Pedagogy as a Systematic Science of Education

Komar, Zvonimir. (2008). Pedagogy as a Systematic Science of Education. Pedagogijska istraživanja, 5(2). pp. 127-138. ISSN 1334-7888

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Abstract

Pedagogy, understood as a science that cannot be grounded in the notion of functioning, positivism or pragmatism, asks for grounding through a self-evident general notion, which in the sense of both starting point and purpose makes the consistent whole of a science possible. The paper provides a systematic way of thinking about such self-grounded and, in a general sense, self-purposeful idea, which could provide a gathering point and grounds for pedagogical science as a system. With this intention as a goal, the notion of education is studied through rethinking of the essence of a human being, as the measure of a valid pedagogical process. There is another aspect to the overall human reality and educational context, involving the issue of autonomy and heteronomy of pedagogy. In the infinite particularization of science, which can and does occur when science looks outwards and draws its logic from ‘actual being’, scientific heteronomy is an inevitable result. The paper purports to show the question of autonomy as one of the key questions of pedagogy grounded in the humanistic notion of pedagogical process. Further, in relation to self-groundedness, autonomy and thought-through necessity of belonging to human being itself, the attempt is to see if the idea of education makes pedagogical science as a system possible and, if so, how. The study also outlines the ontological notion of education vs. actual practice of education, with stress on the essential unity of the two. The closing is an explication of the systematic nature of pedagogy as a science, with an indication of possible actualization of the pedagogical system through an interaction between the general and the individual.

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