Mária Potočárová

In this paper we focus on the reflection of conservative ideas reflected in pedagogical thinking. The conservative trend in the philosophy of education is presented in a selection of two representatives from the environment of the former Czechoslovakia, who lived and were active in the period of totalitarian real socialism. We present the philosopher and phenomenologist Ján Patočka and the personalist and theologian Ladislav Hanus. Both of them are united by the fact that their works are based on the common philosophical direction of phenomenology and existentialism. In addition, both representatives, above all, through their personal life stories, have been committed to humanistic and conservative values, for which they had to endure persecution during the totalitarian period. They tried to pass on their convictions through the formation, upbringing and education of the younger generation. This common purpose also linked them to pedagogy, to the development of philosophical pedagogical thinking. This article will compare the philosophical views of both, as well as the personalistic and anthropological conceptions of society that were rooted in phenomenology as well as in the tradition of Christian humanism. The contribution of the life and work of J. Patočka and L. Hanus remains significant for contemporary pedagogy and philosophy of education. The paper has also attempted to add some of the basic knowledge of philosophy of education needed in the education of future teachers.

The paper has the ambition to map the social and political situation in Slovakia in the period between the two world wars which had impact on the situation of families and education. After the establishment of a common state of Czechs and Slovaks – the 1st Czechoslovak Republic (1918), there were new conditions for reform movements and ideas of pedagogical thinking. The study is focusing on social events and transformations that guide the school system and education. The paper analyses specifically, what inspired the education and practical functioning of schools in Slovakia in this new state formation of the multinational Republic. The obtained picture tells about the state of reforms in education with its penetration into also into the family education pattern in Slovakia is partially compared with the conditions in the Czech Republic. The educational and upbringing objectives of this period are presented through the statements of historical documents, from a review of available educational literature and the press. We also deal with the question, what ideological ideas of the interwar years had an impact on the setting of goals and in family education. What did parents follow in their daily upbringing at the beginning of the 20th century and in the era between the two world wars? The paper, therefore, gives also the insight into the history of everyday life of Slovak families and into the family education in the interwar period.