Natorp on Social Education: A Paideia for all Ages :: Teaching Education Philosophy

Natorp on Social Education: A Paideia for all Ages ABSTRACT: In Man and his Circumstances: Ortega as Educator, Robert McClintock says that American educators have forgotten about the influence of Natorp. This essay proposes to discuss Natorp's Platonic and Neo-Kantian view of the human being and of knowledge as a foundation to all education. It will examine the influence of Friedrich Schleiermacher, the distinguished German philosopher, and of the great Swiss educator, Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, on Natorp's ideas. In Natorp's view of Socialpadagogik (Social Education), it is not possible to have any positive social or political change without great alterations in educational philosophy. The work of the American educator, Robert Hutchins, will be discussed and defended as an exemplary attempt in the practice of higher education of these ideals. Although Hutchin's programs were adapted for only a short time by the University of Chicago and by a few small liberal arts colleges, his influence, as well as that of American disciples of Na torp and Pestalozzi, still has lasting value, since it is based on the idea that we are all souls in development. Paul Natorp's several important works on the philosophy of education, such as Pestalozzi: Sein Leben und seine Ideen, (1) are grounded in his Neo-Kantian epistemology. The post 1900 Natorp expanded his theory of knowledge from the purely Neo-Kantian idea that the Ding an Sich and the noumenal world were not only unknowable but also could not even be posited as existing. He expanded it to include the idea that the Ding an Sich is the "X" at the borders of the known which always moves into the unknown. As Natorp puts it in his own words, "Erkenntnis ist nicht stillstand, sondern ewiger Fortgang." (2) (Knowlege is not standing still, but is eternal movement.) Our experience builds on itself. Each individual must be treated as a living soul constantly building on experience in life (Erlebnis). Science is not the only criterion for knowledge, but the philosophical examination of the growth or degradation of the soul becomes the standard. In this sense, Natorp is a Neo-Platonist, because h e does not see limits to the possibilities of the soul. However, he never actually speaks of metempsychosis. This idea is noumenal. Finally, Natorp's view of religion is essential here. Religion is also not knowledge, but it is a repository of the rules of moral behavior which should, nevertheless, be determined by reason.