The education is an idea, for Kant: the unity of the doctrine and art of eductation concepts

Abstract

In Kantian writings on the theme of education (Erziehung), we can see that the philosopher refers to the educational process in different ways, whether as an art of educating (Erziehungskunst), as training (Bildung), as a doctrine of education (Erziehungslehre ) or as an idea (Idee). This multiplicity of notions is by no means arbitrary, but each one is related to each other and has as its central point the concept of education as an idea, that is, a concept of reason that is the measure of what is intended, as well as the condition of possibility of the educational experience itself. It is thus, for all cases, a maximum as a measure in consideration of other smaller magnitudes. In the recomposition of the concept of education, the idea is the regulating principle of the theory or doctrine of education, art is certainly the ability that will develop in concreto what was reasoned in the doctrinal canon. That said, education, as an idea, assumes the regulatory function of the pursuit of ends, it being the end of the doctrine of education and for the art of educating that is for pedagogy (Pädagogik) it is the maximum degree of perfection to which the education of the present time must be compared.