Publication
Education and freedom in Hannah Arendt
| Summary: | The article investigates under a philosophical perspective the relationship between the concepts of education and freedom in Hannah Arendt's writings. It is argued that, although she did not point it out, there exists an essential relationship between these two concepts in her thinking. The main interface here is birth, the fact that new beings are born into a world that is already constituted. Out of this existential condition follows, on one side, the potential freedom of the human being, the capacity to initiate something unexpected and, on the other side, the need to receive the newcomers into a common space that is older than them. The task of education is to help the "newcomers" to embrace the world that is left to them, allowing them to take responsibility for it in the future. This, however, implies the need to tidy up this place, which is "out of its bearings". The educative action in this sense can, however, be only indirect: since every human being is born as someone singular, different from everybody else, each one of them is a novelty to the world and thus in principle capable of transforming it, of starting something new. Freedom, therefore, depends on each person's singularity. Education - which does not change the world in a direct action - can give children and youngsters the possibility of developing their singularity, thereby contributing to make them realize in the future the gift of freedom, renewing the world they inherited. |
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| Main Authors: | Almeida, Vanessa Sievers de |
| Subject: | Philosophy of education Freedom Birth Hannah Arendt Filosofia da educação Liberdade Natalidade Hannah Arendt |
| Year: | 2008 |
| Country: | Brazil |
| Document type: | article |
| Access type: | unknown |
| Associated institution: | IBICT |
| Language: | Portuguese |
| Origin: | Oasisbr |
| Summary: | The article investigates under a philosophical perspective the relationship between the concepts of education and freedom in Hannah Arendt's writings. It is argued that, although she did not point it out, there exists an essential relationship between these two concepts in her thinking. The main interface here is birth, the fact that new beings are born into a world that is already constituted. Out of this existential condition follows, on one side, the potential freedom of the human being, the capacity to initiate something unexpected and, on the other side, the need to receive the newcomers into a common space that is older than them. The task of education is to help the "newcomers" to embrace the world that is left to them, allowing them to take responsibility for it in the future. This, however, implies the need to tidy up this place, which is "out of its bearings". The educative action in this sense can, however, be only indirect: since every human being is born as someone singular, different from everybody else, each one of them is a novelty to the world and thus in principle capable of transforming it, of starting something new. Freedom, therefore, depends on each person's singularity. Education - which does not change the world in a direct action - can give children and youngsters the possibility of developing their singularity, thereby contributing to make them realize in the future the gift of freedom, renewing the world they inherited. |
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