Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy – an andragogical pioneer

Abstract

Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy's work related to andragogy is insufficiently discussed in adult pedagogical literature, although most of his work deals with this field, if we employ his own definition of andragogy. This paper makes visible his role as an andragogical pioneer, and clarifies his understanding of andragogy and basic perspectives in his andragogical approach. Rosenstock-Huessy was a leading force in the first theoretical, academic reflections on adult pedagogical issues in the 1920s, and he implemented his thoughts and ideas in different practical actions. He became a source of inspiration for adult educators in the inter-war and post-war period. A comparison with two central figures within adult education, Eduard Lindeman and Malcolm Knowles, is also included in this paper.

Keywords:

• andragogy
• adult pedagogy
• adult education
• adult learning
• Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy

Notes

1. Rosenstock-Huessy was not the first one to use the term andragogy. It was employed by Alexander Kapp in his book Platon's Erziehungslehre als Pädagogik für die Einzelnen und als Staatspädagogik, oder dessen praktische Philosophie (1833), but Rosenstock-Huessy's andragogy, unlike Kapp's, was pursued by other adult educators in the inter-war and post-war period. See more about Rosenstock-Huessy and Alexander Kapp later in this paper.

2. For a succinct summary of Rosenstock-Huessy's life and thought, see Cristaudo (2012).

3. See Van der Molen (1997).

4. From ‘Feringer notes’.

5. In 1925, Eugen Rosenstock changed the family name to Rosenstock-Huessy, to preserve the dying family name of his wife (Manz 1998, 8). It was not until they had emigrated to the USA that he used this double name in a professional context. In this paper, the name Rosenstock-Huessy is used, except when referring specifically to works where he uses the name Rosenstock alone.

6. My translation has been informed in some details by the translation of Andragogik by Raymond Huessy. Original text (Rosenstock 1924, 4–5):

Es ist ja etwas Neues und Unerhörtes, dass Erwachsene, statt vom geistigen oder natürlichen ‘Leben’ in Schulen gelehrt werden sollen, ja es ist etwas sehr Fragwürdiges: den was Hänschen nicht lernt, lernt Hans nimmermehr. Man kennt bisher im geistigen Sinne nur die bewusste Verführung von Erwachsenen: die Demagogik. Hier aber wird bewusste Geistesführung versucht: Andragogik!

Andragogik ist daher der Name, unter dem wir alle schulmässige Bildung Erwachsener zusammenfassen können. Die Entstehung von Andragogik ist als Abkehr von blosser Pädagogik und blosser Demagogik in jedem Falle bedeutsam.

7. My translation has been informed in some details by the translation of Andragogik by Raymond Huessy. Original text (Rosenstock 1924, 26):

Die Erwachsenenbildung erwacht als Heilmittel nach der ersten – inneren oder äusseren – Niederlage des Mannes oder eines Volkes. Sie ist Selbstüberwindung. Sie geht wider die Natur. Die Erwachsenenschule baut an den Friedhof der nicht gereiften Blütenträume, sie will retten was zu retten ist.

8. My translation has been informed in some details by the translation of Andragogik by Raymond Huessy. Original text (Rosenstock 1924, 29):

Andragogik ist in der Schule des Todes gereifter Gesetzeswille. […] Andragogik ist nur von dem Geist ergriffen, der aus Katastrophen erwächst, von jenseits des Grabes, als Frucht des Leidens, das der Mensch überlebt hat.

9. Most of Schlesien is now part of Poland.

10. For more information about Camp William James, see Preiss (1978).

11. Martha Anderson was Lindeman's research assistant and translator. She was interviewed in 1984 (some weeks before she died) about her cooperation with Lindeman. From this interview it appears that she had no affiliation with the andragogy concept. I do not even know what it means, she said. It is said to be characteristic of Lindeman that he accepted her as a co-author and let her name be the first (Stewart 1987).

12. Knowles never understood the European concept of andragogy, Dusan Savicevic said (this is an oral statement referred to in Reischmann 2002, 67).

13. For further reading, see Loeng (2010).