Experiencing Freedom and Responsibility in the Educational Process

Abstract

In what follows I discuss the problem of constructing individual identity through experiencing freedom and responsibility. Self-determination and self-realization are important elements that complement human identity. On the way to selfrealization, however, fear and anxiety occur due to permanent and global transformations of the cultural, social and political environment. It evokes a reluctance to make decisions, to take the risk of being oneself, the risk that comes in conjunction with meeting another person. Fear affects the perception of oneself and others. Thus, it is necessary to look at this phenomenon through the prism of experiencing one’s own freedom and responsibility for oneself and others, and to try to inculcate in a young person the desire to overcome this feeling of fear and anxiety often experienced in the modern world. The aim of philosophical pedagogy is to awaken in a person the desire to be oneself despite these feelings. It is a very difficult but essential challenge. Therefore, based on Tischner’s and Bollnow’s philosophy of encountering the other, I examine the significance of the impact of openness towards oneself and others in the upbringing process.