Johann Friedrich Herbart: uma análise histórica de sua concepção de educação

Abstract

This master's thesis in Education analyzes Johann Friedrich Herbart's conception of education to unveil his pedagogical theory in the historical process. Of a bibliographical nature, this research adopted the hermeneutic procedure of reading and interpreting texts to support the analysis. In this aspect, it was sought to interpret the author's texts, following his reasoning in the way of dialoguing with his production, as well as, it was supported by some interpreters of his thought and history. In this way, the research aimed to understand part of Herbart's educational thought, from his point of view and position regarding the possibility of education acting in social history. The dissertation is organized under three specific objectives that guide its sections. The first one, in the second section, verifies how Herbart's Pedagogy was inserted and received in the history of Brazilian education. In the third section, another objective was to present some aspects of his life and work and to identify the theoretical influences present in the constitution of Herbart's pedagogical thought. Finally, in the fourth section, a panoramic view of his pedagogical categories is presented, to capture how he translated his educational principles into pedagogical steps. Under a historical analysis, the researchers concluded that Herbart, inserted in a historical context of political, social, and educational tensions, was able to understand the changes and to think of education as an important social element for the new constitutive arrangements of a society in transition. In his time, he was an innovative theorist who knew how to implement the contributions of Psychology and Philosophy (Ethics) in the systematization of his Pedagogy, worrying about the means and the ends of education. Herbart saw school education as a possibility to contribute to the development of each individual, giving him a new behavior and a new ethic. For this theorist, ethics is the end of education.