Subject, Education, Truth :: Philosophy Papers

Subject, Education, Truth Two processes develop in human culture and society that implicate each other. The first is, according to Hegel, the development of universal experience and knowledge in any individual since individuals are never born complete as what they are supposed to be. The second is the subjectivization of the universal experience and knowledge into unique and singular forms of the self and self-consciousness. An analysis of these two processes in the history of philosophy has revealed the interconnections between the cognizing subject, truth and education and paideia. A hermeneutical principle of "self-care" that develops the skill of ruling and caring for others represents one of the traditions that includes these features in unity and determines a type of paideia. This principle is developed by Socratic, Platonic, Epicurean and Stoic morality, and was actualized by Descartes in his movement to the cogito. "Self-care" was considered in the 17th century as a condition of acquiring scientific k nowledge; later, however, it was labeled as egotism and individualism and replaced by self-cognition. Foucault gives proof of the necessity to revive the "self-care" principle in its initial sense as a foundation of the modern hermeneutical conception of upbringing. Hence, the role of philosophy as "an adviser" or "tutor" is to be revived in the process. How should I change my "self" to gain access to the truth? M. Foucault Hegel treats education as the alienation of natural Being and individual rising to universality, thus he correspondingly understands the person as "self" and as the subject of education. Subjectivity is here the definiteness of the universal. Aimed to freedom, it is able to unfold itself in culture and history, to develop itself on the basis of "the spirit and heart principle" to the extent of subjectivity, to the extent of judicial, moral, religious and scientific activity. It exhibits itself in active entity, internal activity and processuality as "inter-subjective" activity that develops in culture and history. The self-educating subjectivity becomes the highest universality, concrete Being of the universal, an individualisation of its content. In culture and society there develop two processes that meet each other. The first one, according to Hegel, is coming of a person to the universal experience and knowledge, because a person is never born the one s/he has to be. The second i s subjectivization of the universal experience and knowledge into unique and singular forms of the self and self-consciousness. Looking at education from these two points of view allows one to reveal hermeneutic meanings of education.