Judgment, Imagination and Bildung
Judgment, Imagination and Bildung

Summary/Abstract: Pedagogical practices that cultivate the capacities for individuals to think and to reason for themselves play a critical part in promoting the individual’s participation in democratic politics. Political deliberation and public decisions that give the will to live together its direction depend on the abilities of citizens to engage critically with the issues and challenges that threaten the common good. In this article, I argue that the kind of cultural knowledge that a liberal arts education traditionally entails also contributes to the individuals’ self-formation. The semantic complexity of the concept of Bildung bears out this connection between the cultivation of one’s aptitudes and the power to exercise one’s own judgment. This power in turn highlights the role played by imagination in reforming or revolutionizing praxis. In this regard, the experiences afforded by music, literature, cinema, theater and works of art teach us to be open to new ways of thinking, feeling and acting. Similarly, the schooling in phronesis that supports the development of the individual’s autonomy is at the same time a cultural good and a pedagogical obligation.

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