Culture, Self-Formation and Community-Building: The Bildungsideal, as seen from the Perspective of the Intellectual History of Civil Sociability

Ferenc HÖRCHER

Hungarian Academy of Science, Institute of Philosophy, 30 Országház u., H-1014, Budapest, Hungary , Hungary

Patrycja MIKULSKA

John Paul II Institute, Faculty of Philosophy, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Al. Racławickie 14, 20-950 Lublin, Poland , Poland

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of the conceptual history of Bildung, drawing on the works of Hans-Georg Gadamer, György Márkus, Raymond Geuss, and Georg G. Iggers. From the long history of the concept three separate moments have been selected. First, the ancient Roman concept of culture is introduced. This is followed by a sketch of the Christian-medieval notions of formation, and finally, by an elaboration of the Christian-Humanist and Enlightened tradition (largely from the art-historical period of the Renaissance and of the British and French Enlightenments). Finally, the probably best-known particular conceptualization of the Bildung-ideal, namely, the one found in the thought of Wilhelm von Humboldt, is examined. The major questions in this context concern the possibility of reconciliation of one’s individual sense of identity with the communal one, as well as the relationship between the internal world of the individual and the external world outside the agent.

Keywords:

Bildung, Gadamer, culture, character-formation, self-control, cultivation of the soul, imago Dei, human flourishing