The life and work of Johann Friedrich Herbart in a new perspective

Abstract

The present work is a bibliographic and documentary review of analytical and hermeneutical nature. Based on records and documents, the text intends to re-present the German philosopher and educator Johann Friedrich Herbart from another point of view, opposing the characterization that has crystallized in history manuals and pedagogical theories that portray the thinker as a traditional and authoritarian pedagogue. The text unveils biographical elements of life and thought, revealing moments of his academic career such as his experience in Bern, his contact with Fichte in Jena, his professorship in Königsberg, and his visits to the University of Göttingen, as well as personal elements such as the presence of music and its connection with different determining characters in his life. The intention is to bring the reader closer to aspects of Herbart's life that reveal all his effort and dedication in the systematization and investigation of pedagogy and the defense of freedom of thought. The text revisits important sources of research such as Walter Asmus' biography, which brings detailed elements of the thinker's life. The text intends to contribute to the efforts that since the 1960s have sought to revise Herbart's philosophical and pedagogical ideas.