The Epistemological Model of Pedagogy, Promoted by Stefan Barsanescu

Abstract

Pedagogical epistemology is an area of the philosophy of education. As pedagogical science (or science of education), pedagogical epistemology is methodologically built on the interdisciplinary relationship between pedagogy and philosophy. This education science builded interdisciplinary, has a general aim the analysis of the historical and theoretical fundamenting process of pedagogy as a socio-human science specialized in the study of education and training in the open framework of the system and the educational process. Fulfilling this general purpose requires the construction of an epistemological model. Such an epistemological model is the one promoted by Ştefan Bârsănescu, during two historical stages. At the stage of modern inter-war pedagogy (1936) and - through deepening and updating - in the stage of contemporary pedagogy (1976) - see "Unity of Contemporary Pedagogy as a Science", 1st Edition, 1936, 2nd Edition, 1976. The epistemological model proposed by Ştefan Bârsănescu highlights the necessary premises for the unitary construction of "pedagogical science", assured at the level of fundamental concepts, of "scientific style" and "research" system. Its realization involves the historical research of the evolution of the field and the reference to a necessary specific theory because "pedagogy suffers from the dictatorship of its word or more just from an anarchy of formulations that hold the place for ideas". The epistemological issue is referred to "two main questions": a) how was the specific research object of pedagogy designed ?; b) what is the methodology of research specific to pedagogy ? In this sense, "the use of the historical method in demonstrating of an epistemological problem" is welcome. With the help of it, the progress of pedagogy can be seen in its path "towards a true science of education".