Heidegger’s Concept of Education

Abstract

In the last May, there was an article on BBC News about a global education leaguetable of Pearson. It seems both remarkable and strange that this article did not belongto the education section, but was placed in the business section. This incident, whichwell illustrates the peculiarity of our age, led me to think about the essence ofeducation. According to Peter Sloterdijk’s interpretation of Martin Heidegger’s “Letteron Humanism”, the essence of humanism and education consists in the process ofteaching, taming and selecting. Lesson is selection. An alternative understanding aboutthe essence of education can be found in Heidegger’s interpretation of the allegory ofthe cave. This allegory depicts the educational process figuratively. Heidegger focuseson the liberated and educated outside the cave who returns inside and will set free theothers in bondage without education. His return may eliminate the difference betweenthe educated and the uneducated. Should the attempt at liberation succeed, no one wouldthen be left behind. Heidegger’s understanding of education is thus not related toselection. I conclude this paper with the question: Is an education possible that takesplace beyond the realm of lesson as selection?