Defects

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The defective creature is one of Arnold Gehlen coined and first in his 1940 published major work Man His nature and his position in the world in the philosophical anthropology introduced concept that the people of other species as a physically and morphologically is inferior. These disadvantages are biological maladjustments of humans to their natural environment. In order to be able to survive in spite of this, humans as “ Prometheus ” create culture as a substitute for nature or “second nature”.

In education , the idea of ​​deficiencies has been found since the Latin schools of the High Middle Ages in the term “homo educandus” and in the term Educandus derived from it for adolescents . The educated or pupil who still needs upbringing is classified as deficient in his development in relation to the mature adult.

Shortcomings of man

In his anthropological considerations, Gehlen lists physical as well as psychological and spiritual inadaptations to the environment. The physical deficiencies include, for example, the lack of organs to attack (claws, suitable teeth) and a body structure that could enable a quick and sustained escape, as well as its lack of protection against the weather (due to insufficient body hair ). He considers the "almost life-threatening lack of real instincts " and the overstimulation , which represent a considerable burden, to be psychological disadvantages . Gehlen therefore comes to the conclusion that humans should have long been exterminated within natural conditions "in the midst of the most dangerous predators".

Since the term has given rise to misunderstandings and misinterpretations since the first edition in 1940, Gehlen made a clarification from the fourth edition in 1950:

“If humans appear here and in this respect as 'deficient beings' compared to animals, then such a designation accentuates a comparative relationship, so it has only a transitory value, is not a 'substance concept'. In this respect, the term wants precisely what H. Freyer (Weltgeschichte Europa, 1949, I, p. 169) objects to him: 'Man is fictitiously posited as an animal, in order to then find that he as such is highly imperfect and even impossible is. ' This is exactly what the term is supposed to achieve: the super-animal structure of the human body appears paradoxical even in a narrow biological version compared to the animal and stands out as a result. Of course, humans are not fully defined with this designation, but the special position [of humans] is already marked in a narrow, morphological respect. "

And he continues:

“The basic idea is that all the 'deficiencies' of the human constitution, which under natural, so to speak animal conditions, represent the greatest burden on his viability, are automatically and actively made by man into means of his existence, in which man's determination to act and its incomparable special position. "

Creation of culture

The above-mentioned deficiencies of overstimulation also offer advantages to the deficient human being. Through his “ cosmopolitanism ” man is forced to “relieve himself, ie. H. the deficient conditions of his existence in order to [to] work in the chances of his lifetime. ”Instead of adapting to his environment, which is often not possible due to his physical properties, he changes it so that it serves his purposes.

So man can only survive by transforming nature into a substitute nature. In addition, since he is a non-specialized being, it is possible for him to live under a wide variety of conditions. Gehlen describes the substitute nature he created as “Prometheus” as culture.

Institutional teaching

Politically, Gehlen drew on this - not undisputed - diagnosis of the inadequacy of human resources in order to prove the legitimacy of the state order and tradition. The human being is fundamentally a being “in need of institutions”, whereby it is not primarily a matter of what exactly these institutions look like. Their stabilizing function is important, which is why it is essential to defend the existing institutions against attacks and disintegration. This aspect of the theory of deficiencies gained in importance after the publication of Der Mensch and is v. a. in later editions, as well as in Urmensch und Spätkultur (1956), more emphasis was placed on the advantages of “cosmopolitanism”.

Herder as a keyword and forerunner

The idea of ​​human deficiencies originally came from Johann Gottfried Herder . In his treatise on the origin of language , published in 1772, he writes:

"It is certain that man is far behind animals in terms of strength and security of instinct, indeed that he does not have what we call innate artistic ability and instinct in so many animal species."

But then he comes to the conclusion:

“Born with such a scattered, weakened sensuality, with such indeterminate, sleeping abilities, with such divided and weary drives, evidently referred to a thousand needs, determined to a large circle - and yet so orphaned and abandoned that it itself [the human child ] is not gifted with a language to express his shortcomings - No! such a contradiction is not the housekeeping of nature. Instead of instincts, other hidden forces must sleep in him. "

And:

"Gaps and 'shortcomings' cannot be the character of his genre."

The program pursued and implemented by Gehlen in Der Mensch can already be heard here: the description of the human being as "ability being" (even if Gehlen does not use this expression himself).

The image of man in education

The adolescent as a deficient being

The scientific characterization as "homo educandus" characterizes the human being in general as a deficient being who needs education in order to be able to reach fully human maturity. This idea has dominated pedagogical anthropology and its educational thinking and action from the scholarly schools of the High Middle Ages to the present day. It is also reflected in a key statement by the pedagogue and didactic specialist Johann Amos Comenius (1552-1670) in Chapter VI of his “ Didactica magna ” published in 1632 : “Man can only become human if he is instructed”.

Since the Latin schools, the concept of deficiency has only been assigned to children and young people. The adolescents were understood as the actual representatives of the "homo educandus" and were referred to as edukandus (from Latin educandus , to educate ) or pupils. Their status was that of "unfinished" "not-yet-adults". It was based on the relation to the maturity status of the already mature, legally competent, responsible adults, as represented by their legal guardians, parents, teachers, superiors. The classification as `` underperformers '' resulted from the incomplete physical, emotional, intellectual and social development compared to the adult, which made it necessary to make the still immature deficient beings through education and upbringing by appointed educators into full members of society.

Even today, childhood and adolescence are widely seen in upbringing and jurisdiction as a transitional phase in which, in view of the developmental deficits, no, or at least only insufficient, culpability is recognized even for serious offenses. In the area of road safety , the classification of children as deficiencies becomes clear in slogans such as 'Children have no brakes', which are used in book titles, educational films and banners at the start of school, as well as in the listing of errors and deficiencies in educational brochures that give children the ability to as far as possible agree on self-protection.

In the wake of this anthropological assessment, there is a risk of underestimating the potential of children and young people, of leaving them too little space to shape their own ideas about life and of making them the "object" of educational measures, in which the legal guardians are not only responsible for their safety, but feel responsible for the direction and success of their life path (keywords helicopter parents , parents taxi ).

The adolescent as a being of ability

With the proclamation of the “century of the child” and the impetus for “education from the child” ( Ellen Key , Maria Montessori , Berthold Otto et al.), A rethink took place in the form that adolescents less of a negative aspect, of what they not yet mastered than were more viewed from the positive point of view of 'already being able to'. Contrary to what has been thought for centuries, according to this idea, the child is not made human through education. It is already a fully valid person. Childhood and adolescence are seen as fully fledged independent phases of life and the child is not the focus of interest with his or her shortcomings but rather with his or her abilities.

The reform pedagogue Berthold Otto put it using the example of language finding: “Every member of this next generation has to create the language anew. Therefore the language of the six-year-olds, the ten-year-olds, is a perfect language, not a deficiency, but an age dialect that adults must speak if they want to be understood by their counterparts, ” and the didactic Siegbert A. Warwitz remarked: “ The child is not sufficiently understandable as an unfinished adult, cannot be viewed in a personality-appropriate way from the perspective of later adulthood. It is even superior to the adult in many areas. In the opposite direction, from the child's point of view, adults would have to be considered “deficient beings” with equal right in view of their loss of spontaneity, abundance of movement, urge to move, flexibility, imagination, informality, unadulteration, ability to learn and many other sensitive, motor, cognitive abilities [...] . Most adults move about no less awkwardly in the world of children than they do in the world of adults. Adults often first have to learn again to perceive the child as a differently structured, coherent, self-sufficient personality with its own needs, abilities, modes of experience, and to take them seriously. "

With the anthropological reorientation towards a human education that focused less on the deficiencies than on the already existing abilities of the child, the child increasingly turned from the 'object' to the 'subject' of its own development. The upbringing process changed as a way of helping people shape their own path in life. Childhood and youth were no longer recognized as a mere transition, but as fully-fledged phases of their own that had to be lived out. It was understood that children can already make decisions and act fully autonomously and responsibly in their own living environment and can make substantial contributions to their own development:

With his method “From Playroom to Traffic Space”, Warwitz was able to demonstrate in a series of school experiments that even first graders in the elementary danger area of ​​traffic cannot be reduced to the role of helpless deficient beings: Based on their very own field of experience and experience, play and the “ Reinterpretation of the scope for the traffic area, the play equipment for the means of transport, the playing partner for traffic partners, the rules of the game for traffic rules and the game fines for traffic fines, "the children managed, under expert supervision, not only to design their own traffic signs and traffic rules, but even from an original one “Chaos traffic” gradually to develop a completely regulated intersection traffic with pedestrians and cyclists. In other projects it could be shown that first graders are quite capable of working their way to school under supervision and to train self-assurance with their own board game .

literature

  • Article "Defects". In: Historical Dictionary of Philosophy , Volume 5 (L – Mn). Schwabe, Basel 1980, ISBN 3-7965-0696-8 .
  • Hans-Dieter Barth: Children have no brakes! Traffic education for children from three years . Falken KA Blendermann Verlag. Niedernhausen 1994.
  • KA Blendermann: Dangerous attitudes of young pedestrians . In: Zeitschrift für Verkehrssicherheit 1 (1987) pp. 36-39.
  • Arnold Gehlen: Man. His nature and his position in the world. Junker and Dünnhaupt, Berlin 1940; 15. A. Aula, Wiebelsheim 2009, ISBN 978-3-89104-727-9 .
  • Arnold Gehlen: primitive man and late culture. Philosophical results and statements . Athenaeum, Bonn 1956; 6. A. Klostermann, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-465-03305-1 .
  • Johan Huizinga : Homo Ludens . From the origin of culture in the game . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1939/2004, ISBN 3-499-55435-6 .
  • Arnold Gehlen: Anthropological Research. For self-encounter and self-discovery of people . Rowohlt, Reinbek 1961; 15. A. ibid. 1981, ISBN 3-499-55138-1 .
  • Johann Gottfried Herder: Treatise on the origin of language . Reclam, Stuttgart 1959; act. A. ibid. 2001, ISBN 3-15-008729-5 .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz : The skills of the child . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009. pp. 37-49. ISBN 978-3-8340-0563-2 .
  • Christoph Wulf, Jörg Zirfas: Homo educandus. An introduction to educational anthropology . In: Dies .: (Ed.): Handbook of Pedagogical Anthropology . Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg 2014, pp. 9–26. ISBN 978-3-531-18166-0 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Defects  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gehlen: Der Mensch , 13. A. Wiesbaden 1986, p. 20.
  2. ↑ Gehlen: Der Mensch , 1986, p. 37.
  3. ↑ Gehlen: Der Mensch , 1986, p. 36.
  4. ↑ Herder: Treatise on the origin of language , Stuttgart 1993, p. 20.
  5. ↑ a b Herder: Treatise on the origin of language , 1993, p. 24.
  6. ↑ quoted by Fritz Blättner: History of Pedagogy , Source & Meyer. Heidelberg 1961. p. 53
  7. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The child as not-yet-adult . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . Baltmannsweiler, 6th edition 2009, pp. 36/37.
  8. ↑ Hans-Dieter Barth: Children have no brakes! Traffic education for children from three years . Falken Verlag. Niedernhausen 1994.
  9. ^ KA Blendermann: Dangerous attitudes of young pedestrians . In: Zeitschrift für Verkehrssicherheit 1 (1987) pp. 36-39.
  10. ↑ Felix von Cube: Demanding instead of pampering - the findings of behavioral biology in education . Piper, Munich 1986
  11. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: When venture shows the way of becoming , In: Ders .: Sinnsuche im venture. Life in growing rings . 2nd expanded edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pp. 260–295
  12. ↑ About Cautious "helicopter parent" harm their children , Hamburger Abendblatt on February 6, 2013
  13. ↑ Berthold Otto, quoted in n. Fritz Blättner: History of pedagogy . Source Meyer. Heidelberg 1961. p. 53.
  14. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The child as not-yet-adult . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . Baltmannsweiler, 6th edition 2009, p. 37.
  15. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The skills of the child . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceive-play-think-act . 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009. pp. 37-49.
  16. ^ Ludwig Kerstiens: Man opens up the world . (= Paths of the Incarnation; Volume 2). Spee-Verlag, Trier 1967.
  17. ^ From play space to traffic space - Traffic Education Network Vienna 2012
  18. ^ H. Jura: Playing and learning with self-made traffic signs . In: Grundschulunterricht 45 (1998) p. 39f.
  19. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: How to systematically convey traffic awareness and behavior . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . Baltmannsweiler, 6th edition 2009, pp. 190-251.
  20. ^ Helga Jarausch: Playing in traffic education . In: Grundschulunterricht 48 (2001) pp. 41-47.
  21. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The way to the first solo effort . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child . Baltmannsweiler, 6th edition 2009, pp. 190–215.