In this presentation I will focus on the educational philosophy of German philosopher and educational theorist Otto-Friedrich Bollnow (1903-1991). In his book Existenzphilosophie und Pädagogik, versuch über unstetige Formen der Erziehung he states, that individual process towards autonomy and self-understanding is constituted by encounters between the subject of the process of Bildung and “the other”. By “the other” Bollnow means generally what the subject is not, everything that is outside the subject. Encounters between the subject and the other can be difficult and cause serious self-reflection. These disturbing encounters, pedagogical situations of cognitive self- redefinition Bollnow titles “crises”. Bollnow talks also of “radical other”, by which he means people who are culturally different than the subject himself. Bollnow states, that we are continuously confronted by new situations with other people and therefore all the time challenged to create new understanding of the world. The encounter can be seen as presupposition to the existence of the process of Bildung. Individual growth is possible only, if one has to redefine oneself, to become better than what one was before. This overcoming of oneself through cognitive crisis requires thoroughly set pedagogical situations, a certain false hybris, but also freedom for the subject to follow leads and interests towards encounters with the problems at hand. The encounters can be hurtful, and in principle every encounter is a challenge to the view of oneself and the world. In order to overcome this encounter, one has to confront it and reconstitute one’s views of oneself and the relation to the world around. When engaged to the situation of encounter, “the other” becomes and expansion of oneself and has therefore great impact on one’s on personality. To Bollnow, the radicality of the encounter is especially hurtful, but in theory, all encounters are difficult and challenging. Without the painful crossings outside one’s own views, no real encounter can happen. Therefore the process of Bildung is a two way street. It is set forward by series of critical encounters which force the subject to make a restatement of one’s own perceptions of oneself and the world, but also no real encounter can happen if the subject is not open for crossing outside one’s fundamental ideas of oneself and the world.

Systematic concept analysis and hermeneutic reading of Otto-Friedrich Bollnow's educational writings.

Main expected outcome is, that Bollnow's idea of the process of Bildung going forward through crises can be seen as fundamental to contemporary constructions of Bildung theory.