Waiting for Supermensch?: on the use and abuse of Bildung in education

Waiting for Supermensch?: on the use and abuse of Bildung in education Public Deposited

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This thesis will investigate the formulation of Bildung in Nietzsche's lectures, On the Future of our Educational Institutions. Four strands in this formulation are as follows: 1) The natural world as educative influence. 2) Bildung as an aesthetic discipline. 3) How wonder is the end goal of a classical education. 4) Nietzsche's argument that Bildung and democracy are incompatible. A critique of Nietzsche's ideas follows. In tension with Nietzsche's account of Bildung is education scholar Klause Prange's argument that Bildung is compatible with and necessary to democracy. Two contrasting understandings of Bildung emerge. The first is Nietzsche's notion of the term as preparatory for an eventual genius. The second is Prange's account of Bildung as a preparation for more humane institutions. The latter alternative to Nietzsche is considered as a potential model for a more hospitable culture to learning in U.S. educational settings.

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