Herbart's Reply to Jachmann's Review of His "General Pedagogy"

Abstract

THE POSITION of Johann Friedrich Herbart (1776-1841) in the annals of education is due largely to Hetbartianism, a movement which adopted his name but which really became active only a quarter of a century after his death and had relatively slight connections with Herbart's own theory and practice. Yet Herbart's pedagogical theory and his philosophic doctrines in general are not wholly irrelevant or unimportant to students of education if only because they constitute the baseline against which the developments (and aberrations) of the Herbartians must be plotted. Herbart produced two extended statements of his pedagogical ideas: the General Pedagogy (or Science of Education, (1) as the Felkins entitled their English translation of it) and the Outlines of Pedagogical Lectures. Both are fairly long and complex, partly because of Herbart's desire to be comprehensive by including all the relevant topics and partly because of his fondness for piling distinction on distinction within the discussion of any one topic. Reading these books is, consequently, something of a chore for the modern student of education who wishes merely to get some firsthand knowledge of Herbart's views. Furthermore, the General Pedagogy of 1806, as the following pages will show, was a far from satisfactory book, even in the opinion of its author. The Outlines of Pedagogical Lectures is better,