Education is the comprehensive process of unfolding the personal capacities for cognition and the power of moral judgment. It aims not at the mere transmission of knowledge, but at enabling the person to actualize, on her own responsibility, the second and third dimension of personhood. Education is thus a developmental process that concerns the whole person.
Education presupposes the person’s fundamental capacity for cognition and unfolds it in the direction of knowledge, insight, and ultimately wisdom. It is essentially interpersonal: the dialogue between teacher and learner is not mere transfer of information, but personal encounter. The educated human being differs from the merely informed one in being enabled to exercise independent moral judgment.
Upbringing
Upbringing is the long-term process of accompanying a growing person in the unfolding of her dimensions. It aims at enabling her to actualize, on her own responsibility, the second and third dimension of personhood. Upbringing presupposes the recognition of the child’s personhood and may not instrumentalize the child. It is an essential task of parenthood and takes place primarily in the space of the family. Upbringing respects the freedom of the child and accompanies it in unfolding its reason, its will, and its capacity for love.
Ontological classification: Superordinate concept: developmental process
Sources: Generated by querying the Personhood ontology. Bexten 2017, pp. 259–270 (second dimension and cognition), pp. 271–289 (third dimension and moral perfection).
Further sources:
- Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theologiae I, q. 117, a. 1 (on the question whether one man can teach another). Transl. Fathers of the English Dominican Province. New York: Benziger Bros., 1947.
- Stein, Edith (1932/2004): Der Aufbau der menschlichen Person. ESGA 14. Herder (on education as the unfolding of personal capacities) (German).
See also: knowledge, wisdom, insight, person, personhood, dialogue, error, second dimension, third dimension