Giuseppe Catalfamo

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Giuseppe Catalfamo (born July 5, 1921 in Catania , Italy , † February 22, 1989 in Messina ) was an Italian educationalist. He was a professor of education at the University of Messina and represented a historical personalism .

Catalfamos educational idea

Catalfamo saw upbringing as a means for people to shape themselves. In his work "L'ideologia e l'educazione" ( Ideology and Education ), he made a clear distinction between two possible perspectives on education: on the one hand, the "philosophizing about education" and on the other the view of an "ideologization of education" in ideological pedagogies .

Böhm explains in his "History of Pedagogy" about Catalfamo:

“While the former remains open and critical [philosophizing about education] , these [ie ideological educations] congeal into socially conditioned thought apparatuses. The existing is criticized for a political-ideological purpose and, because it supposedly prevents “true” freedom and “real” emancipation, is rejected. In contrast to pedagogy that is scolded as formalistic, subjectivistic or individualistic, the upbringing of a 'new' person is legitimized and tackled based on a clearly defined vision of society. This idea extends from the utopian socialists (Robert Owen, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and others) to the totalitarian state and party pedagogy of the 20th century (in Soviet communism, German National Socialism, Italian fascism and elsewhere). "

Boehm's further explanation of Catalfamo highlights the conciseness of Catalfamo's work “Ideology and Education” for the consideration of modern educational science. Boehm explains:

“An education directed by the party or by a state doctrine does not need a philosophical-pedagogical justification; the thought of self-determination is stifled by it and the education is largely dissolved into discipline and discipline. "

This short quote makes it clear that basically any education that starts out from a state and is directed towards certain goals for the benefit of the state undermines self-determination. The person who is actually the center of education and from whom everything should proceed is now only misused as a means for purposes outside of him. The education that Catalfamo has in mind for self-development is therefore not possible in any modern society as long as nothing fundamental changes. The Bavarian State Constitution is an example of the fact that the education and training systems are ideologized and that the person is misused as a means to an end. In Article 131, under "Aims of education", you can find:

"(2) The main educational goals are reverence for God, respect for religious conviction and for human dignity, self-control, a sense of responsibility and a willingness to take responsibility, willingness to help and open-mindedness for everything that is true, good and beautiful and a sense of responsibility for nature and the environment."

"(3) The students are to be educated in the spirit of democracy, in love for their Bavarian homeland and for the German people, and in the spirit of international reconciliation."

In line with point (2) of this article, the following quote from Catalfamo should be cited:

“The school, in which education takes place, cannot teach in an abstract way what is true, good or beautiful in itself, because no historically realized and verifiable content embodies and exhausts this, but it should Promote the intention to seek the true, to do the good or to feel the beautiful and thus trigger a spiritual tension and arouse a personal zeal: that tension and that zeal that Plato called Eros. "

In contrast to the state constitution of Bavaria, which is only one example among many possible, there are no fixed educational goals for Catalfamo, since every person can set goals for himself by virtue of their reason, freedom and language. This principle of self-activity is the cornerstone of Catalfamo's upbringing idea and puts the person at the center so that they can find their place in the world for themselves in the spirit of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola .

Fonts

  • Winfried Böhm (Ed.): Ideology and Education (=  international pedagogy . Volume 9 ). Königshausen and Neumann, Würzburg 1984, ISBN 3-88479-182-6 (Italian: L'ideologia e l'educazione . Messina 1980. Translated by Liselotte Reich-Coregliano).

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Winfried Boehm: History of Pedagogy. 2004, p. 118.
  2. State Constitution of Bavaria
  3. Historical personalism and its pedagogy. In: Ideology and Education. P. 75.