Synthesis philosophica, Vol. 25 No. 1, 2010.
Original scientific paper
Democracy and (Non)Education: Plato, Humboldt and the Bologna Process
Barbara Zehnpfennig
; Passau University, Philosophicum, Passau, Germany
Abstract
Political education is a part of general education; hence, it makes more sense to turn to the more comprehensive, in order to classify it thoroughly in a proper way. Therefore the following considerations should not stand directly under the motto “democracy and education”, but have the task of clarifying the issue of “education in democratic conditions”. For this purpose, the Bologna process will be presented primarily as an expression of the dominant understanding of education in Germany, i.e. Europe. After the turn to the Humboldtian notion of education as an expression of ideals, once being specific for the broad areas of school and university education in Germany, the further historical step backwards should lead towards the Platonic notion of education – as an expression of the kind of humanism that Humboldt set as a benchmark of his own school and university reform in the 19th century. Finally, in a brief summary, the historical beginning and the historical end are being contrasted.
Keywords
democracy; (non)education; humanism; Bologna process; Humboldtian notion of education; Plato
Hrčak ID:
58433
URI
Publication date:
2.8.2010.
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