Herbart, Johann Friedrich

Herbart, Johann Friedrich

(b. Oldenburg, Germany, 4 May 1776; d. Göttingen, Germany, 14 August 1841)

philosophy, psychology, pedagogy.

Herbart was first greatly interested in science and music, but at Jena he studied philosophy and law. He was strongly influenced by Enlightenment thought, particularly Kant’s ethics and Fichte’s metaphysics. Later he became a close friend of Pestalozzi. Herbart received his doctorate and qualified for lecturing at Göttingen, where he lectured on philosophy and pedagogy. In 1808 he accepted an invitation to take over Kant’s chair at Königsberg, where he established the first pedagogical institute with an experimental school. He also served on various commissions responsible for the improvement of the Prussian educational system.

According to Herbart, the structure and operation of man’s perception are conditioned by the changing complex of ultimate entities of reality, which he called the “reals” (Realen). As in the ancient theory of atoms and elements or Leibniz’ monad theory, the complex structure of reality arises through a rhythmical joining (synthesis) and separation (analysis) of the reals. The behavior of these entities is determined by their tendency toward self-assertion. Hence, a dialectical struggle of opposites emerges as the “law of motion” of reality. The task of philosophy is to create a rigorous analytic-synthetic conceptual system from perceived reality.

The soul is a central totality of manifold simple reals. The ideas that appear in the soul are the result of the interplay of the “self-preservative reactions” of the reals. If in this process an idea is so thoroughly repressed that it vanishes from consciousness, it struggles to emerge from below the threshold of consciousness until it reappears as a freely moving idea (memory). Herbart held that mental processes can be described with the exactness of mathematical laws.

In Herbart’s pedagogical writings each person is an individual and distinctive totality, capable of change and determination or redefinition, and therefore possessing “adaptiveness” (Bildsamkeit). This latter quality is especially characteristic of the moral will. Therefore, the goal of upbringing and education is the development of the personality of the whole human being. This development aims at the union of five ideas: inner freedom (harmony of moral insight and will), perfection (health of body and soul), benevolence (toward the will of others), justice (balancing of interests, respect for the rights of others), and equity (suitability of reward and punishment). Together they constitute the “virtue of self-determination.” As long as insight and self-determination of the will are lacking, the desires must submit to external regulation (subordination to authority and supervision). With the growth of intellectual spontaneity the pupil’s interest can be awakened through instruction and discipline.

Herbart distinguished three forms of the “interest in knowledge” (empirical, speculative, aesthetic) and three forms of the “interest in participation” (sympathetic, social, religious). The development of insight and will requires a rhythmic alternation from a probing, analytic instruction to a reflective, synthetic one. “Static” penetration leads to conceptual clarity, “progressive” penetration (association) to the increase of knowledge; static reflection yields the system of knowledge, and progressive reflection gives rise to its method. From these four fundamental concepts Herbart deduced the four formal stages of instruction. The course that the instruction takes can be demonstrative, analytic, or synthetic, according to need. A goal of discipline is to mold the interests stimulated by instruction into a totality of moving ideas (Gedankenkreis). In particular, instruction seeks by this means to instill within the pupil fundamental moral tenets and to form them into a conscience. With increasing age, education is first restraining, then determining, then regulating, and finally supportive, as it ends and self-education begins. With these basic concepts and requirements Herbart established pedagogy as an independent science. He was likewise a founder of educational therapy and a precursor of child psychiatry.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

I. Original Works. Collections of Herbart’s writings include the following: Sämtliche Werke, G. Hartenstein, ed., 12 vols. (Leipzig, 1850–1852; 2nd ed., Hamburg, 1883–1892; supp. vol., 1893); Sämtliche Werke, K. Kchrbach, O. Willmann, and T. Fritzsch, eds., 19 vols. (Langensalza, 1887–1912; new ed., Aalen, 1964); Pädagogische Schriften. O. Willmann and T. Fritzsch, eds., 2 vols. (Leipzig, 1873–1875), 3rd ed., 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1913–1919); and Pädago-gische Schriften. W. Asmus, ed., 3 vols. (Düsseldorf-Munich, 1965). Herbart’s individual works include Kleine Schriften zur Pädagogik, T. Dietrich, ed. (Bad Heilbrunn, 1962); Umriss pädagogischer Vorlesungen, J. Esterhues, ed. (Paderborn, 1957; 2nd ed., 1964); Allgemeine Pädagogik, H. Nohl, ed. (Weinheim, 1952; 7th ed., 1965), also edited by H. Holstein (Bochum, 1966); Aus Herbarts Jugendschriften, H. Döopp-Vorwald, ed. (Weinheim, 1955; 3rd ed., 1965); Haulehrerbriefe und pädagogische Korrespundenz 1797–1807, W. Klaffki, ed. (Weinheim, 1966); and Kleine pädagogische Schriften, A. Brückmann, ed. (Paderborn, 1968).

II. Secondary Literature. On Herbart’s life or work, see W. Asmus, J. F Herbart, eine pädagogische Biographie, 2 vols. (Heidelbeig, 1968–1970); B. Bellerate, J. F Herbart (Brescia, 1964); and La pedagogia in J. F. Herbart (Brescia, 1970); J. L. Blass, Herbarts pädagogische Denkform (Wuppertal. 1969); A. Brückmann, Päddagogik and philosophisches Denken bei J. F.” Herbart (Zurich, 1961); A. Buss, Herbarts Beiträge zur Entwicklung der Heilpädagogik (Weinheim, 1962); H. Dunkel, Herbart and Education (New York, 1969); and Herbart and Herbartianism (Chicago-London, 1970); E. Geissler, Herbarts Lehre vain erziehenden Untenichi (Heidelberg, 1970); H. Holstein, Bildungsweg and Bildungsgeschehen (Ratingen, 1965); H. Hornstein, Bildsamkeit und Freiheit. Ein Grundproblem des Erziehungsdenkens bei Kant und Herbart (Düsseldorf, 1959); J. Müller, Herbarts Lehre vom Sein (Zurich, 1933); A. Rimsky-Korsakov, Herbarts Ontologie (St. Petersburg, 1903); J. N. Schmitz, Herhart-Bibliographie 1842–1963 (Weinheim, 1964); B. Schwenk, Das Herbartverständnis der Herbartianer (Weinheim, 1963): K. Smimov, Leibniz’ und Herbarts metaphysische Lehre von der Seele (Kharkov, 1910); G. Weiss, Herbart una seine Schule (Munich, 1928); and H. Zimmer, Führer durch die Herbart-Literatur (Langensalza, 1910).

Heinrich Beck

Arnulf Rieber