Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.21464/mo.31.2.11
Autonomy and heteronomy in Kant’s moral education
Josip Guć
orcid.org/0000-0002-9330-5027
; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Split, Croatia
*
* Corresponding author.
Abstract
Since child is not born with autonomy, it cannot be reached without heteronomous influence. This is exactly the central issue of Immanuel Kant’s philosophy of education, which is elaborated and examined in the paper. The issue is elaborated through Kant’s three main works that reflect it: Critique of Practical Reason (chapter: “Doctrine of the Method of Pure Practical Reason”), The Metaphysics of Morals (chapter: “Doctrine of the Methods of Ethics”), and Lectures on Pedagogy. The examination focused on different methods of moral education (primarily catechetical and Socratic-dialogical) and their role in the development of power of judgment and in the guidance of a child toward autonomy, i.e., to the stage where moral law will be the sole incentive of his or her will. The critical analysis is mostly made following two questions: 1) How does the presentation of duty change into its adoption as an incentive of will? 2) Is there an influence of the teacher on the formation of the “common human mind”? It has been demonstrated that the awareness of freedom (in its broader, utopian sense) serves as a critical incentive for the adoption of duty as a motivating factor for the will. Conversely, this autonomy is perpetually subject to the teacher’s manipulation, a phenomenon that cannot be wholly eradicated, given that the educational trajectory towards autonomy entails the presentation of actions that the teacher considers to satisfy legality.
Keywords
Immanuel Kant; autonomy; heteronomy; moral education; motive force; will
Hrčak ID:
331665
URI
Publication date:
20.5.2025.
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