Between Marxism and Romanticism: Childhood and Education in the Works of Ernst Bloch

Özet

Ernst Bloch is a 20th-century German philosopher, associated with the Frankfurt School ofcritical theory. His most important philosophical works are The Principle of Hope (1959) and TheSpirit of Utopia (1918). The aim of this paper is to explore Bloch’s views on childhood and educationin the context of his own upbringing. Special attention will be paid to two important influenceson Bloch’s thought: Romanticism and Marxism. This paper will be divided into three parts: Thefirst part will provide a portrait of Bloch’s childhood and youth. It will trace his early inclinationtoward Marxism and Romanticism and elucidate Bloch’s attitude toward conventional educationand learning. The second part will focus on the relationship between childhood, education and thehuman imagination. It will contain references to the following literary texts: William Blake’s “TheSchool Boy”, Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “Frost At Midnight”, William Wordsworth’s “My HeartLeaps Up” and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther. The third part willfocus on the role of critical thinking in education. It will outline Bloch’s critique of conventionaleducation in capitalist society and his vision of a different kind of education. Please note that alltranslations from Bloch’s Das Prinzip Hoffnung (The Principle of Hope), Pädagogica, Spuren(Traces) and Literarische Aufsätze (Literary Essays) are my translations.