Education for the Whole Person in a Modern East Asian Context: “Caring-About the World” as a Form of Self-Love

Abstract

Purpose: The essay attempts to explore a possibility to conceive the idea of education for the whole person as a way of recovering the old spirit of liberal education or Bildung, yet in a new language. Design/Approach/Methods: The essay largely consists of two parts. The first part touches upon and diagnoses the current problems with educational culture in modern Korea where youths suffer their divided soul, by employing Rousseau’s notions of two different kinds of self-love, amour-de-soi and amour-propre. The second part addresses how the pursuit of the whole person as being wholehearted can be a healthy form of self-love mediated by love of the world or other persons. Findings: The idea of education for the whole person may turn out to be an unfeasible ideal, in the modern condition. Yet, being a whole person as wholehearted can be taken as a regulative ideal that guides our practice in teaching and learning, stimulating us to make an effort to be so despite our knowledge that it is out of reach. Originality/Value: The essay shows how the idea of education for the whole person can be newly interpreted in modern East Asian context, which can resonate with current problems with education culture in the West as well as around the globe for the age of measurement.