Upbringing according to Values: An Analysis of Grimm’s Tale “Hansel and Gretel” in accordance with the Theories of Max Scheler and Milton Rokeach

Abstract

The article aims to show how the message of one of the most popular fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm, Hansel and Grethel, can be read from the point of view of upbringing according to values. To this end, the analysis of fairy tales was made based on the phenomenological concept of an unchanging hierarchy of the values of Max Scheler, and on the theory of Milton Rokeach, assuming that the individual value system develops through learning. Apart from Bettelheim’s well-known interpretation, the analysis of the fairy tales revealed an idealistic message: that the experience of anomy, a reverse hierarchy of values and negative values, can be overcame by the effort to find an existing apriori universal system of values. In this context the most important developmental task is the ability to choose proper values.