INTRODUCTION

How children are prepared for life, how they learn best and the way in which they are taught have been matters of prime interest to the writer since becoming involved with children and teaching. New methods of education emerge, but old and well-tried ones continue to have their usefulness. It is within this vein that the writer's interest in Rosmini's thinking in relation to education has developed, since the writer is a member of the Rosminian Order.

Rosmini has much to say about the formation and education of the human person; and it is significant that the President of the Italian Republic, on the occasion of the centenary of Rosmini's death (1955), had this to say:

Within this context the present study has developed. It attempts to consider some of the most important aspects of education, placing them in a perspective which has its origins in history and tradition but owes much also to the wide-ranging thought of Rosmini and his personal contribution to the philosophy of education.

The study necessarily touches on theological and philosophical ideas while remaining mainly educational in nature. Rosmini was concerned with the concept of the human person, his humanity and his place in society; it is both as a Catholic priest and as a philosopher that he sees the individual human person, first as created by God for eternal life and called to find salvation in Christ, and second, as having the dignity of an end, not a means. From this broad viewpoint he writes about education. The problem is that of applying this Christian philosophy to the present educational system and a society which has moved away, not only from a Catholic viewpoint but from a Christian one.

There are many references to education in what would be considered to be noneducational works of Rosmini; for example, Sull' Origine delle Idee (1830); his Diritto (1841); Psicologia (1850); his Logica (1854) and his Teodicea (1845). Reference to these philosophical writings will be made during the course of this present study. The main educational sources to be looked at are the following: Della Educazione Cristiana (1823); Sull'Unità (1826), which will be looked at in greater detail; his Catechismo (1838); Sulla Libertè dell'Insegnamento (1854) and his Metodic (1857). Some thirty of his letters are answers to various people who asked his advice on educational matters, and these contain fundamental ideas which are as relevant today as they were in Rosmini's time. Reference will be made to some of these letters as well as to shorter articles. Translations and background to these are given in chapters 1 and 2.

The first chapter of the study gives the biography of Rosmini, pinpointing the various political matters which were giving him concern as the middle of the 19th century approached: the Austrian domination in the north; the Risorgimento; the position of the Pope and the Church in all this (cf. p. 6); the need for a constitution as the basis of Italian unity; and the French domination in European thought. The chapter also brings out the personal and historical experience through which Rosmini's main works came to be written. In the process it also implicitly shows the breadth and depth of his thought on many problems of society, his educational philosophy being an important part of this. His writings show his interest both in the everyday process of education and in the way in which the child develops; while his correspondence with a wide range of people over the whole field of education shows his understanding of the contribution to the general well-being of society made by the way in which the future citizens of any State are formed.

The second chapter shows both that Rosmini had studied the history of European educational thought and practice (in philosophers as well as educationists), and that he had a contribution of his own to make, while Chapter 3 looks at the essential principles of Rosmini's philosophy. The centrality of the human person in this philosophy logically leads to his conviction that any sound system of education must be both coherent and comprehensive, catering for all the needs of the human individual. The chapter is also concerned with Rosmini's main views and writings in connection with education.

Chapter 4 of the study examines some of the main themes in the current debate on education in the light of what has already been found in the writings of Rosmini. A concluding section summarises these points.

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