WILLMANN, OTTO

Philosopher and educator who pioneered in the theory of modern Catholic social education; b. Lissa, near Posen, Poland, April 24, 1839; d. Leitmeritz, Czechoslovakia, July 1, 1920. He was educated in the Comenius gymnasium of Lissa, and studied at Breslau, Poland, and Berlin, Germany, under H. Steinthal and A. Trendelenburg, taking his doctorate in 1862 with the thesis De Figuris grammaticis. In 1873 he began his study of education at Leipzig, Germany, under T. Ziller and became one of the foremost authorities on Herbartian pedagogy. Although Willmann is noted as a philosopher, and as the author of Geschichte des Idealismus, his educational theories greatly influenced European thought.

Willmann taught for four years at the Pädagogium in Vienna, Austria, and in 1872 was named professor of philosophy and pedagogy at the German University of Prague, a position he held until 1905. He became the leading German Catholic scholar in education, and an outstanding interpreter of German education. Willmann found fault with German pedagogy on several counts. Because of idealism, it had lost touch with reality; because of realism, it overemphasized methodology and stressed soulless techniques and organization. Theories of individualism overlooked the social nature of education, while theories of socialism threatened to absorb the individual into the group without regard for his personal destiny. Willmann undertook to review the whole area of pedagogy, trying to combine in a single synthesis the ideas of the thinkers of the past and the contributions of modern theorists.

He defined education as "the solicitous, formative, and directive action of adults on the development of the young, which aims at making them participate in the goods which are the bases of our social institutions." It embraces six fundamental elements: solicitude, formation, direction, discipline, ideal goods, and social institutions. Each has subordinate aspects. "Formation," for example, refers to the formation of the whole man, both his moral and spiritual perfection, and his social and personal development. Although any sound system should provide for all six, Willmann held that only Catholic philosophy could take every aspect into account. He particularly emphasized the social nature of education as the essential element that constantly renews the life of the group, while allowing for individual development.

Willmann maintained that although education, as a practical subject, should concern itself with methods, reforms, and adaptation, there was also need for broad historical understanding. Both practice and history, he felt, must be supported by reasonable theory lest they be sterile. He concluded that only a genuinely Catholic philosophy and concept of education fulfilled all requirements. Willmann, a devout Catholic, declared that the church had been his greatest teacher. His chief educational work is the Didaktitk als Bildungslehre.

Bibliography: f. de hovre, Philosophy and Education (New York 1931). g. greissl, Otto Willmann als Pädagog und seine Entwicklung (Paderborn 1916). j. b. seidenberger, Otto Willmann: Eine Einführung in seine Pädagogik und Philosophie (Paderborn 1923).

[a. j. clark]