On the historical and metaphysical meaning of the universal in the concept of education by Wilhelm Dilthey

Preface to the translation of Wilhelm Dilthey’s article “On the possibility of Universal Pedagogy”

Abstract

The preface to Dilthey’s article “On the possibility of Universal Pedagogy” highlights that his project of universal pedagogy does not concern with the metaphysics of education and abstract knowledge that is not dependent on specific culture. Rather, it is a historical accumulation of the most valuable pedagogical practices. Dilthey criticizes modern pedagogy for its attempt to be universal and to use metaphysical ethics and positivist psychology to try to underpin its scientific status. Dilthey understands education as a process of human development inextricably linked to the surrounding world (driver of development) as well as the values of the culture that shape human spirit (goals of development). Wilhelm Dilthey’s project of pedagogy includes two sections: the teaching about social institutions of education and the teaching about the methods of effective training and upbringing. He admits the crucial role of family, community, state and church. Together with pedagogy, these institutions are involved in human development. Dilthey compares education with a game with its priority for immediate perception and creativity. He also compares education with understanding where the parties to communication are enriched by the exchange of individual spiritual experience. Among the most important methods of pedagogy, Dilthey considers the development of memory, the study of mathematics and languages, due regard for the student’s motivation to study, the use of illustrative examples to explain formal knowledge.