The Philosophical Foundations of the Pedagogy of Self-Formation

Abstract

The text is supposed to show from various points of view the philosophical foundations of pedagogy. In its classical form it combines the points of view from the metaphysics of the person and ethics. These aspects complement each other, as the human person cannot be understood without his dimensions: being and development (becoming). The metaphysical foundations of formation determine the human being. On the part of metaphysics, human formation relies on the value of ontic contingence, hence the sense of human becoming as a person is expressed by the fact that man is person, a constant and unchanging structure, and is changing at the same time as person. The personal dimensions of formation indicate that man should be developed in his overall integrity, that is in the following dimensions: physical, psychical, and moral. The educator, as ontically more actualised, is endowed with a vocation to help his disciple in becoming himself. Formative work is an effort invested on behalf of self-formation. Love plays the most essential role in the ontic-moral process of the person's fulfilment. Formation and self-formation make up a pedagogical unity. Self-formation in the external sense complements self-formation in the internal sense. Any, even the best formative measures, will turn out ineffective if there is no readiness in the disciples for self-formation. This tendency is manifested today by the importance of independence and self-formation in social, cultural, and scientific life.