Philosophy And Theory Of Civil Education: Facets Of Interaction

Abstract

The author looks from a historical-pedagogical and theoretical-methodological perspective at the philosophical-pedagogical treatment of the concepts of citizen and civil education developed by philosophers in the periods of antiquity, мodern and recent time. The article stresses that these ideas have underpinned the concepts and theory of education, but the question that is still not quite clear is on what fundamental basis modern concepts and theories of civil education are built, how philosophy and the theory of civil education interact, how the connection between philosophical ideas of educating a citizen and the theories of civil education is mediated. To obtain answers to these questions a theoretical analysis has been carried out of the philosophical content of the concept of citizen and philosophical ideas of educating a citizen. The implementation of the research initiative undertaken by the author warrants a number of conclusions: the distinction between philosophical views of citizen and the phenomenon of the state predetermines differences in pedagogical views on civil education; in the 20th century civil education in West European societies was based on the philosophical ideas of personal responsibility and orientation toward democratic values whereas civil education in East European societies was oriented toward the ideological values of socialism and communism; the modern world sees a narrowing of the gap between the views on civil education espoused by Russian and West European pedagogy.