This paper introduces the work of the Finnish educational philosopher, Urpo Harva (1910–1994), who became the first professor of adult education in any of the Nordic countries in 1946. Harva identified as the first Finnish academic professor that included nature conservation, environmental education, and active debate against the ideal of continuous economic growth to his own teaching (Salo 1994). Already in the 1950s, Harva (1955; Alanen 1994; Salo 1994) wrote about how the most important task of adult education should be nature conservation. Despite Harva’s progressive approach to environmental issues not only in academic but in public discussion with columns and essays published in Finnish newspapers as well, he is nowadays only remembered as a value philosopher. Moreover, his ecological ideas are largely neglected although many in Finland have acknowledged Harva’s efforts to make environmental awareness a key part of adult education (e.g., Alanen 1994; 1997; Mäki-Kulmala 1995; Jaaksi 1997; Vilkka 1997; Värri 1997).
In this paper, I intend to correct this lack of research and assert that Harva should be understood not only as a philosopher of value but also as a theoretician of environmental adult education. Thus, my purpose is to supplement the history of Finnish theory of environmental adult education and to show how strong the presence of environmental issues has been in Finnish adult education in the past. To prove this, my aim is first, define basis of Harva’s environmental theory, and second, to localise Harva’s environmental adult educational theory’s philosophical starting points.
The basis on Harva’s environmental theory needs to be pieced together from his various columns and essays in Finnish and to combine them with his earlier theories because Harva did not publish any one piece specifically devoted to the environmental issues (Vilkka 1997; Jaaksi 1997). So far, the only two pieces of research into Harva’s environmental theory have been by the Finnish philosophers Leena Vilkka (1997) and Vesa Jaaksi (1997), respectively. In this study, I use more extensive material than Jaaksi and Vilkka a quarter of a century ago and I'm aiming for an even broader overview of Harva's thinking.
To localise philosophical starting points of Harva’s environmental adult education theory, I utilise Canadian professor Pierre Walter’s (2009; 2021) definition of five major philosophical approaches guiding historical development of environmental adult education theory and practices since the beginning of 1900s which are liberal, progressive, behaviorist, humanistic and radical. All these approaches include informal learning (Walter 2021). Interestingly, especially self-cultivation, i. e. a voluntary task of developing one’s personality to reach mature adulthood guided by moral principles, the theory of which has a rich history in Finland (Koski & Filander 2013), as a form of informal learning was essential form of adult education for Harva (Harva 1955; 1963; Alanen 1994, 297; 1997, 28)
I this article, I argue that Harva's environmental adult education is based on the civic educational goal of encouraging Finnish into implementing a biophilic attitude, i. e. implementing nurture relationship with the living and non-living things in nature (e. g. Blom, Aguayo & Carapeto 2020, 8–10; Orr 2004, 131–152), achieved by active inner work of self-cultivation. To prove my argument, I analysed 31 columns and essays Harva wrote during 1971 to 1994 focusing on environmental issues with abductive content analysis guided by the following research questions:
1. What are the societal structures Harva thinks should be targeted by adult education in the pursuit of more ecologically sustainable practices?
2. What forms of self-cultivation does Harva think might counteract the values these societal structures represent?
3. How do Harva’s environmental philosophy fit in with the rest of environmental adult education theory?
