Learning and the changing concept of enlightenment: Danish adult education over five centuries.

Abstract

A theme running through European cultural history is the notion of enlightnment, with its concomitant metaphor of the search for light. But what is the source of this light? Does it come from above, from the outside, from within, or from below? Over the centuries there have been different traditions or paradigms of enlightenment which have contended with each other, and each country has its own history of enlightenment and education. Based on Danish history over the past 500 years, five different traditions of enlightenment and general education are described, traditions which to some degree can be found in other countries. The five traditions are: Christian enlightenment, civic enlightenment, popular-national enlightenment, workers' enlightenment, and personal enlightenment. Each tradition is described against the background of the history of ideas, institutions and didactics. The article concludes with some reflections on the past 25 years, which have seen an increasing focus on the personal in the search for enlightenment. This is expressed in concepts such as personal growth and personal development. An important question is whether this emphasis upon the personality will result in a weakening or a strengthening of society.