Character and Duty

Abstract

One way of regarding Western philosophy of education is as merger of two concepts with different origins, which eventually coalesced. The first concept is “Bildung” which can roughly be translated as “formation” or “shaping.” This concept has a religious origin, since “Bild” corresponds to “imago,” and “;Bildung” derives from “Einbildung” which means “imprint” in the sense in which man’s form is imprinted with the spirit of God, making man an image of God. The history of educational concepts is to some extent the secularization of the notion of “Bildung” to the point where it is no longer presupposed that formation imbues man with the spirit of God. Instead, as it becomes secularized, the concept also moves towards autonomy: man shapes himself according to his potential. The Greek notion of character is the second origin of the Western philosophy of education. Character denotes first the tool which engraves, and then that which is engraved (in German, das Gepräge). When the concept is transposed to the human sphere, character comes to connote the shape given to man’s attitudes or the constant features of human behaviour. In this sense the notion of character could be said to be akin to the notion of “Bildung” with “Bildung” referring mainly to the process, and character mainly to the objective or outcome.