Pedagogical Category – Learning – in the Perspective of Selected Paradigms

The article presents the reflection on the pedagogical category of ‘learning’ with a reference to the idea of a paradigm proposed by T.S. Kuhn, based on the belief that didactics is multiparadigmatic. Different ways of defining humans and their mission (human as a machine, human as an autonomous individual, human as a constructor, human as a deconstructor) were linked to the relevant paradigms: behaviorist, humanistic, constructivist and critical/emancipatory. Selected didactic approaches were analyzed, focusing on the subjects and determinants of the educational process. It was assumed that although learning is understood differently from the perspective of each of the four discussed paradigms, in reality the paradigms are not contradictory in certain situations, but rather complementary. It was proposed to look at learning as a multidimensional process, and to complementarily include its four aspects, taking into account the four paradigmatic perspectives discussed: adaptation, selfactualization, emancipation and self-regulation, where learning is a reactive response to reinforcement (adaptation), where the learner constructs the image of the world and themselves, builds personal knowledge (self-regulation) and strives for selfactualization, satisfying needs, developing interests and abilities (self-actualization), as well as adopts an attitude of openness, freeing themselves from restrictions, initiates changes, uses their autonomy (emancipation).