In a potentially upcoming federal government coalition agreement, the letter “education” appears 136 times (more often than almost everything except “climate” and “work”). In the Federal Republic of Germany – at least since Georg Peich’s warning of an “educational catastrophe” in 1964 – we are accustomed to politics and their media discussion relentlessly revolving around education. Reason enough to ask a generally philosophical question: What exactly is education?
You will not be surprised to learn that education is a philosophical concept – at least in the general way that it is distinguished from education and upbringing. This demarcation is normal, it is also intuitively clear: without the spark of education, in childhood and adolescence due to external influences one can be well-educated, that is, friendly, polite, considerate, sympathetic and so on. In the same way, one can be well trained without education, for example by mastering complex manual techniques or the conventions of a demanding office job.
What is education then? Anyone who speaks about it in Germany usually refers to an understanding of it that existed around the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. It traces its roots through the Enlightenment to the humanism of the Renaissance, but received its final polish from writers of the Classical and Romantic periods, as well as the philosophers we now call representatives of German idealism.
Basically, roughly speaking: a person is not yet finished when he can run, talk, tie his shoes, read, write and cook pasta with tomato sauce could. What defines him as a person at heart – the ability to see, feel, think, make independent decisions, enjoy life, act responsibly among other people, express himself freely, i.e. His humanity and uniqueness – must be developed and taken care of. Plant.
