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Education in Kantian ethics

This article deals with Kant's moral anthropology, in which his considerations about education are included. Kant's ethics is routinely treated in such way that we fail to grasp its empirical part, many times denied. Such empirical part consists of this moral anthropology that enables us to embrace in our will, through education, and specifically through what Kant calls the "ethics didactics", the moral laws in their principles, and also to ensure their efficacy in our social world. Given that Kant says that "man, influenced by some many inclinations, is actually capable of conceiving the idea of a practical pure reason, but he is not so easily endowed with the strength needed to effect it in concreto in his behavior", we must implement our tenets of behavior through education and through the cultivation of our spirit. That will lead us to the theses of a virtue taught to the young who later will learn to make use of his freedom. This text is divided into six short parts, namely: a brief introduction, a study about moral anthropology, the issue of education within that anthropology, a brief analysis of Kant's On Pedagogy (Über Pädagogik), in which we focus on the stages of education as seen by Kant and on the important issue of character formation, and finally a short conclusion.

Philosophy of education; Kantian ethics; Moral anthropology; Ethical didactics


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