Abstract

The essay examines the historical and systematic transformation of the concept of education. It shows how the concept develops from the reproduction of social struc-tures legitimized by the concept of nature into a reflexive cultural technique of freedom following Kant. Based on a critical analysis, especially in Rousseau, the es-say shows that for a long time education was understood as a “natural technique,” characterized by practices of power and their legitimation by predetermined ( divine or natural) orders. It is with Kant that a fundamental break occurs and education is established as a reflective practice, symbolizing the idea of cultural progress whose goal was maturity, autonomy and shaping the future in a shared world. The essay emphasizes that today, education as a cultural technique is indispensable in order to secure democracy, freedom and a future worth living in the face of global chal-lenges, reflecting the sense of political responsibility, as it is also continued in the thoughts of Hannah Arendt and Theodor W. Adorno.