How Is Moral Education Possible? Antinomies of the Kantian Philosophy of Education

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to reconstruct (and therefore to interpret) the concept of moral education and development contained in Kant’s writings as well as to show ways to avoid the difficulties that arise within his system. The basic problem is how to reconcile – within one system – Kant’s conviction of the importance of upbringing with the claim that autonomy, treated both as the goal of education and a feature of a mature man, means no subordination to external influences, which indirectly questions the possibility of exerting educational influence. The similar question is Stanisław Gałkowski the relationship between respect for humanity and the belief that humanity relies on rationality and autonomy, which children do not yet possess. In my opinion, these difficulties can be dispelled by taking into account the subsequent phases of human development which can be found in the writings of the thinker from Königsberg, while pointing to the necessary role of grace as a causative agent of emerging human morality.