Pansophism, in older usage often pansophy, is a concept in the educational system of universal knowledge proposed by John Amos Comenius, a Czech educator. "[Comenius's] second great interest was in furthering the Baconian attempt at the organization of all human knowledge. He became one of the leaders in the encyclopædic or pansophic movement of the seventeenth century". [1]
The pansophic principle is one of the important principles of Comenius: that everything must be taught to everyone, or in his words "to all men and from all points of view" (Great Didactic), as a guiding basis for education. [2] This continues the idea of universal education (Characteristica universalis). [3]
Pansophism was a term used generally by Comenius to describe his pedagogical philosophy. His book Pansophiae prodromus (1639) was published in London with the cooperation of Samuel Hartlib. It was followed by Pansophiae diatyposis. Pansophy in this sense has been defined as ‘full adult comprehension of the divine order of things’. [4] He aimed to set up a Pansophic College, a precursor of later academic institutes [5] He wrote his ideas for this in a tract Via lucis, written 1641/2 in London; he had to leave because the English Civil War was breaking out, and this work was eventually printed in 1668, in Amsterdam. [6]
The term was not original, having been applied by Bartolomeo Barbaro of Padua in his De omni scibili libri quadraginta: seu Prodromus pansophiae, from the middle of the sixteenth century. [7]
A group within Freemasonry is called Pansophic Freemasonry. [8]
A polymath is an individual whose knowledge spans over a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems.
Secondary education or post-primary education covers two phases on the International Standard Classification of Education scale. Level 2 or lower secondary education is considered the second and final phase of basic education, and level 3 upper secondary education or senior secondary education is the stage before tertiary education. Every country aims to provide basic education, but the systems and terminology remain unique to them. Secondary education typically takes place after six years of primary education and is followed by higher education, vocational education, or employment. In most countries, secondary education is compulsory, at least until the age of 16. Children typically enter the lower secondary phase around age 12. Compulsory education sometimes extends to age 20.
The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment, also known as the Age of Reason, was an intellectual and philosophical movement that occurred in Europe, especially Western Europe, in the 17th and 18th centuries, with global influences and effects. The Enlightenment included a range of ideas centered on the value of human happiness, the pursuit of knowledge obtained by means of reason and the evidence of the senses, and ideals such as natural law, liberty, progress, toleration, fraternity, constitutional government, and separation of church and state.
Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability.
John Amos Comenius was a Moravian philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unity of the Brethren before becoming a religious refugee and one of the earliest champions of universal education, a concept eventually set forth in his book Didactica Magna. As an educator and theologian, he led schools and advised governments across Protestant Europe through the middle of the seventeenth century.
Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher was a German Reformed theologian, philosopher, and biblical scholar known for his attempt to reconcile the criticisms of the Enlightenment with traditional Protestant Christianity. He also became influential in the evolution of higher criticism, and his work forms part of the foundation of the modern field of hermeneutics. Because of his profound effect on subsequent Christian thought, he is often called the "Father of Modern Liberal Theology" and is considered an early leader in liberal Christianity. The neo-orthodoxy movement of the twentieth century, typically seen to be spearheaded by Karl Barth, was in many ways an attempt to challenge his influence. As a philosopher he was a leader of German Romanticism.
Freethought is an epistemological viewpoint which holds that beliefs should not be formed on the basis of authority, tradition, revelation, or dogma, and should instead be reached by other methods such as logic, reason, and empirical observation.
Quanta cura was a papal encyclical issued by Pope Pius IX on 8 December 1864. In it, he decried what he considered significant errors afflicting the modern age. These he listed in an attachment called the Syllabus of Errors, which condemned secularism and religious indifferentism.
An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language is the best-remembered of the numerous works of John Wilkins, in which he expounds a new universal language, meant primarily to facilitate international communication among scholars, but envisioned for use by diplomats, travelers, and merchants as well. Unlike many universal language schemes of the period, it was meant merely as an auxiliary to—not a replacement of—existing natural languages.
Samuel Hartlib or Hartlieb was a Royal Prussian born, English educational and agricultural reformer of German-Polish origin who settled, married and died in England. He was a son of George Hartlib, a Pole, and Elizabeth Langthon, a daughter of a rich English merchant. Hartlib was a noted promoter and writer in fields that included science, medicine, agriculture, politics and education. He was a contemporary of Robert Boyle, whom he knew well, and a neighbour of Samuel Pepys in Axe Yard, London, in the early 1660s. He studied briefly at the University of Cambridge upon arriving in England.
Western esotericism, also known as esotericism, esoterism, and sometimes the Western mystery tradition, is a term scholars use to categorise a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthodox Judeo-Christian religion and Age of Enlightenment rationalism. It has influenced various forms of Western philosophy, mysticism, religion, pseudoscience, art, literature, and music.
Johann Bernhard Basedow was a German educational reformer, teacher and writer. He founded the Philanthropinum, a short-lived but influential progressive school in Dessau, and was the author of "Elementarwerk", a popular illustrated textbook for children.
John Dury was a Scottish Calvinist minister and an intellectual of the English Civil War period. He made efforts to re-unite the Calvinist and Lutheran wings of Protestantism, hoping to succeed when he moved to Kassel in 1661, but he did not accomplish this. He was also a preacher, pamphleteer, and writer.
Continental Freemasonry, otherwise known as Liberal Freemasonry, Latin Freemasonry, and Adogmatic Freemasonry, includes the Masonic lodges, primarily on the European continent, that recognize the Grand Orient de France (GOdF) or belong to CLIPSAS, SIMPA, TRACIA **, CIMAS, COMAM, CATENA, GLUA, or any of various other international organizations of Liberal, i.e., Continental Freemasonry. The larger number of Freemasons, most of whom live in the United States–where Regular Freemasonry holds a virtual monopoly–belong to Masonic lodges that recognize the United Grand Lodge of England and do not recognize Continental Freemasons, regarding them as "irregular".
John Brinsley the Elder was an English schoolmaster, known for his educational works.
Bengt Skytte (1614–1683) was a Swedish courtier and diplomat. He was a follower of Comenius and proposed a pansophic city, "Sophopolis".
Janua linguarum reserata is a textbook written by John Amos Comenius in 1629. It was published in 1631 in Leszno and was soon translated into most European languages.
Ludwig Keller was a German archivist and historian, known for his writings on the Reformation, Anabaptism and Freemasonry.
Universal Constructivism was a style of art created and developed by Joaquín Torres-García. Through the study and incorporation of basic geometric structure (Constructive) in the ancient and modern world creates the ability to create art that will be meaningful (Universal) to anyone who has viewed his artworks. He took the principles of Constructivism that Russian artists had developed in the 1920s and had influenced De Stijl and Bauhaus movements, and integrated what he considered to be universal pictographs, such as those for sun, moon, man, and woman. The goal of this art movement was to seek for the definition of what it means to be American by dominating constructive art and the use of primitive art that was rooted in the traditions of the continent. This style is best known for its synthesis of grid compositions and schematic signs. When Torres-García started Taller Torres Garcia in 1944, many of the participants incorporated Universal Constructivism into their own work. And later, the style influenced North American artists, such as Adolph Gottlieb and Louise Nevelson.
The Great Didactic or, full title, The Great Didactic, The Whole Art of Teaching all Things to all Man, is a book written by Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian, John Amos Comenius between 1627 and 1638 and first published in 1657.
His education system was focused on teaching everything to everyone, since, from the outset, it was intended to educate all men of society to develop their democratic qualifications. In a word, the system of education proposed by Comenius is universal by its very nature: "as he says, it is 'pansophic', it is intended for all men irrespective of social, or economic position, race or nationality. [...]he attempted to unite all kinds of human knowledge in the universal science of his pansophism on a larger or smaller scale.[ dead link ]
If he did not succeed in securing the establishment of the international center, or Pansophic College, for the coordination of the knowledge and sciences of the world, he did participate in, and probably contributed to, the discussions which ultimately resulted in the founding of the Royal Society.
| Authority control databases: National |
|---|
