mental characters are common ideas of Locke and YAN Yuan; but YAN Yuan focused more on the objective of physical and mental unification, which was used to cultivate culturally and physically well educated as well as physically and mentally unified sound nationals, while Locke emphasized cultivating physically robust and well educated bourgeois industrialists and serving emerging bourgeois social elites. The difference between cultural backgrounds for the generation of physical education ideologies of Locke and YAN Yuan determined different historical destinies and influences of their physical education ideologies.
Key words: history of physical education；purpose of physical education sports；Locke；YANG Yuan |
