Joaquín Xirau’s pedagogy: Between tradition and modernity

Abstract

The aim of this work is to examine the pedagogical work of this Catalan philosopher (teacher, never better said) and offer a summary of his thought. The methodology comprises an exhaustive review of the primary sources (complete works) adding secondary sources that are considered relevant. As a result, we identify the sources he draws on for his pedagogy: primarily Cossío, but also Husserl, Scheler, Fichte, Vives, Llull, Rousseau, and Bergson. We then trace what his systematic pedagogy might be: the final cause, the efficient cause (the teacher), the material cause (the student), the method, the educational action and the pedagogical antinomies. On the one hand, we discuss the content that education should have and the values that should guide it, and, on the other hand, the three basic stages of the educational process, primary, secondary and higher education, according to how Xirau conceptualises them. To conclude, we analyse some common common-places from then and now in the world of education, to which Xirau pays particular attention.