ABSTRACT
This essay is divided into three parts. First, it presents Gadamer’s criticisms against the idea of Enlightenment authority. Then it exposes the criticisms of Habermas against Gadamer. Finally, it counters Gadamer’s responses to Habermas’s criticisms. Here only the implications of the concept of authority for education are concerned. This essay will not deal with the general debate between Habermas and Gadamer. Its purpose is to think about how, in education, authority influences reason. Therefore, it presumes that a good education aims to stimulate the freedom of reason. Hence, the problem is: doesn’t authority restrain the freedom of reason, the very end of a good education?
KEYWORDS
authority; person; tradition; reason; education