Enlightenment and education in Kant: autonomy as a human development project

a autonomia como um projeto de melhoramento humano

Abstract

Based on the thought of Immanuel Kant (1724-1804), this article argues that education and human development are notions that necessarily involve one another. From a Kantian position, one cannot conceive a pedagogical proposal whose goal does not end up as the self-construction of the rational theoretical-practical subject. Based on a reading of the opera kantiana, we start from the necessity of the unity of reason and present arguments that seek to justify the notion of pedagogy as the fulfillment of the ideal of the modern Enlightenment, which has at its core the development of the individual from both the moral and theoretical-speculative point of view. Altogether, the idea of education coincides with the proposal of the Enlightenment, which, for its part, is nothing more than that of the self-construction of the subject as the master of him or herself and as an open horizon in permanent improvement.

Recebido: 02/09/2017
Aceito: 28/08/2018