The fundamental issue in education and the problem of responsibility

ABSTRACT

The human being is a dynamic and open creature, and therefore he always changes. However, not only an individual but also the whole society is in such a state. The article briefly explains the urgency of reflecting on transcendence and responsibility. Based on the historical-philosophical study of transcendence in ancient and Christian education, the situation is presented at the beginning of the modern age (Comenius) and after the Velvet Revolution (the 1990s) in Czechoslovakia (Palouš). Voices calling for respect for transcendence, grossly ignored in atheistic totalitarian regimes, took an important place. Finally, a view of transcendence is presented that considers it an important aspect in the context of the human person in times of civilization change. The research is conducted from the perspective of critical realism and its morphogenetic approach, which is characterized by an orientation to defend humanity against sociological concepts that reduce the image of the human being.

KEYWORDS:

• Human
• homo oeconomicus
• civilization change
• Paideia
• transcendence

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The term paideia is not from Homer. It appears in the 5th century BC. Firstly, it was marked as upbringing of children, but later is was connected to ‘life philosophy’. We can translate it as upbringing, education, civilization, culture, tradition, literature but for a correct understanding of its importance, W. Jaeger recommends to look at the unity of these complementing aspects (Jaeger 1964a, 17–32).

2 Radim Palouš in his philosophy of education refers to the interpretation of Comenius's concept of education made by the Czech philosopher Jan Patočka, (1977) a student of E. Husserl.

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Notes on contributors

Pavol Dancák

Pavol Dancák is a professor of history of philosophy at the Presov University in Presov, Slovakia. He graduated from the Cyril and Methodius Roman Catholic Theological Faculty in Bratislava in theology, in 1988. In 2001 he defended his Ph.D. thesis at the Philosophical Faculty of Pontifical Theological Academy in Krakow. On April, 27 2005, he qualified in the history of philosophy by Historical and philosophical reflections of paideia in work of Karol Wojtyla, at the Faculty of Arts, University of Presov in Presov, and on January 29, 2011 he was appointed as a professor of history of philosophy. He was a visiting professor in Poland, Romania, and USA. He is a member of the Scientific Council of Greek Catholic Theological Faculty of University of Prešov in Prešov and the Scientific Council of the University of Health and Social Work St. Elizabeth in Bratislava. He is head of Department of philosophy and religious studies. He is the author of many studies in the field of history of philosophy, philosophical anthropology, philosophy of education, philosophy of religion and ethics.