The Elements of General Method, Based on the Principles of Herbart

ful soul a great circle or body of ideas, well knit together in its inmost parts-a body of ideas which is able to outweig

stored up and organized in the mind. These thought-materials seem to possess a kind of vitality, an energy, an attractive or repulsive power. When ideas once gain real significance in the mind, they become active agents. They are not the blocks with which the mind builds. They are a part of the mind itself. They are the conscious reaction o

wledge through the fundamental categories of thought (quality, quantity, relation, modality, etc.) Kant's categories of thought are original properties of the mind; they receive the crude materials of sense-perception and give them form and meaning. With Herbart, the ideas gained through experience are the apperceiving power in interpreting new things. Practically, the difference between Kant and Herbart is important. For Kant giv

us stores, and to see that the new is properly assimilated by the old and organized with it. This accumulated fund of ideas, as it goes on collecting and arranging itself in the mind, is not only a favorable condition but an active agency in our future acquisition and progress. Moreover, it is the

and if the teacher is able to control the supply of ideas to a child and to guide the process of arrangement, he can build up controlling centers of thought which may strongly influence the acti

s absolutely free in spite of acquired knowledge, in spite of strongly developed tendencies of thought and feeling; if the child or youth, at any moment, even in later years, is able to retire in

nterest thus developed in him remained throughout his life a quickening influence. One of his earliest courses of lectures at the university resulted in the publication, in 1806, of his Allgemeine P?dagogik, his leading work on education, and to-day one of the classics of German educational literature. His vigorous philosophical thinking in psychology and ethics gave him the firm basis for his pedagogical system. At K?nigsberg, so strong was his interest in educational problems that he established a training-school for boys, where teachers, chosen by him and under his direction, could make practical application of his decided views on education. Though small, this school continued to furnish proof of the correctness of his educational ideas till he left K?nigsberg in 1833. This, we believe, was the first practice-school of its kind established in connection with pedagogical

this time was spent at Heidelberg.) During these years more than six hundred university students received a spirited introduction to the theory and practice of education under St

ry and practice-school, which, for twenty years, continued to develop and extend the application of Herbart's

his an extensive experience as a teacher and as principal of a normal school. His lectures on pedagogy, both theoretical and practical, in connection with his s

of real teachers. The fact that a pedagogical truth has been vaguely or even clearly stated a dozen times by prominent writers, is no reason for supposing that it has ever had any vital influence upon educators. The history of education shows conclusively that imp

and practice. After years of experiment and discussion, they come forward with certain prop

growth in moral character, as the purpose which serious teachers must put first. The sel

. Though not entirely new, this idea is better than new, because its deeper meaning is clearly brought out, and it is rationally provided for by the selection of interesting materials and by marki

l their knowledge and experience, is a thought of such vital meaning in the effort to establish unity of

ducation, and of the rich materials of history and literature for supplying suitable mental f

s us to keep a sympathetic eye upon the child in his moods, mental states, and changing phases o

school course. The obligation rests upon them to select the materials and to lay out a course of study

published in English beari

ssentials of Method.

of Herbart's most important writings on education, with

by the Herbart Club and edited by Dr

translated by Dr. De G

st

sychology, translated. Intern

f Pedagogics, by Rei

Syracus

s a full bibliography o

l as of those thus fa