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British Poetry Seminar I March 7, 2019 INTRODUCTION—THE CONCEPT OF BILDUNG from Nordenbo's "Bildung and the Thinking of Bildung" 1. Etymological Meaning The German word Bildung is related to the verb bilden and to the verbal noun Bild, that is, image. The suffix -ung on a verbal noun in German indicates that we are dealing either with an act, a process or an occurrence. 2. Greek Origin: Paideia What the Sophist and Socratic traditions have in common is that Bildung is about the individual in society. Bildung does, it is true, on the one hand emerge from traditional upbringing in ordinary life; but on one the other hand, by its very definition, it also undermines traditional upbringing because, as shown above, upbringing is driven by social considerations, while Bildung ought to accord with the essence of man. 3. Bildung from Latin expressions: (1) imago(image) (2) forma(form) (3) cultus animi, humanitas(cultivation of the soul) (4) formatio, institution(formation). Jurgen-Eckardt Pleines: the concepts of formation, upbringing and teaching—of Bildung, Erziehung and Unterricht. According to Pleines, Bildung is the educational phenomenon that characterizes Greek culture. Erziehung(upbringing) is the key term identifying the Medieval educational esprit, while Unterricht(teaching) characterizes the modern era from the mid-eighteenth century onwards. -Bildung: an ideal ambition or telos -Erziehung: the visual image of ‘someone being pulled up’ -Unterricht: the image of something being handed down to somebody 3. Philanthropism vs neo-humanism(Rousseauism) -Philanthropism: educational utilitarianism -Neo-humanism: Wilhelm von Humboldt his ideas about the nature of Bildung, as the harmonious development of spiritual powers and its realization through imitation of the classic Greek model, is on the one hand of course a throw back to the Bildung era, at the same time as it is a revolt against Christianity’s dominant position as the meaning of schooling. According to von Humboldt, Bildung manifests itself through an individual process of self-formation that can only succeed if external influences are not allowed to interfere with its impure material and impose demands from the outside.
 
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