S. GESSEN: PHILOSOPHO-PEDAGOGIC IDEAS

Abstract

Th e paper analyses philosophical and pedagogical ideas of the renowned scholar of the 1st half of the 20th century — S. Gessen, privat-docent of St-Petersburg University. Gessen attempted to synthesise philosophy and pedagogics, claiming that the latter is in fact “applied philosophy”. Th e present paper assesses Gessen’s arguments to support this claim together with the proposition that each area in pedagogics fi ts a certain philosophical fi eld. It is found that Gessen’s views are rather categorical. An important emphasis is made on evaluating Gessen’s position concerning correlation between freedom and compulsion in the educational process. On the one hand, the scholar identifi es characteristics of free actions and relates them to a person’s creativity and individuality enhancement, suggesting that the child’s upbringing should eliminate any compulsion. On the other hand, Gessen acknowledges that any educational process inevitably deals with discipline — which is, in a way, a form of compulsion. To resolve this contradiction, the scholar identifi es elements of compulsion that do not run counter to freedom and elements that eliminate freedom. In this respect the personality of the teacher who is able to balance freedom and compulsion begins to play the key role. In the end, the paper overviews Gessen’s ideas on national education and makes a conclusion about the scholar’s signifi cant contribution to the development of the modern philosophy and pedagogics. Refs 4.

Keywords:

education, upbringing, civilisation, cultural values, applied philosophy, personality, freedom, mentor, national traditions