Johann Friedrich Herbart: Biography Of This Psychologist And Pedagogue
The life of Johann Friedrich Herbart is not well known, although it is worth noting that his way of educating and seeing how future students should be made into well-adapted adults for the society in which they lived was something advanced in his time.
Let’s look at the history of this psychologist and philosopher from a biography of Johann Friedrich Herbart with the key elements of his career.
Johann Friedrich Herbart was born on May 4, 1776 in Oldenburg, Germany. Due to a childhood accident, He was a child of poor health, which forced him to be educated by his mother at home up to 12 years old.
After that, he entered the “Gymnasium” (German high school) in his city for six years, in which he showed a great interest in Kant’s philosophy Later he would continue his studies in the city of Jena, where he would study philosophy under Johann Gottlieb Fichte, with whom he would have many conflicting opinions.
After living in Jena for three years he began teaching the children of Herr von Steiger, who was the governor of Interlaken, Switzerland. It was from that experience that Herbart was motivated to propose how the way of teaching should be reformed
While still in Switzerland, Herbart had the opportunity to meet Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi, a Swiss educator who was getting involved in educational reforms in schools.
Herbart would begin to study Greek and mathematics upon his return to Germany, specifically in the city of Bremen, for three years and later he would go to Göttingen, where he would remain from 1801 to 1809. It was during that period that he would offer his first lectures on philosophy, in 1805
After living in Göttingen he would go on to live in Königsberg, where he would direct a pedagogy seminar until 1833, the year in which he would decide to return to the previous city, where he would remain until the date of his death, working as a philosophy professor.
An anecdote about his death is that Johann Friedrich Herbart was in fairly good health even at the end of his days. In fact, just two days before dying suddenly from a stroke, he had given a lecture, his last, and, according to those in attendance, he looked in full health.
His death was on August 14, 1841, in the city of Göttingen He was buried in the Albanifriedhof cemetery in that same city.
Thought and theoretical legacy of this researcher
Below we will see some aspects of Johann Friedrich Herbart’s thinking, all of them closely related to his way of seeing and applying pedagogy.
Principles in education
According to Herbart, Pedagogy had to emphasize the connection of the child with society , promoting its development with a useful purpose for other human beings. That is, the intellectual and moral development of the child had to be done in such a way that it would transform him, over time, into an adult who feels fulfilled and useful, a productive citizen for society as a whole.
In the opinion of Johann Friedrich Herbart, each child was born with unique potential. However, This potential would not be properly exploited if the child did not have the opportunity to receive a formal education and regulated, that is, the school, and that it was well organized. Although the family and the church could transmit knowledge and values useful for everyday life, only the school could guarantee correct intellectual and moral development.
pedagogical method
Within his educational method, Herbart considered that moral and intellectual education went hand in hand They could not be separated and attempt to teach them properly without one depending on the other or without establishing links between both conceptions.
According to him, if the nature of the human mind was something unitary, how could intelligence and morality be divided? In order to instruct the spirit, that is, morality, it is necessary to build it through learning and promoting intelligence.
However, the only way to ensure that the educational process was productive was make the lessons interesting to the students Johann Friedrich Herbart considered it a cardinal sin that the teacher was boring and that he did not bother to attract the attention of his apprentices. Curiosity, liveliness in how classes are taught, motivation and the desire to teach were something extremely necessary in every lesson.
Herbart goes so far as to talk about different types of interest that a person can present with respect to an object of study.
1. Speculative
It is the interest that is derived from meditation on objects that have been experienced (seen, heard, tasted…). It is reflective type.
2. Aesthetic
It is what occurs when observing something that is beautiful, whether natural or created by human beings. It is emotional.
3. Empirical
It is born from the immediate perception of things, without attributing any emotionality or reflection to them It is neutral.
Then there would come three other types of interest that are more related to the type of human interaction that occurs between the individual and other people.
4. Friendly
It is the type of interest that the infant expresses when you are participating in activities with people around you You can feel joy or pain, and it is what occurs in the family and school environment.
5.Social
It is the one that occurs before an event in which several people are involved and in which cooperation is required.
According to Herbart, and having a very theological vision, it would be the interest in the human spirit and divinity, which would serve to achieve a complete life
The education he defended
Herbart recommends getting students’ interest and spirit going, and preparing them for the new lesson. The method to follow begins with the teacher preparing the topic in depth and see how it can be related to what was discussed above
Then, the teacher will recall, with caution, the ideas presented in previous lessons, to make the students establish a relationship on their own, but not before having very briefly summarized the theme of the new lesson.
Philosophical concept of reality
Herbart was one of the first thinkers to be aware of the importance of psychology in teaching, considering it a fundamental science for learning and fostering children’s character.
This researcher disagreed about how knowledge was acquired according to Kant’s view Kant believed that knowledge came from studying the innate categories of thought, while Herbart believed that one learns only through the study of external things and real bodies. It’s not that they are from before, or in a world of ideas or something like that. Herbart went so far as to say: the world is a world of things in themselves, and things in themselves are perceptible.
Herbart, like Locke with his tabula rasa, considered that the soul did not possess innate ideas or pre-established categories of thought , as was Kant’s opinion. The soul, considered as something real, was something passive at the beginning of its existence, being modified by external stimuli.
