자유교육의 재음미

Abstract

This study aims to reexamine and reilluminate the three views on liberal education elucidated in P. H. Hirst's early theory of liberal education, beyond a ‘rationalistic approach’, and provide suggestions in the context of educational philosophy for the practical conduct of liberal education in schools. The rationalistic approach, which is evident in Hirst’s early and late views, contrary to his own expectation that it would emerge alter, neglects the fact that the school is a venue for proper educational practice, with its own history and tradition, and that it has a special social status that is equidistantly and implicitly related to other practices in society, through the concrete activities of self-realization of the implicit spirit of liberal education. Consequently, the approach neglects the implicit dimension of the main relationships reflected in the three views on liberal education, especially the relationship between forms of knowledge as educational contents and the liberal mind as the aim of education, as well as the relationship between the liberal mind and a good life involving social practices. Focusing exclusively on the explicit distinction that stands out in that relationship, the two sides of the distinction are regarded to be directly connectable, without an intermediary. Furthermore, the relationships are considered to be merely arbitrarily changeable. However, this approach contains the logical error of limiting the concrete universal with abstract particulars, or, more simply, of limiting the whole with its parts. Nonetheless, in the context of education, the latter is a turning moment to think objectively and internally, or self-reflectively, about the former. Thus, reflecting on the latter, liberal education at a school is the development of the parts toward the whole and simultaneously the development of the whole through the parts, or the concrete self-realization of the whole. This development is a mystery and a vivid fact of education that can only be realized from the side of the spirit that is alive in the practice of liberal education. Therefore, this study suggests that we cherish school mottos, schoolbooks, classroom doors and class greeting etiquette, as well as school fences, which can be seen as symbolic or propositional manifestations of the concrete activities of the spirit at a school. Through these, we can reappreciate the spirit of liberal education.