Pansophism, in older usage often pansophy, is a concept in the educational system of universal knowledge proposed by
John Amos Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech philosopher, pedagogue and theologian who is considered the father of modern education. He served as the last bishop of the Unit ...
, a Czech educator. "
omenius'ssecond great interest was in furthering the
Baconian attempt at the organization of all human knowledge. He became one of the leaders in the encyclopædic or pansophic movement of the seventeenth century".
Pansophic principle
The pansophic principle is one of the important principles of
Comenius
John Amos Comenius (; ; ; ; Latinization (literature), Latinized: ''Ioannes Amos Comenius''; 28 March 1592 – 15 November 1670) was a Czech Philosophy, philosopher, Pedagogy, pedagogue and Theology, theologian who is considered the father of ...
: that everything must be taught to everyone, or in his words "to all men and from all points of view" (Great Didactic), as a guiding basis for education. This continues the idea of
universal education
Universal access to education is the ability of all people to have equal opportunity in education, regardless of their social class, race, gender, sexuality, ethnic background or physical and mental disabilities. The term is used both in colle ...
(
Characteristica universalis
The Latin term ''characteristica universalis'', commonly interpreted as ''universal characteristic'', or ''universal character'' in English, is a universal and formal language imagined by Gottfried Leibniz able to express mathematical, scienti ...
).
''Pansophism'' was a term used generally by Comenius to describe his pedagogical philosophy. His book ''Pansophiae prodromus'' (1639) was published in London with the cooperation of
Samuel Hartlib
Samuel Hartlib or Hartlieb (c. 1600 – 10 March 1662)
M. Greengrass, "Hartlib, Samuel (c. 1600–1662)", ''Oxford D ...
. It was followed by ''Pansophiae diatyposis''. Pansophy in this sense has been defined as ‘full adult comprehension of the divine order of things’. He aimed to set up a Pansophic College, a precursor of later academic institutes He wrote his ideas for this in a tract ''Via lucis'', written 1641/2 in London; he had to leave because the
English Civil War
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...
was breaking out, and this work was eventually printed in 1668, in Amsterdam.
The term was not original, having been applied by
Bartolomeo Barbaro of
Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
in his ''De omni scibili libri quadraginta: seu Prodromus pansophiae'', from the middle of the sixteenth century.
Pansophic Freemasonry
A group within
Freemasonry
Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
is called ''Pansophic Freemasonry''.
[.]
See also
*
Free education
Free education is education funded through government spending or charitable organizations rather than tuition funding. Primary school and other comprehensive or compulsory education is free in most countries (often not including primary textboo ...
References
External links
* .
{{Authority control
Pedagogical movements and theories