Education as the Formation and Integration of Human Dynamism

Abstract

This article offers philosophical reflections on the classical conception of upbringing, considered in the light of the distinction between two forms of human dynamism: the dynamism in man and the dynamism of man. The subjective aspect of education surely furnishes the main reason for needing to improve human conduct, due to the presence of various dynamisms in man that are insufficiently integrated with one another. The formation and integration of these always rests on a certain conception of man, and thus also on some corresponding fundamental principle pertaining to this integration. The classical conception of upbringing implies that man, as the subject of education, is a personal being whose nature, at the same time both spiritual and corporeal, is constituted as an active potentiality. The proper development of this nature takes place through the acquisition of the moral virtues, which are based on the primacy of the dynamism of man (intellect and will) over the dynamism in man (in the sense of the sphere of vital bodily impulses).